DIY Preschool

For the past few years, I have sent my oldest two daughters to preschool a couple of days a week that is located 15 miles from our house.  It is a fabulous preschool that is run and owned by the school where my husband teaches; I had planned on sending #3 there, as well.  When I began pondering the possibility of this for Arianna (#3), I realized that this just wasn't going to work for us this year.  I would now be driving my two elementary-aged childern to school on 2 different schedules amounting to three trips in the car a day - just to school.  I would have a new baby who would be sitting for much of her time in a carseat which I find very regretable; I didn't want to add a fourth and long trip to the mix for a preschool located quite a ways away.  I began calling around to preschools here in our town and just wasn't sure if I wanted to send #3 to any of them for what it would cost me to put her in for 2 days a week.  The year before she and I were already working on basic preschool skills and projects at home.  She is bright and catches on quickly to anything new and I realized we could just continue this at home and achieve the same academic results as in a preschool.  My dilemma was that I wanted her to have some other opportunities for socialization with kids other than her 4 sisters and a chance to learn classroom behavior with a teacher other than her mother.  After thinking about this for months on end, seeing that we were almost in May by that point and at the end of the school year, and feeling that I really needed to make some kind of decision, I had an epiphany.  A catalog for the city's Recreation Department arrived in the mail and got me thinking.  I realized that they offer many interesting classes geared for preschool-aged childeren here locally (an easier drive for all of us) and very affordable prices.  I had also been wanting to put Arianna in gymnastics because she is a very physical child that seems to need to move her body constantly.  When I compared the costs of putting her in a few classes of my choosing every month that I really felt she would enjoy and from which she would benefit versus just putting her in a traditional preschool, I felt that the choice was obvious.  When we got home from our summer vacation in August, I looked at the current Rec. Dept. classes and signed up #3 for preschool science and enlisted Grandpa to go with her to the weekly class.  I also enrolled her in gymnastics class at our local YMCA which has a very nice gymnastics gym and program.  And on the other days, we work on the academics and crafts at home together.  So, far so good, but I'll keep you posted.  DIY Preschool will be one of my regular postings as I have thought, ideas, or reflections on how it is going.