The Search for the Perfect Pre-School

Eli's going to be 3 in the fall which means that we can send him to pre-school. We hemmed and hawed about this but decided that Eli would benefit greatly from spending some time with other kids and adults, being in a school environment (afterall almost every kid and adult he knows goes to school) and spending some time away from mom and dad. Eli's gotten pretty clingly lately especially after he watched Nemo (only up to the scene where Nemo was taken by the scuba-diver) and deemed it the scariest movie ever and now refuses to be in a different room then we are in. So, we're on a mission to find the perfect pre-school. I know it's a bit early but classes fill up fast especially the morning times at good schools. We started searching for schools that are within a very close driving distance from our house (yes, that was our only standard). Turns out that there are about a gazillion that are pretty close to our house so we had to narrow our search down to those that are close to our house and to those that were recommended by someone (who could be a perfect stranger). We visited three this week and have two more on our list. Eli seems to like them all. Sadie too, but I don't think she knows that she's not going to pre-school--at least not in Columbus, Ohio. I really didn't think that pre-schools could be so different, but we were surprised. We visited a very "hippie" school that allows lots creative and free play, but that seemed to be about all they had planned and well, we do that at home and it just didn't seem to be a good fit for this family. I really like things neat and orderly and clean and I love schedules and plans and this school just didn't seem to have that though I do wish that I could be more creative and laid-back and I want my kids to be that way, but I really want a school-like environment that has a set curriculum and follows standards and does progress reports. We found that in another school we visited. I really like this school because it is a school and the kids were learning and having fun and following rules and reading and writing. We also visited a Private Catholic school which we also really liked and perhaps like it more than the other one as it had a very family-like atmosphere, but tuition is a bit higher and classes are a bit shorter. Only two more to check out before final decision time. Hopefully, we'll know be next Friday!

I'm also hoping to get some pictures this week of Eli and Sadie at gymnastics, which they both love, love, love. Sadie can't get enough of the trampoline and Eli totally digs the foam pit. We practically had to drag Eli out of there, which is saying a lot because he's always ready to leave.

Yes, it was 70 degrees here this week, which always scares the crap out of me even though we were outside non-stop. January and seventy degrees in Ohio just shouldn't go together. But, the week before that it was cold and snowy and we took the kids sledding. Eli loves the groovy hat...