anxieties tend to congregate. It seems, Austin is one of these places now? Is it that there are too few awesome preschools in this lovely river city? Is it that Austin is somehow plagued by inert contraceptive pills? Is it just that all of America has been taken over by the culture of starting the road to Harvard at 18 months of age? ...I certainly hope not.
Don't get me wrong; I'm a teacher and obviously very pro-education of all sorts. Get 'em while they're young! But my fetus is barely old enough to reveal its genitals to the looming eye of a sonogram, and starting the preschool schmooze-fest seems a little silly at this point.
But, if these are the rules of the game, I shall abide by them.
I've made an impressive spreadsheet (if I do say so myself) of all the preschools in Austin which may be a good fit for our family...Montessori heavy, of course a lot of language immersion options. I've included a column in the sheet for comments on ethnic/cultural diversity info since I think the battle against a lily-white landscape must begin early. There is also a column that holds information on what age ranges they work with, in case we want to continue on at the school into elementary.
Honestly, my interest in preschool isn't focused on trying to gain an edge on academics--I could lead that process at home quite nicely--it's really about
socialization. Beyond the tasks of making friends and sharing toys, I think the lessons of tolerance, patience, self-reliance, cooperation, compassion, and living in harmony with our environment need to start as early as possible. And, I think many of these lessons are learned best when a child is working within a larger community of children.
(18 weeks pregnant)
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