Hi,

Thought I would start a "How is school going for your preschooler?" thread as I haven't seen one going yet for this year.

DS4 is at a mixed age (3-5) half day structured sort of preschool. So far it's not as good as last year at a progressive sort of play based place, that one is not an option this year.

The main teacher at the new preschool is very open minded in some ways. She is actively trying to get to know him and I think he's beginning to like her. So that is good.

But it's a get ready for K sort of place. Of our choices it has one of the largest amounts of play, but sit down pay attention is still a large portion of the day. DS complains every time we go and generally when I've snuck a peek in he's not looking thrilled, when I pick him up he rushes out happy to leave (very unlike last year). Even subject matter he normally would like he doesn't there because the level is not right. For example his class is discussing how leaves fall off trees in the fall. He'd be more interested to hear that some broad leaved tree species are not deciduous in equatorial biomes.

The teacher describes him as sometimes engaged and seeming to enjoy it (I notice this is mainly days when he hasn't been in a long time) but mostly "tuned out". They have a variety of punishment systems and so far he's not been made to get to know those, except for a couple time outs for reasonable things.

The teacher openly says in a depressed voice that he's so far ahead she doesn't know what to do, and shrugs as if to say how can she be expected to know what to do. That to me seems like a good open-minded attitude in comparison with what it could be, it's probably the best I could hope for.

Because their program is so structured I'm not sure what to suggest to help -- I don't have ideas for how to differentiate for him that still include him still sitting there in the lengthy group times. I do notice they have put out some more complex books than they had out the first day although that could still use improvement.

The group of kids he'd like to play with at play time apparently tells him to go away. So that's not good. (At least there is a group he'd like to play with, there's potential in that). DS is bossy and controlling, his vocabulary is a bit different, and his enunciation is poor. Honestly if I was 4 or 5 I probably wouldn't want to play with him either. We are cracking down more at home about not playing "his way" so much, we have been way too indulgent about that -- hopefully that will help him get used to playing what other kids want to at least sometimes. Once in a while he has a great play experience at a park etc that I hope will sustain him in the meantime.

At home he's randomly gotten interested in learning Spanish, and has asked to take drawing lessons, so we'll do some things like that this fall.

We are also working on combatting his major fear these days of swinging too high and thus depriving himself of oxygen.

So how is preschool going for everyone else?

Polly

DS3 is loving preschool! He goes to a play-based school for 2.5hrs twice a week. They are semi-structured, but the main focus of every activity is to have fun, be respectful and polite, and to have more fun. One of his teachers also taught our DD and is now her art teacher. She assures us that he is doing great and having a great time. All the other teachers comment about his love for life and that he is one of the happiest children they have ever met.

To be critical, they are covering topics that he already knows (colours, shapes, numbers, etc) but he enthusiastically involves himself with all of the activities. It is such a small part of his day that I don't think he even notices that it is too easy for him. He would much rather focus on using all the red paint and commandeering the drive-on tractor during gym time. He is also learning to be more independent and to use his listening ears and inside voice. I am happy to cover any and all topics that interest him at home. Preschool is satisfying his social needs.

Mr W (3y7m) is in an all-day academic preK with 4 and 5 year olds. The material in PreK is Kindergarten level for the local publics.

They spend 2.5 hours in the AM and the same in the PM doing letters & words, writing, numbers, and then art in a rotating stations. They are read to twice a day. He plays outside for 30 min at least twice a day.

He knows all of the standard material in the class, so they give him worksheets from the 1st grade work books to do which he mostly does perfectly. For example, he is working on number sequences and filling the blanks, ie 1,3,5,, and spelling of simple words like F_ll or S_mmer.

He loves to sing and they introduce new songs every other week and he gets twice weekly piano lessons with the 5 year old kids.

He also gets to read on his own during nap time which is 1.5 hours - he does not nap. He can fluently read level 1/2 books on his own silently.

His comment to me after his first day was, "Daddy, the kids can talk!" when I picked him up.

