Preschool Jitters

I have been blogging the last few months on how my first born, Cody bear, has transformed from a baby to a big boy. Being a SAHM, I have had all the control in raising him and thinking of preschool a year ago made me physically ill. I am a control freak and to think of letting someone else have a hand in instilling values and lessons in my child was just a hard pill to swallow.

I started to SLOWLY add the things I have blogged about in the Baby to Big Boy series into our schedule so it would allow Cody the opportunity to spread his wings f and also allow me time to get use to not having him 24-7! I think each step did make it an easier transition for both of us and I like that we EASED into it!

I had looked for months and months at Preschools. I found a few great lists of questions to think and ask about when looking at Preschools:

How to select great childcare
4C Checklist: Selecting a quality Preschool Program 
GREAT Parent Tour Evaluation Form to print off and take with you to each place

After asking all my questions over the phone, I narrowed places down based off of that and then went on tours. All of them were great, but my final decision was based on several things:

• Location: I had to have something close. I wanted to be able to come home and lay Grayson down for a nap while Cody was at school. Also factoring in my time and gas money so the closer the better :)
• Cost: We are on a budget and although I would love to be able to not have to consider that, it was a factor.
• Curriculum/ Teaching styles: This has really taken me some time to decide how I want to parent in regards to teaching my children. I thought I wanted to have time every day to sit down and make him do something educational, but I have come to realize that he has the rest of his life for that. For our family, learning through play is what is right for us so we just have fun and learning takes place that way. I wanted a school like that. Learning through play is really important to me.
• Mine and Cody’s comfort level at the facility: I have to say that I thought we would end up going with this other preschool because EVERYONE I knew was sending their kids and it had everything on paper I was looking for. However, when we went on the tour it just didn’t feel right. The preschool we chose just felt like it was meant to be for us. What I loved about it is that they offer a Mommy and Me Bible class you can take which is based off of a preschool class. So the kids are able to become familiar with the facility, staff and I was able to really get to know everyone and everything about the school. The teacher who taught that bible class will be Cody’s teacher and he will be in the room for Preschool that we were in for bible class. We both became so comfortable there and I fell in love so it became the easy choice. Many of the school I looked at offered these pre- preschool programs and I think it is a great way to get a feel for things and acclimate the kiddos!
• Referrals: I really narrowed the list based off of referrals from friends that have their kids in those preschools. It is nice to get a behind the scenes look from people who are experiencing the school first hand.

When I finally made my decision I was relieved! I didn’t really give it a second thought after that… UNTIL the last few weeks! Now that we are drawing near to the start of school, my nerves were getting the best of me and I almost considered pulling him out! lol! I did end up getting all of the necessary paperwork and first tuition payment into the school yesterday and it was surreal! I feel like it is my first day of school and it is funny that I am the one with the Preschool Jitters!

How many of you are starting the Preschool process? What have you found to be the hardest or most challenging part? Are you as nervous as me to send your kiddos off to the real world?!