Wow! Daycare heaven!

The fam went together to check out a preschool this morning, and i think it's fair to say we were ALL blown away. The building is easily 2,000 square feet of basically open space (there is one foyer room and the rest is only subdivided by things like shelving and little stations. And the stations they have, too! Painting easels, dress up clothes, drawing with crayons, markers, scissors, oh my!

Outside they have a huge lot (not sure how many acres, but i'm guessing 5ish), with probably 1/2 acre fenced, with playground equipment, outdoor rustic buildings, even a chicken coop! Rain or shine, as long as it's above freezing and not thundering, the kids are free to go inside or outside in the fence. One teacher is outside while another is inside, and the third goes where the most kids are. They also have a creek outside the fence, and the kids keep rain boots so they can go explore the creek some days.

The school is inspired by the Reggio-Emilia style of learning, which is yet another Italian alternative education system similar to Montessori and Waldorf. In a two-dimensional explanation, Reggio is child-led, but more group-based than Montessori, and with more of the imaginative play that makes Waldorf fabulous, but without the crazy anthroposophic junk. They even had black crayons! LMAO! And zero gnomes in sight!

Another really neat thing about this particular school is the Green Circle program. Green Circle was started in the 60's to improve race relations, and they use it in this school. There's a green circle painted on a clear wall in the "foyer" area, and each child has photo of themselves that they can put inside the circle when they feel happy and included, and outside the circle when they feel excluded. It's a physical representation of inclusion, and it allows the other children to step in and help the child feel more included.

So, all that sounds great, right? Well, it was better than that! Unfortunately, there are some logistical problems. 1) The school is for kids ages 2 1/2 to 5. Which means theoretically she can't start until December, BUT they have a sometimes-bendable rule against kids starting mid-year prior to their third birthday, and 2) the school only goes to 2:30 pm, so we'd have to figure out after-school care. Sigh. We're going to write a letter to see if she can get in this December. And meanwhile we're going to try to find a mother's day out program for summer so that Alan can at least get a couple few mornings a week to get some yardwork, housework, chores, writing, or sleeping done!