The staff has been great, with just one funny comment when Mr W first started after they saw his age but she is now a big supporter. But Mr W's weakest skill, writing, is on par with the best kid in class - and he is very charming, too.

We had the option of starting him in K, but wanted to take things slow - and we already know that Mr W's target school for 1st will not take him as a 4.5 year old.

The school did assess him without asking us last week but to their credit, it was to make sure they were giving him appropriate self-study material. He has a baseline achievement test coming up and they already know not to use any age-based ceilings.

And best of all, he wants to go to school every day.

Sounds like a good fit Austin!

We hope so, too! He is enjoying it right now and is a sweet kid at home.

We thought his Montessori was a good fit, too, until he'd been in "primary" for a few weeks and his behavior issues began. If not for this board and reading all the posts, we'd not be sensitive to early warning signs.

Right now he is happy there so he'll more than likely finish Prek at 4 and then start K and finish that when he is 5.

We started ALEKS at home along with teaching him adult card games. He gets to stay up until 9 reading books as well. He has a ton of games on his computer now.

After he turns 5, the plan gets murky. We don't want him to sit out a year. But all schools throw up a lot of roadblocks for early entrance to 1st for five year olds. We think we can make adjustments now to ensure that any testing does not stop him, ie writing or specific achievement tests.

Our options for him at 5 years include early entrance to 1st at a Tier 1 private, or go into a PG program for a year at a public, then transfer into 2nd at to a Tier 1 private when he is 6. Then he will have options to accelerate for subjects easily in a school that routinely does it all under one roof.

Mr W is very social and extremely popular so he will love the school experience. But to develop fully, he will also need a high level of instruction in math and science that only PHD/MS in Math instructors can offer. This pretty much limits us to just a handful of schools.

Don't get too excited. One district will ability group them from 1st on, but the curriculum is really just working two grades ahead. Its fine for two years I am told then you need another option. Its the equivalent of skipping into 3rd when starting 1st.

Yes, in some of the privates a few kids each year start algebra in the 5th grade with calculus in the 9th grade with independent study in college level subjects after that. In some others, the kids can take college level courses after maxing out the math.

All of the privates here have a very strong commitment to supporting less fortunate but highly motivated kids with tuition assistance as well. PG kids have a very good shot of getting into any private no matter their parents' means. Given the choices in the DFW area, I am becoming convinced, after a year of researching this, that the private option should be the first choice for GT kids in the DFW area.

I've been checking out other preschool options more carefully and may have found a possible alternative to what DS4 is in now. I feel so relieved to have found even another possibility in our remote area! This school is a perfect example of a preschool style being determined by the teacher rather than the name on the sign, and why it's worth it to visit every single school.

This new one is an AMI montessori and the sign implies a heavy faith basis, but as it turns out the individual teacher is so relaxed in philosophy that most of what I saw during "work" time was actually free social play. It's spiritual side is limited and seems not too different than the time devoted to the pledge of allegiance at the old school.

It's small, and 3 of the kids are noticeably older than DS. The book the teacher read at group time had lots of words per page, actual text. They had actual conversation at group time. The group time was short. The teacher:student ratio is 1:5. There are downsides like time it starts and ratio of genders and intolerance of aggressive looking play-acting, but overall it seems like a way better fit.

There is not a kid who slaps other kids when the teacher isn't looking (at least I didn't see one), and no teachers saying phrases like, "zip your lips" in a semi yell, both things I saw when I observed recently in his current preschool.

So the next step is having DS go to the new one for a visit. We have had an awful lot of change in the last months so I really don't even know how to approach the idea with him -- as unpleasant as I now personally find his current school, he is used to it at this point and it's a lot to consider changing. My plan is have him visit the new one a few times "just to check it out" and make his own decision about where to attend.

I would be really interested to hear from anyone who considered switching preschool/K type schools part way in and had their child attend days at the new one before exiting the old. How did you approach that with your child? What did your child decide? Did any decide to stick with their old school just out of being in a comfortable rut with it? Did they choose the new school just because it was novel rather than fundamentally a better fit? How did you help them make a good choice but without manipulating them?

