When Brandon and his friends reached the age of two and a half, all of my mom friends started talking about sending their kids to preschool. I questioned their decision to send their kids to preschool and then I started researching the benefits for myself. Turns out children who attend preschool are something like 50 times more likely to attend university then the kids who don't. Well that was enough to convince me. I was on the hunt for a day care which offered a preschool curriculum.
After hours of research, interviews, open houses etc, Jamie and I landed on the Von Kids Program. It was started by a lawyer from England who moved to Calgary 10 some years ago and couldn't find decent day care for her own two kids. The lawyer, Emma, opened Von Kids and has enjoyed amazing success ever since. Jamie and I chose Von Kids for it's small class sizes (only six children per day), excellent curriculum, nutritious meal program, and convenience to our house - it's in the community beside us called Varsity.
So if we loved Von Kids, how did Brandon feel about it? Well not so good in the beginning. We started him with two days in August and he cried every morning I dropped him off. He never cried once when I took him to Linda's so my heart broke every time I had to walk him up the steps to Von Kids. The only good point was that he was super happy at the end of the day. He claimed he liked the other kids and playing with the new toys.
In September we started taking him three days a week. He still didn't like it but one day it was announced his teacher was leaving and he was getting a substitute teacher until a full time replacement could be found. Her name was Brandi and Brandon loved her. She was young, outgoing and active and B finally got on board with the Von Kids program. He would come home and tell us strawberries grew from the ground and oranges grew on trees. He'd bring home crafts and we could see he was starting to learn how to write letters. He would sing the ABC song and count to "forty-teen". We could tell he was starting to learn a few things and it made us smile.
To this day Brandon still goes three days a week. Though the curriculum remains strong (B has loved learning about planets and animals) the administration at Von Kids is a bit weak. Jamie and I have been frustrated more than once with the regular turnover of staff and most recently, a move to a new location - though thankfully it's considerably better than the previous place. Despite this, I don't know of a better option for our needs than Von Kids so Brandon will remain there for the foreseeable future.
I really am proud of how well he's done so far. His teachers report he's good at listening, well socialized and a regular contributor at "circle time". Last night he actually blew me away with something he said. After dinner we were playing a game he likes where he guesses the letter that a word starts with. So I'll say "Apple" and he'll say "A". We were doing this when I said "Mommy" and he said "M" and then all of a sudden he says "and after M comes O and then another M. Wow! He actually spelt a word! and not just any word, he spelt my word. My beautiful boy is growing up so fast :-)
And then there is the exception. Kate went to preschool, private elementary, private girls school, two years of university - even though she never actually attended any classes!! Hairdressing and now is a full time home care giver to a quadriplegic - and loving it. Sometimes it takes a while for people to find their way....and it's not always what the parents want.....but are they happy??? Brandon will find his own way in this world - no matter what you do or don't do.
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