Preschool: The Novel

(In other words, a really, really long post).

One late night, way back in December 2008, I applied (Jett) to 18 different preschools. I filled out the applications (hard copy) and stuffed them each in separate envelopes from midnight to 2:00 am that night. You should know that I had to print out 18 different copies and hand write the name of each school on each one, even though the rest of the application was exactly the same. Then I had to print out and fill in two additional, different applications, because two of the schools were so confusing that I couldn't figure out which application they required. I had to do this in the middle of the night, because I was doing this the day before the applications were due.

Considering all of the work it takes to navigate the Chicago Public School system, it seems crazy to leave the applications to the last minute, but somehow I had forgotten about the deadline. Luckily a friend of mine happened to mention it, in an offhand way, the day before the applications were due. This friend of mine was still a "new friend" then, in that we were still kind of getting to know each other. So when I gasped and told her that I hadn't even researched any schools yet and had absolutely no idea how to get started, I felt like a total schmuck. Thankfully she emailed me the list of all of the schools that she applied to. So I just went down her list and applied to the same ones. Now that's some responsible parenting, right there.

Jett got accepted to 2 of the 18 programs. Isn't that crazy? Two. Now to be fair, I was applying to schools outside of our neighborhood. Meaning, the only way he could get in to any of those schools was through the lottery system. In other words, those schools accept all of their neighborhood kids first, then if they have any spaces left over, they accept kids from outside the neighborhood, through a lottery system. I called one school that I hadn't heard from, just to follow up, and was told that he was number 201 on the waiting list. What?!?! So 2 schools out of 18 isn't so bad. I know some kids who didn't get in to any schools at all. It's enough to make you want to move to the 'burbs.

Another crazy thing is, we didn't know which schools we were accepted to until the week of registration, which was in May. So we didn't have a chance to observe the classrooms or research the schools until it was time to register. Therefore, we registered at both schools, and planned to observe the classes later and then decide. But that was before we drove to the schools. It turned out that one of the schools that accepted Jett was too far of a drive for us, so we nixed that one right away. The other school was only 10 minutes away. Decision made. Or so we thought.

Finally it dawned on me that we hadn't ever considered our neighborhood school. Our neighborhood school is only 2 blocks away - how convenient! But we had some perceived drawbacks. First, we didn't know anyone who applied to that school, none of our friends had ever heard of it and we wondered why. (Granted, there are 401 preschools in the Chicago Public School system.) Secondly, it appeared to have a 90 % poverty rate. We didn't know if that mattered or not, but we did know that the "good" preschools that everyone talked about didn't have poverty rates that high. (During our tour of the school we learned that this school, like many others, I'm sure, inflates their numbers of poverty-stricken students in order to secure more federal funding). I don't know what to think about that. Finally, Jett would likely be the only white kid in preschool, and maybe in the whole school (which goes up to 8th grade). As the assistant principal said when she took us on the tour and bent down to the stroller to see Kai, "Oh, look at his eyes! We never see blue eyes here!" While I was enchanted with the prospect of being immersed in a different culture (at least for a couple of hours a day), we wondered what it would be like to be the only white kid in school. At any rate, on the last day of registration I walked over and signed Jett up to go to that school too. A few days later we toured the school, and we liked it. A few days after that I observed the preschool class. There were no windows in the room, and the class was a little chaotic. During free play time, a couple of the kids simply laid on the floor, and I had to break up a couple of "tussles", but other kids moved from station to station and played quite well. I assumed this was normal. The teacher was nice. I left thinking it was a fine choice. I felt good about the prospect of attending, and supporting our neighborhood school.

Then that afternoon I observed the preschool class at the school that is 10 minutes away, and it was fantastic. The day was organized better, and the kids accomplished more during the day. They used the dress-up clothes and played with the puzzles and blocks. They didn't argue over toys - they had a system of taking turns. They counted to 20 without help. They sang songs in three languages. They played and played and played and never seemed to get bored. Their teacher only had to ask them to do something once, and they did it, and she didn't have to raise her voice. This was the clear winner.

Preschool Fantastic is 5 days a week, 2.5 hours per day. It's in the Chicago Public School System, it's called Preschool for All, and it's free. Today was our first day.

Some of you know Jett, and you know how...tempermental he can be. How at the beginning of the summer he would be too shy to walk in to his friend's house, and would instead spend 10 minutes on the porch, getting used to the idea of coming inside. How he would spend the day talking about how excited he was to meet his friend at the park after lunch, but then get to the park and refuse to talk to his friend for the first 10 minutes of play time. But he's been turning a corner this summer. He runs into his friend's house now. He spent 3 nights at his grandparents'. He wants to walk around the block by himself.

You can imagine that we've been talking about preschool quite a bit these last few weeks. We've been driving to the school to play on the playground. We've been talking about all of the fun things there are to play with. We've been singing the songs they sing (My Country Tis of Thee, for example). What Jett has been most excited about is painting. He keeps saying he can't wait to get to preschool and paint.

Today was our first day of Preschool Fantastic. He bounded into the room. He followed directions, he raised his hand to stand up in front of the class, walk to the whiteboard, and point out the letter that his name starts with. He wanted to get picked for a classroom "job". He sang the songs, he sat quietly, he waited in line. He got praised by his teacher for sitting so nicely. Best of all, he painted. He loved it.

I loved it. I loved watching him move with confidence among so many new people. (There are 20 students, and every single student had at least one parent who stayed today. Some of them had siblings and strollers tagging along. The classroom was crowded and chaotic. Jett was cool, calm, and collected.) I loved watching him play with messy things (paint, the water table) that we don't have the space or patience to set up for him at home. I loved watching him wanting to follow the directions, and for the most part, being able to.

Tomorrow Charlie is going to take him to school, and probably stay through the class with him, and I'm a little jealous already, because after tomorrow he might not need us to stay anymore. Then my little window into his day is going to disappear. But that's fine, because today he did great. I think we made a good choice. I think he's going to keep doing great.

Whew!

The first day of school, in between smiles. He smiled all day!