Thanks,

Polly

Mr W was at a Montessori prior to his current school. Things were fine until he moved into the class with the 3-5 year olds. It was not much of a move.

He exhausted the opportunities of his "primary" class there in four months. He had two 5 year olds in with him and the rest were his age. They did little writing, reading, and there were few books and the puzzles were 18 piece or less and the other toys were on the same level. In other words, at 3 he was working on stuff he knew at 18 months. He was withdrawing into himself and spent the majority of the day just goofing off with nothing that interested him. At home he became "spacey" not listening to us and just running around smashing stuff together rather than the boy we known before who sat and read his books, focused for hours on his computer, or who engaged with us for hours. He also did not want to go to school.

They "assessed" him with an in-house achievement test and then proudly presented it to us. They stopped at the 3 year old skills and did not go any further. All the stuff they assessed him on he had known for years and almost all of the 4 and 5 year old stuff he already knew. The teacher said he had a problem doing his work, which consisted of doing the 18 piece puzzle he could do when he was less than a year old. When I asked if she thought he was bored, she said no. LOL. It was pretty clear that he'd be stuck in there for the next two years. Not good.

We briefly looked at trying to get him into the K program there, but as he had just turned 3, the size difference was too much. We also looked at moving him to another room, but everything was the same. He was too far ahead of what they could offer.

So. We started looking for an academic Prek/K program that was flexible with stuff that had a component that he did NOT know and which introduced new material and found one that would work. We then began the discussion about Mr W's skills and what our current problems were and they agreed to bump him up on a trial basis.

Mr W visited the new school during the early part of the school day and did not want to leave. His visit was a big hit as well and helped the executive director feel comfortable with skipping him. We then had to give the other school notice. Mr W spent the next two days talking about his new school, and he was such a pest about it, that the old one relieved us of the 30 day notice and we moved him the next Monday.

The first day of school with the older kids he told us he really liked it and thanked us for moving him. A few weeks later the director said he was a great fit and we could put him in PreK or K our choice. He started Prek a few weeks ago and is still very happy.

We just recently started play dates with his 4/5 year old classmates and its still a secret that he is 3. He fits in great and you cannot tell that he is the youngest by 11 months.

Hi Austin,

What did the 5 year olds at Mr W's montessori spend their time doing?

I haven't ever seen a preschool with appropriate level materials just out available to use. Sometimes things are in a closet or up on top of a cabinet, but DS will not just go up to a teacher and say he is bored and ask what else there is, instead he will use imagination to make do. Stuff needs to be out.

This montessori teacher looks like she may be going to be open to changing materials somewhat. Thank you for your puzzle comment as that makes me realize to address that specifically (they had a 26 piece out but it was one that DS liked 2 years ago). I have a random selection of puzzles that DS hasn't done yet that I can rotate through there if she'll allow it.

We discussed books specifically (I accidently blurted out, "I don't see many books"), she said she would welcome donated books and be glad to make them available. The few books she had out were actually reasonable in level, so in that domain she was clearly following the needs of the two readers in the class rather than the pre-readers. I am hoping it's a strategy she applies to other areas as well.

That Mr. W moved through everything available to him in 4 months concerns me some. I do worry with a small class size and limited materials perhaps DS will be bored in 4 or 6 months. It certainly seems like those 4 or 6 months would be happier ones than at the current place though, so probably worth it even if the fit only lasted that long.

Polly

They stayed in "primary" until they started in-house K or went to K somewhere else. The same room Mr W was in. The teacher claimed they "worked" with them but I did not see any evidence of it.


