I've known for a couple months now that Colin's current babysitter, the fabulous Miss Christa, would be closing up the daycare as soon school is out for the summer and I no longer have to work every day. She loves daycare, but it isn't a job you do as your sole means of income...it just doesn't pay that well. You either keep a few kids and provide quality care, thereby not making near what you are worth...or you are in it for the money and follow the philosophy "the more the merrier" and your kids don't get the care and attention they deserve.
Anyway, knowing about this I've had to look at different options for care for Colin and it's been a grueling process. I looked at the CDC on base and that is not for us. No actual learning takes place there, it's essentially supervised playtime for 10 hours a day. The big kicker for me was hearing 24 3 year olds to 2 adults in a room and they are not allowed to punish or use consequences, only redirect the kids. So no time out or anything, just "here let's go play with this super fun truck toy instead of hitting your friend and having a fit." Um, NO. I want my kid to learn certain behaviors are just not tolerated anywhere, home or school. Next option please.
I really want Colin to attend some kind of preschool where he can learn and play. He's a smart kid and I think a little bit of time being made to sit and pay attention to things would do him good. German Kindergartens are wonderful and cheap, but due to a change in the laws here requiring them to accept children as young as 2 now, there are very few spots not taken by German children and most of the American children have been forced out. Unfortunate as it may be for me, I completely understand we are guests here and considering they pay taxes to ensure their children get spots and cheap care they have every right to boot us if they don't have the room. So that is not an option.
There are a few privately run American preschools here that are sort of co-op type places, where you pay a crapload of money to be a part owner and your kid can attend. There are also a few churches that offer preschool. However, my dilemma is that the few preschools that are here operate from 9-3 daily, and I need care from 7-4 so I can work. The only preschool that offers before and after care is kind of a snobby preschool and it's pricey. It's one of those competitive parent places where they all get together and one up each other with their overachieving kid stories. The four year old curriculum mirrors the standards and expectations of what DOD schools require of kindergarteners in elementary school. In my opinion it's a little too "academic" for 3-4 year olds. Then there is the cost, which would run me roughly 750 Euro A MONTH for before and after care and preschool. With the crap ass exchange rate at the moment, it's roughly $900-$1000 A MONTH for PRESCHOOL. That's not even getting into the hundreds of Euro it costs just to enroll the kid. Yea, I considered it briefly because I was running out of options, but thankfully I passed.
So then I decided to start looking for home-school preschools. Smaller in home places run by providers only taking in kids from 3-5 years old instead of all age ranges. I was so happy to find a lady that offers just that, the curriculum is great, she is super nice and she is certified and monitored by the base as a provider. I met with her last week and I think Colin will do great there. She follows The Learning Box Preschool Curriculum which looks really fun and it teaches letters, shapes, colors and numbers. I'm so excited for him and I hope he does well there in the fall when he starts.
Today we got a trial run at the preschool because Miss Christa wanted a 4 day weekend and asked if I could make other arrangements for Colin for today. So I asked the new sitter/preschool if he could come today for drop in care and she had room so she said sure. She said Colin did pretty good, got along well with the kids and had fun. He wasn't too interested in circle time or sitting at the table for "school" time when asked, but once he saw what the other kids were doing he ran right over to join them and participated. She said he would leave the table and go off for a minute, but then come back and participate again pretty quickly. I was happy to hear that because the concept of being made to sit and work as part of a group is completely foreign to him. He and I will sit and color and do projects, but he usually loses all interest pretty fast and wants to go play with toys. So it will take some getting used to for him. Colin was so proud of his art work today. The kids made flags for Memorial Day and they made a mosaic rainbow. I pulled it out of his bag when we got home and he was all smiles showing it off to me and then he proudly hung it on the fridge for me when I asked. So sweet! My little boy is getting so big!
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