Last fall, we enrolled Ian in preschool.  First off, let me be completely honest – it’s a day care with a preschool curriculum, but Ian was getting to the point where he loved being around other kids and I just knew we both would go nuts if it was just us during the winter months.  So, since October, he’s been going to preschool three days a week.  At first, he loved it.  He got to play with friends all day and do a ton of projects.  However, now, he’s not lovin’ it as much.  I don’t think he’s experiencing any kind of separation anxiety or he’s disliking school, but more than likely he’s getting bored.  In October, he was placed in the two-year class since that was his age group and everyone else wasn’t potty trained.  They were doing a lot of projects and he loves doing arts and crafts, but even I can tell that they are all very similar.  I mean, painting with shaving cream, pudding and anything else they could find in the kitchen is amusing at first, but everything was looking the same and I think Ian has finally caught on to that.

At his birthday, he should have been moved up to the three-year class, but they are so full that he hasn’t been yet and it doesn’t seem like he will be until later this summer.  This bugs us more than a little bit.  A lot of the things Ian is learning in the two-year class are things Jesse and I have been teaching him for the past few months, so he’s not being challenged.  Maybe I’m reading more into it, but I think that’s a lot of what his issues are with school.  He doesn’t come home as excited as he used to.  At first, he would come home and tell us what they did that day.  Now, he comes home and says “we played and did projects”. If he’s going to be in school, then I want him challenge and I think he wants that too.  He loves learning and I get the feeling he’s not getting a lot of that right now and he knows it.

As such, we’ll be pulling him once May comes around.  There’s a few reasons for this:

  1. Public school will be getting out soon and a lot of his friends will be available for playdates.  Keeping him busy won’t be an issue and he’ll get to see his friends that I’m constantly hearing – “is Nate coming over today”?
  2. He was going to be pulled in August anyway because he’ll be starting at the public school in September where he’ll also be taking Mandarin.  So it’s not like the intent was to keep him there long term anyway.
  3. We’re having the baby in August.  By pulling him in May, that’ll give him 3 months of a lot of mama and him time and I get the feeling he’s going to need that.  This could backfire on me, but I think he’ll adjust to having a sibling if he doesn’t feel like it’s invading his only time with his mama since he’s at school most of the week.
  4. And the biggest reason is money.  At $400 a month (granted, that’s not bad), I can keep him busy for far less than that and we can actually save a little money before the baby gets here.  Plus, I actually need to purchase a few things since I was stupid and got rid of some of the bigger items (i.e. pack and play, high chair and we need a new car seat).

So yeah, he’s in preschool at the moment, but not for much longer.  Once the summer months hit, we’ll be going to various parks and the zoo whenever we can.  Plus, Jesse and I can continue his education with things that will challenge him.  My goal is to get him reading before his next birthday and that’s something we can start on this summer.  He already wants to learn, now we just need to keep him interested and challenged.