Mr W has bounced around a bit. He was a preemie but with a high apgar and mature enough lungs so he went home like a normal baby. When we put him in daycare and he got sick a lot. So we pulled him out and got a nanny. She was great but Mr W was manipulating her. We then looked around for toddler care but Mr W was very advanced, ie already keyboarding, doing puzzles, yet still in diapers. We realized it would not be fair to him to put him in with other toddlers nor would it be fair to ask for him to be in preschool while in diapers. So, we found a home schooler who did in home daycare. That lasted about six months. We then put him in the Montessori right before he was 2. He was in their 2-3 class yet was reading, adding, doing any puzzle, and played with the kindergartners on the computer and their games. He moved up to primary at 2.5 and when he turned three the behavior issues began. It took us a couple of months to clue in and then we moved him again after a month of searching.

So, daycare, nanny, homeschooler daycare, montessori toddler, montessori primary, and now academic preK. It was either Kriston or Grinity who said you had to listen to your kids and make changes as they change.

Mr W will bounce along for a few weeks then make huge leaps. He will really get into something for a month or two then move to a new level. So, I hope this school can stay ahead of him, but it probably won't given past performance. Maybe once he can read at a 3rd grade level, he can sit by himself and read or do ALEKS as in place acceleration.

Children are resilient. School choice is a mighty big decision to give a child. Dr. Rimm talks and writes often about the V of love and how we often give kids so much responsibility and independence at a young age and then spend the rest of their development trying to pull it back.

I want my kids opinion on what a "good" school means to them. I want to be able to imagine their fit. But for us, grammar school isn't the time they get to pick on their own. They need to relax in the knowledge that it is my job to figure that out - with a if it doesn't feel right in 8 weeks - it isn't permanent. When kids switch schools higher up 2nd, 5th, 8th grade to a more challenging environment - there is a honeymoon period often followed by the perfectionist panic because in a more challenging environment they will risk being wrong - a new challenge to deal with for them. Just like a child's claim of boredom doesn't always equate to a lack of successful planning by the teacher... claims of ill fit in a more challenging environment may not be the unlying problem a child states.

Personally, I prefer social/play based pre-school options for most HG/PG kids. It is highly unlikely that most will find that places that academically nutures so instead of always hearing that your reader is learning an alphabet letter - better they learn to resolve conflicts, take turns, listen to a teacher (and fundamentally be prepared for the early entrance or grade skips they will need ;-).

With my demented yardstick - I took Grinity's advise all the time! Listen to your kids - because it is us - the parents - who need to make changes. Think Grinity or DYS counselor was best to keep pressing - one year, one semester, at a time.

That is what the Montessori program is. And Mr W was falling apart under it. He was acting his age when he was capable of being much more mature.

At 5pm, at the Montessori place, all the kids would be put in the gym to wait for parents to pick them up. The first week, Mr W got the Kindergarten kids to accept him and from then on spent time with them. He was 2 years old and these were the kids he connected with. He was tremendously happy being with them. And they really enjoyed him, telling me "he is really smart!" and "he is a lot of fun to play with!"

How can he learn anything socially if his classmates could barely talk? With whom could he talk about dinosaurs? Or play hide and go seek?

After his first day in PreK with kids 1-2 years older, his first comment to me was, "Daddy, they can talk!" - meaning his classmates.

Last night when we picked him up, he was working on the computer learning "big words" while the other kids 4-6 were running around playing. Sitting next to him was an 8 year old boy doing the same thing who was in after-school day care. They were talking back and forth about the game and how to get to certain sections.

Again, in which case is he learning to be social and forming bonds with others?

In my own recollections, I was tremendously lonely in school unless I was with older kids. I do not want that for him. He is much more social than I am to begin with - as well.

Reminds me of when DS at nearly 4 finally had a playdate with a compatible child. DS said, "He understood me. He stopped when I asked him to" in a relieved and slightly awed voice, as if this was very unexpected in a child. Poor kid.

Today we had a great start to our conversation about switching preschools... not...I conversationally mentioned to DS on the way home from preschool today that I'd been visiting other preschools the last couple weeks to see if there are any others that look interesting: he immediately burst into tears and abruptly changed the subject, refusing to talk about it further. He was so upset I still haven't found out if maybe he misunderstood my comment -- for example it could have been interpreted as me meaning we'd now send him to additional hours of preschool somewhere else. Or maybe he's just more unhappy about the current preschool than I realized. Or maybe he is upset about the general idea of changing schools even though I didn't get to that.

