Today I went to a "Kindergarten Tea" with Z. No, she's not going into kindergarten yet, but she will be in pre-K next year, and we have heard mixed things about the pre-K teacher at her school, and there are a goodly number of private schools* that start at pre-K around here.
What is a "Kindergarten Tea," you ask? Well, it's exactly like a college fair, but for preschoolers. It was held in the basement of the Unitarian church, and because of various other things happening in my life today, like rain and grocery shopping and new discipline strategies and snack, by the time we got there, folks were starting to clear up. But there were name tags to fill out and stick on, and banquet tables all around the edge of the room (not a very big room), and sign-up sheets, and professionally assembled information packets, and admissions officers or PTA parents sounding very cheery. In one corner, there were baked goods, and a samovar with tea bags, and cider with clear plastic cups to pour it into. I did manage to put our name down on some mailing lists, and I took a little subversive pleasure in writing "MyFeminineFirstName and A.'sMasculineFirstName OurSharedLastName" on the line for parents...little do they know what they're getting! Yeah, yeah, I know we're far from the first lesbo family for any of these schools, but I do kind of like that we won't particularly stand out on the mailing lists, since in the end we won't wind up being affiliated with most of them. I am all about flying under the radar until I know what the territory looks like.
Anyhow, I expect we will start to get catalogs in the mail in a week or two, and there will be open houses all fall and then applications and admissions visits and oh, lots of stuff to juggle in the coming months, and possibly all of this to do all over again next year.
One thing I did learn: it was a little hard to sort out the guests from the hosts, but it seems that you are supposed to be wearing a black t-shirt and khaki pants if you're either a Quaker-school admissions officer or a Unitarian mom.
*Why private? Long story. I'll tell you sometime if you're interested.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Good luck with all the school decisions--we moved, as you know, after Curious Girl finished pre-K, so much of our kindergarten obsessing got rendered moot in the move. I'm always fascinated by how other people think about school options, when there are options to be had.
I'm very interested in your focus on private school - and I'd love to hear more about it.
A big factor for us in moving to where we did was that it took the school angst out of the equation.
Good luck.
Catching up on my reader.
So glad to see you posting again.
We only looked at two schools. Had major issues with the first, loved the second. Had some drama about reconciling ourselves to going to a Jewish day school. Love the place now. I hope your search is at most as dramatic as ours was.
Post a Comment