Yesterday I was looking up preschool possibilities for Kyle (and potentially Kelly). I know, I probably should have been doing this way before July. In fact around here it seems that sign-ups for preschool are in January. January? Because that's exactly the time I would expect to think about a new school year starting in September, 9 months away. But wait, it gets better.
So I was happily googling preschools in the area and I clicked on a few and finally made my way to the tuition page. $8,865 a year. That has to be a misprint. And then there was another for $7000 a year. I finally found one for $125. Doh! That's per week. I could show you more but frankly I'm feeling rather sick to my stomach.
Toto, we're not in Ohio anymore...
I did find two decent looking co-ops for less than what I spent on my first car. But co-ops of course mean I have to help and as you know, I have gobs of spare time laying around. Especially since both co-ops have the audacity to schedule their 3/4 year old class (Kelly) and pre-K program (Kyle) at completely different times so I'd be stuck with one child during the other's class. And the whole point of preschool is to free me of my children for a few hours, right? **
The public school actually offers a pre-K program at another elementary school location (i.e. I have to drive past my elementary school and 2 others to get there) but they only accept, how shall I put it? Kids who don't speak English as their first language, have birth defects, and/or live at the poverty line. The last one confuses me. If your income is that low, how the hell are you living in this school district in the first place? Although paying the mortgage on a $650,000 house definitely makes one feel like they are living in poverty afterwards.
So... I guess I should make some phone calls and see if there's even any available spots. I am so missing Ohio and our YMCA and $100 a month pre-K program. (And they also have a 3/4 year old class at the exact same time plus 10% off the second child's fees. *wistful sighs*) I'll also check with my neighbors but since that worked so well with finding a babysitter, they probably think paying more for a year of preschool than college tuition is normal.
** I'm already "homeschooling" most of the basics so the real point of sending Kyle to preschool is to get him used to classrooms and teachers in general. I'm thinking it may be cheaper to rent a classroom and teacher.
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