Sigh. Will give it a day and try again.

Polly

PS. Good comment kickball about not always leaving these big decisions up to the child. I agree that many times DS does not realize what details of an experience are making him upset or happy or which things have value, ie that he may not recognize challenge makes him happy and calm and that prolonged sitting without a intellectual focus makes him tense. My goal is to somehow ensure a smooth transition -- I want him to give the new school a chance and he's neurotic enough to forever hold it against the preschool itself that I sent him there against his will, if I did.

This our experience as well. DD(3y3m) loves going to her "real" preschool. (We do two other structured activities every week at the children's museum and botanical gardens that call themselves "preschool" but they are not "real" to her because I stay and participate.)

Her "real" school is strictly a play school (her favorite things are snack, playground, and playing cars with the boys,) so we have no issue with what they are teaching her. Also, she is in a small class of only 7 students that, save her, are very old for the class. The next youngest will turn 4 in December. The rest have been 4 for awhile now. I feel like that makes a big difference because the older children seem to challenge her socially and emotionally in a good way. There is a little girl in her class that will be 5 soon that has a really strong personality. Having to be independent from me and deal with older children will probably be the best thing we get out of this program. That, and just having barrels of fun. (To be honest all three programs are just outlets for her to act her age with other children. We needed that.)

Although they teach very little, the school still has a lot of expectations of the children--be a nice friend, use your listening ears, sit criss-cross applesauce at circle time--and I am told that despite her being the youngest in the class she is the best behaved. They call her "the observer." When chaos breaks out, she will sit and watch with a sparkle in her eye. She takes EVERYTHING in, and relates it all to me later in the day.

This school is great. The ECE director is fantastic. She does not believe in pushing academics onto young children in the traditional way. So, it is a perfect place for a child that has already learned how to read. We have really just lucked out with this school, with the class size, the ages, and did I mention the teacher has gifted certification?

We have also applied for 1 of 20 spots at a full time gifted academy for pre-K next year. At the very least we will get scores back that might help us with another school down the line. It seems insane to test children so young, but it is an outstanding program, and DD might need it.

Um, otherwise we supplement a lot at home. A LOT. But, this mostly consists of hands on learning while we are out and about, reading, watching youtube videos about subjects she asks for, or "conversations." We do no curriculums or table work. She plays by herself for hours at a time, no exaggeration. She is quite easy in that respect.

Our "conversations" in the past few weeks have covered what things are made of, cells, elements, chemical formulas--H20, O2, CO2, how we breath in oxygen, breath out carbon dioxide, the plants reverse, photosynthesis, the color spectrum, the dwarf planets, (thankfully we have moved on from history ATM,) compound words, and just tons of word power, lol. Today we were talking about the difference between using the word "random" and "anonymous."

It is surprising just how well she fits in at preschool, but she really does. She is shy and has an easy-going temperament. She blends right in I think. Maybe if it was a full time 8-5 kind of day we would have problems. I don't know.

Hanni is at a preschool that is mostly structured play, which they are awesome at. Every day there is some new clever activity or type of toy or puzzle to engage the kids. When I go pick her up, I may find her running up a gym-mat ramp and leaping onto a huge pillow, or taking turns on a rope swing that's been temporarily hung from the walnut tree, or painting her own face wild colors in front of little stand-up mirrors they've set up on the tables, or dancing to international folk songs. They also do Spanish semi-immersion.

BUT . . . they do do some "academics," with learning letters and so on. Frankly, I'm not crazy about this, but I'm okay with it so far because 1) Hanni is not a reader yet, and 2) it's a small part of the day. Hanni's small-scale spatial skills are not up to speed with the rest of her intelligence (she's hopeless with puzzles, for example), so her brain is simply not reading-ready yet. Learning to recognize the letter H is just a fun challenge for her at this point. But I do worry, what happens if she suddenly turns into a reader within the next year? Is she going to spend her pre-K year stuck practicing the letter H still?

