School Time

Since it finally looks like we are going to get rid of a second mortgage and get a bunch of debit paid off I decided to go look at the Montessori school that I have been hoping to enroll Cameron in. The poor girl has been asking for months to go to school and I just kept telling her she had to be a bit bigger before she could go. I didn't think she would understand the concept that Mommy and Daddy couldn't afford it. LOL So her and I went this morning for a drop in visit. I was really pleased with the school in how it was set up, the size of it, the real personal interaction that went on with the teachers and children. The main focus of their program is to teach the children basic life skills, independence and diversity among people. They do follow a curriculum, but the children are guided into different areas of development and at their own pace. If your child is not real strong in language arts they will guide them more in that area rather than everyone sitting at desks learning the same things at the same time weather they are up to speed with it or not. I think this type of school is what is best for Cameron right now being that her academic skills are a little advance and her social interaction is on the lower end of the spectrum. She would be in a class with kids age 3-5 so she can learn the social skills that children her age should have and at the same time learn on the academic level of 4 and 5 year olds since she is past that level of a typical 3 year old.

The only issue I have is that they are dropping the part time week and only offering full weeks. I had planned on her only going 2 (maybe 3) days a week for a half day, but starting in the summer they are dropping the 3 days a week and only offering 5 days a week. She would still only go a half day though from 8-12. I am not sure I am ready for that. I guess if it looked like she needed a break I could break the week up by not sending her on Wednesday's and just eat the tuition for that day. I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

The school also offers extra activities (for an extra charge of course) like art, music, gymnastics and dance. I didn't get the fees on those but hopefully they are reasonable. I would like her to do one or 2 a month. She will do French lessons though which is included in the tuition which I thought was interesting. The tuition cost is much more reasonable then I was expecting it to be so it looks doable assuming the sale of the house goes through. If I put her in the summer program she will start at the end of May or beginning of June. If I wait until fall she won't start until August. I plan to put her in the summer program if the cards fall right.