The Preschool Experience

His costume for his graduation performance

After months and month of debating, we finally decided to put our son in preschool halfway through this school year before he starts kindergarten (in August!).  We weren't really concerned for his academics, but felt that socially & emotionally he would benefit from having a little more experience with peer interaction in a classroom setting.

There are no great preschool options near our home, which made for a long searching process.  We wanted it to be somewhat convenient for pick-ups and drop-offs, so we decided to go with a preschool housed within a church very close to hubby's work.  That way, at least he could help with early morning drop-offs.  We were extra blessed when observing in the 4 & 5 year old classes, to find that a lady who attends our church & we've known through the softball team was one of the teachers.  She was so nurturing and attentive to the kids, as well as very calm and soothing when she interacted with them.  We felt she would be a good match for our sensitive child (who was already pretty un-excited about going to preschool), so we signed him up!

Thank you Ms. Lori!

The past 5 months our son has definitely benefited from going to preschool.  He has learned a lot more social skills (some "street smarts" as well) and we think this has helped build more confidence for him.  Even just the process of separating from his family to attend school has been good for him (although he would hotly contend that it wasn't).  On top of that, our child (who I could not get to pick up a pencil and write anything more than his name) is writing numbers and sight words quite well.  Well, at least it is a huge improvement and one I'm sure his kindergarten teacher will be thankful for!

Last night was his "graduation" (still a funny word for me to use to describe finishing preschool), and he was very proud.  His class sang a few songs and they got to walk across the stage and get a "diploma."  He was really into the tassel that hung off his cap and that he got to take home with him.  (This morning when he woke up, he even made another tassel for his Papa out of paper and string-- totally designed and created all by himself).  After the graduation program, his grandparents took him out to ice cream.  It was a fun way to celebrate completing this experience.

Judging from his behavior (let's just say our son doesn't deal with change well), and a few comments he's made, he definitely understands that this is an ending of a stage of his life.  He's already let us know that he's not looking forward to kindergarten, where he has to go to school 5 days a week.

Today he told me a few times, "This is my first day of vacation."  This cracks me up, since he was only in preschool two days a week for 5 months, so pretty much his whole life has been "vacation," but whatever, I think this makes him feel important and like other older kids he knows who have been in school all year.

So on to vacation!  I plan to enjoy the next couple of months before we tackle kindergarten.  I hope you and yours have a fun and relaxing summer too!