(This is why I have a problem with academics in preschool. Some kids just aren't ready (Hanni is not going to read at this age no matter how much they teach her), and the kids with the early-reader brains have already blown past that stage. The number of kids who are on that cusp, who are really at a point to take advantage of reading instruction, is going to be really small.)

I guess we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it. Meanwhile, we're lucky to be in a program that's a very very good fit for her needs right now.

Annette, I think you and I are just using different definitions of "academic." The program you are describing sounds almost exactly like the one my child is in.

Hi again Annette, I wrote that in a hurry and I think it may have sounded snarky when I didn't mean it to. In my original message, what I was calling "academics" was JUST the pre-reading activities -- and it sounds like we agree that neither your child nor my child particularly need these, for opposite reasons! All the rest, learning about bugs and the ocean and outer space and world cultures and music, that's all good, and I think it's up for grabs whether you call that "structured play" or "academics."

Cheers,
Meg

Personally, when I think of "academic" preschools I think of "promises to teach" and expectations and pressure on the children to learn. I also think of learning through lessons rather than play and "tests" (continued evaluations of the children to mark where they are at.)

Where we used to live these preschools were expensive and were advertised and geared to teach pre-reading skills as well as the skills needed to do well on the IQ tests taken to get into the exclusive private schools in the area.

I think it is a semantic issue, which might be location-specific. Here play based do a lot of early literacy/numeracy but those are integrated in the flow of play activities. Lots of attention given to motor/sensory issues too.

Whereas the "academic" programs in the area have 3-5yo kids sitting all day memorizing phonics, sight words and math operations, pretty much Kumon style. My friend's 4 yo had maybe 2x30mn of outside play a day.

I guess the definitions are different where Annette is?

A happy update on preschool:

DS4s tears when I mentioned "checking out other preschools" the other day turned out to be that he is unhappy in the current one, moreso than I realized. He was very open to visiting a different one. We've done that now and he enjoyed it and we are now pretty sure we are going to switch.

Some of the differences, many of which were only visible to me after actually seeing him in both settings:

In the current one the percentage of speech that is by the teachers through the day is much higher. The content of that is maybe 10% personal questions or neutral comments to individual kids and 90% is management, mostly reminding them to sit still, not be too loud, not run, or top down sorts of whole group questions made in a loudish voice such as "is this a letter or number?" (only loud so that everyone can hear over the hub-bub of distracted kids). All the little boys look squirmy and distracted for much of group time.

The new one the teachers are quieter and maybe 10% is directives such as "everyone, group time", or reminders to sit still. 90% is discussion, interested questions, questions on how the kids would like to manage something, taking votes, or answering questions from the kids. The children are not too loud or running excessively, because they are busily engaged with things they enjoy doing. There is never a "criss cross applesause" or "zip your lips", because it's okay if the kids lounge a little and the kids are listening because the topic is worth paying attention to.

There is more verbal interaction between the kids both related to information or academics (for example arguing over species names during free play) and cooperative (asking to help a kid do a puzzle). The teachers are always circulating engaged with some child in some way versus more of an over-seeing role. At group time nearly every child looks engaged.

The ratio oddly enough is identical, so it's not that there's more kids per teacher at the first. However the new one is smaller overall and perhaps that naturally fosters more of a individual approach.

In terms of schedule, in the first there is more group time, about 1/2 the time is full group. In the second there is only maybe 1/5th of the time in full group activity.

Yet the content at the second is more advanced and academic in some ways. The alphabet is taught individually or in twos via activities to kids that are at that level so one doesn't encounter it if not at the level for it. Particular facets of academics such as reading are pushed only if a parent has identified a need. But the teachers aim high in group discussion or the choice of topic at group time, then individually explain to kids who are lost. For example, the stories they read have at least some words that would be unfamiliar to most kids, and can have fairly convoluted plots.

