Preschool - A Change Of Opinion
When SimpleFather.com was first created, I wrote about why I thought that preschool wasn't worth it. I examined three main categories: financial, social, and academic.
Well, I've had a change of heart, thanks in part to my wife. So I'll examine those categories once more, but from a different point of view.
Financial
We found a preschool, quite by accident, that is much cheaper than the other preschool we had thought about... almost 40% cheaper. This particular school is close to our house, and is in the same facility that the three year old's dance class uses. The drop in cost is manageable when thrown in with the our other monthly expenses. We may have a more difficult time stocking our 'new to us' car fund. However, sometimes you have to make sacrifices.
Social
While our daughter does hang out with the neighbors and various friends, they are typically all from the same background. The exposure to more diversity will be good for her.
Academic
Her preschool isn't a traditional preschool. The staff consider the preschool a 'creative arts' preschool. Since we regularly work with her using reading flashcards and various writing tools (the Nintendo DS has turned out to be great for this), it was appealing that the school focused a lot on things like art and music.
You could call me a waffler or flip-flopper for changing my mind, but I prefer to think of myself as open-minded. Plus, the wife was starting to go insane, and she sold the idea pretty hard!
Be sure to check out the other gerat dads on this fatherhood friday over at dad-blogs.com
photo courtesy of pagedooley
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Man, that's not flip-flopping. That's just having to be sold on it. Nice job!
Thanks. In actuality, the wife didn't have to push too hard. But I know she reads my posts and I like to give her a hard time.
People who change their minds are people who think. I can relate to cost because our children are in an affordable Christian private school. It is a good investment and college tuition won't be that big of a shocker to me when the time comes.
The first school we were looking at was a private Christian school, and it was just a little too pricey for us at this stage of our life.
I have a feeling that no matter what, college will be a shock to me. But who knows, maybe prices will go down!
She'll have a great time! Take lots of pictures of all the art work! We have a wall in our house affectionately called the "picture wall." Any art work that comes home gets a picture taken with the kid holding it and then we never have to feel the guilt for tossing it several weeks later. Of course, we do keep the favorites!
She's already started bringing home some great artwork. I like that idea of taking a picture. Sometimes our daughter is very protective of her artwork... maybe this would soften the blow.
Right on. As mom said, "All wise people change their minds."
I've made far too many boneheaded moves to be wise, but it's good to know I'm on the right track!
We recently had to make a decision on this one too. Cost really isn't a factor here. Where we live it cost less than 120 bucks a month. We mainly decided to do it for the social aspect of it. Our son is as shy as they come and we're hoping this will help break that. The real kicker is its a French school and he doesn't speak a lick of French! I don't think most of the kids in it do though.
That's awesome. One of my former co-workers just sent her son to a French school as well. It sounds like it would be a great experience. However, I'm sure my daughter would start talking back in French and I wouldn't know what she was calling me.
Nothing wrong with changing your mind after being presented new information that supports a different opinion.
Thanks for your support. I've been told I'm stubborn, so it's good to hear the opposite sometimes.
Only you and you wife can know what is bes for your family.
Usually in our family my wife knows best, and I just try not to screw things up!
On the social aspect, exposing a child to common sniffles and bugs only builds their immunity for when school starts. But with my Fatherhood Friday post about H1N1 opens debate for the other side.
She already picked up a bug. Maybe if her immune system gets strong enough, she'll become a breeding ground for some really cool superbugs.
Wives have that mystical power to change minds!
We are very lucky because our school system is free, which makes it an easy decision. Will have to look into some of those DS games that you mentioned - which ones are good? At the minute Alex and I are playing FFIV - which probably isnt the most educational!
One of the things she plays most on the DS is the Pictochat, which kid of surprises me. She likes to draw and try writing her letters and numbers. Aside from that she's a racer at heart and likes Mario Kart, however that's not too educational either.
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