Preschool: Two Years Later

Those of you who have been long-term followers may remember that I had quite a bit of anxiety when we first enrolled Jena in preschool.

And now? Two years later? I am glad we did it.

Of course, there's no way to tell how things would have turned out with one of the in-home providers either. Hindsight not allowing us to see the what-ifs, and all. But the in-home provider I really liked fell thru, and last year closed her daycare, and the other was a little too unstructured for me, so... yeah, I think we made the right choice.

Jena now goes four days a week, roughly 8 1/2 per day. Her social development has progressed enormously, although she does still have a lot of difficulty with new situations / people, and transitions. But I suppose that's just part of her personality, so... we'll deal with it and adjust, just like we all do with each other in dealing with different personality traits.

As far as life skills go (potty, dressing selves, basic chores, etc) I couldn't be happier. I had no idea they even addressed these issues in preschool, and to be honest I have no idea how I would have gone about assisting her in learning some of these things. They have practice boards for everyting - buttons, tying, zipping, etc., plus they teach them little tricks to make it easier for them which I would have never thought of.

And academically? We are thrilled. It is a montessori school, and I love that they teach to each child's level, allowing them to move forward when they are able, spending extra time when needed. Jena is progressing very nicely. She is barely over four years old and can read entire books by herself (think Dr. Suess & similar), count to 125 (I'm pretty sure she could go higher, I just think she gets bored by then, LOL), does basic addition & subtraction, and so much more.

The school proceeds thru kindergarten, and our current plan is to let her stay there thru her kindergarten year (at which point she will go 5 days per week), then move to public school for first grade.

Well, I think that about wraps it up. As I was picking her up from preschool yesterday I realized it had been a while since I had updated you on the school / child care situation, so I thought I would.

Thanks for checking in!