Group activities the day he visited the new one: listening to a girl show and tell stories she had written (actually scribbly pictures she'd drawn and she would explain what they meant), the kids freely asking her questions about them, "is that the pumpkin?", "what happened to the little girl?". The other main activity was composing a song as a group where each child contributes a line and the teacher writes them all down and rearranges, helps with flow. And 5 min of weather, date etc at the beginning. One teacher read a story.

Having seen an alternative, I really feel now that a year at DSs current school would have set him up poorly for starting school. Taught him that teachers are often ignorable, taught him that it's normal to feel squirmy during school and pent up by the time it's over, that it's normal to be chastised for just being you, that there's nothing one can do about those feelings, taught him that there is nothing at the blackboard worth paying attention to and that it's not worth speaking up to answer questions. He may end up learning some of those things later but why have an extra year of that kind of brainwashing?

The new one hopefully will teach him other aspects of school: more about conversational turn taking, that you get higher level answers when you ask higher level questions, that teachers know a lot, that other kids have interesting things to say sometimes, etc.

Okay so I'll post again after the honeymoon is over, LOL, in a few weeks I'll probably have something I don't like about the new one -- but right now it's just glowing in comparison.

Polly

Great news Polly.

One thing Mr W's school does is let him do something different from the other kids when he has the planned activity down.

For instance, during puzzle time, which is 10-20 piece puzzles, they let him play on the computer or read.

To me this shows a high level of tolerance and maturity for the staff.

Yes Austin can you tell by my writing a book I'm incredibly relieved. As DH said today it was seeming a long way til June. Now we just see if they agree he's a good fit.

That is really nice your son's preschool recognizes individuality. Sure there are going to be many times throughout the next 15 years when a child has to sit through something boring, but at 3 or 4 it seems like repeated experiences of that teach only negative stuff.

Polly

Our next task is to get him into a private that goes through grade 12.

We've been to several two weeks and have another tomorrow. The "tier 1" privates in DFW are pretty amazing. I've talked to a lot of kids who go there, to current parents, staff, and looked at every classroom.

We've learned a lot from other parents and from the school staff. I can already tell Mr W will love any of the "tier 1" schools but we are more concerned about where they will place him and whether its appropriate for him or not.

The one thing I've found out is that the top privates appear to have just one kid in every other class who is PG ( PG kids seem to be always admitted no matter the number of slots ) and most of the kids are HG and a few are MG. Perfect place for GT kids. I've got some reservations, too.

I'd love to post the rest of my impressions, but until Mr W gets in, I'm keeping my mouth shut.

DD is still loving preschool. It is a fantastic fit for her. It is all very normal, and there is no drama. She laments about wishing to go more days than just two, and she has made a best buddy-- a 4-year-old boy. One teacher shared with me that she has never seen anything like it in over ten years in the business. It is just really sweet. They lay on the floor together and read the same book. They play dragon on the playground. He gives up his chair for her, tells her to sit in the shade, reminds her to wear her hat, and they are just inseparable.

At home she is also starting to really enjoy card and board games. She beat us at Uno the other day and teased, "did you ever think that a three-year-old could beat you?!" She plays her cooperative games by herself almost daily. I have caught her counting and adding dots on the dominos. And, she is actually spelling out words with her Bananagrams, rather than just sounding out her experiments. She does this all on her own without me even in the room. I spy.

Developmentally, her imagination is soaring. She is telling tall tales regularly and lying with intent. We have lots of magical thinking and arguments with inanimate objects about why they need to be cleaned up, etc.

DS3 is still loving 'treeschool'. He is such a boy, though.... when I picked up his school pictures last week there was a class picture included with the package. I asked him to tell me who the kids were. He told me that the teachers were all named Mrs. Quinn and he pointed out his best friend. He did not have a sweet clue who the other kids were. To him, school is about red paint, singing "I've been working on the railroad, and snack time. He is just so completely normal in that school and I LOVE it!!

Which preschool is your child at right now,if I may ask, Austin? I am located in the North Texas area too and am finding that "Montessori" schools and several of the daycares are not really a good fit for my 3-yr-old son. Would love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.