Edumacation

So if you have children of your own, you probably know this, but this is the time of year for thinking about what you are going to do for school for the coming fall.  It does seem early, doesn't it?  But this is when all the preschools have their registration days and want all your paperwork and money and so forth.  The ante has been upped this year, because although it seems nearly impossible, Grace will start KINDERGARTEN in the fall.  Kindergarten! How can this be? Anyway, our little neighborhood school seems really nice and sweet and nurturing and I think it would be a perfectly acceptable option.  Then there are a couple of ELP magnet schools that seem good and aren't too far away, so we had Grace do the assessment for that last week.  I had a hard time describing to Grace exactly what we were going to do when we were driving there because she hasn't ever taken a test in her life.  They didn't allow parents into the testing room so afterwards I was trying to get Grace to tell me what it was like, with minimal success.  Apparently there was addition and reading and fill-in-the-blank stories and puzzle-type things. The school district here tests 4-5 times as many children as they have kindergarten ELP spots so I have no confidence whatsoever in Grace getting picked. In fact, I feel sort of uncertain about if I even want her to get a spot.  Our neighborhood school is very nice and a really short walk and she could do half-day kindergarten there (which I see as a good thing for her personality and our family; the ELP programs are all full-day); the magnet schools are not far really, but they would involve a car drive.  And also I am currently annoyed because we have to rank the magnet schools we would want 2+ months before we even find out if she gets a spot (those letters get sent in May), which means I have to visit and go to open houses and think and ponder and decide which one we like the best without even knowing if she's qualified. Blech. Nothing makes me think more longingly about homeschooling than all the logistical details and waking up in the morning with an alarm clock and packing lunches and driving to and fro and all that.

And then there's Violet, who I am also full of uncertainty about for the fall.  We are thinking about putting her in preschool for two mornings a week.  I know she would love it, as she currently thinks pretty much any group setting with kids is the super most fun thing ever.  I have put her on the list for a little preschool at a Presbyterian church close to us, but that place is known for filling up fast and it is hard to get a spot.  I should hear back from them at the end of March, I think? The other main option would be the Jewish Community Center where Grace is now, which is fabulous in many ways but is pretty expensive and further than I would like to drive in an ideal world and also has a drop-off/pick-up schedule that would conflict with Grace's if she ends up doing half-day kindergarten.  We could definitely get a spot there because we are a currently enrolled family but I think the logistical challenges are insurmountable and I'd rather have her in no preschool at all than there.  To top all of this off, I am trying to accurately picture myself doing all this given the schedule of this impending baby.  My due date is September 3 so all this oldest-baby-off-to-kindergarten and first-day-of-preschool is going to be happening with me either one zillion weeks pregnant or with a 3-day-old baby.  Or heaven forbid, in the hospital.  AAAAACK.

Speaking of the new baby, I had my first dream about her/him. (Well, it's really a her, as we all know, right?)  I dreamed that the baby (who was a girl in the dream) came early and although had no health problems because of it, was very small, the size of the baby dolls that we have.  We had to come home from the hospital almost immediately, like within hours of the birth, because I had to pick Grace up from school, with this tiny baby in a sling.  Also, we hadn't decided on a name yet and Rob and I were having these big fights about what to name her.  He wanted to name her something really flowery with some wacky alternative spelling (HA!) but I was having none of it. So hopefully none of this actually happens, although gosh, I really have no idea what we're going to do for a name if we are having a third girl. Also, my subconscious is pretty obvious about its concerns, no?