Sunday, February 15, 2015

Mills College Children's School

Our first of two preschool applications is complete!

Louis and I toured the Mills College Children's School last month and came away completely impressed with their program, staff, and facility.  I was kind of hoping I wouldn't love it because Mills is ten times the cost of our local co-op preschool for the same amount of time.  But, we both agreed that we would love for Olivia to go to school there.

The only real drawback about Mills (aside from cost), is that there is no parent involvement in the classroom.  We are applying for the program that is only 8:30 am to noon each day, so it's not like it will be a full, long day for O, but she won't get to see me at all while she's in school.  I know this will be *so* hard for her (and me!) at first.  What I don't know is how long it will continue to be an issue.  My biggest fear is that we get accepted to Mills, we pay the tuition, and O hates it.  Ugh.

Of course, it's always possible that she could have a hard time at first but come to love it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that option.  Fall is a long way from now and the cling-to-mom stage we're in now could be over.  It could happen, right?

Louis and I stayed up until 1:30 this morning agonizing over our essay answers for the application, including the "tell us about your diversity" question.  We finally just agreed that what we have is good enough.  We printed a family photo and a photo of just O and assembled the payment, photos, and application on fancy paper in a nice folder to make the best possible impression, since we honestly have no idea what our chances are of getting in.

Applying to preschools is such a nerve-wracking experience.  I think either school would be fine.  I love the school at Mills but I know it's about what's best for O, not for me.

We'll walk our application in on Tuesday and then what will be, will be.  If we get in, we'll know by getting an acceptance letter on March 20th.  We'll then have one week to decide if we want to enroll and the $1000 deposit is due then.  Yikes!

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