School admissions: Can someone enlighten a naive expecting mom?

[Anonymous]

I visited to this forum to investigate childcare options for our soon-to-come child, and much of the discussion seems to be about pre-school and kindergarten applications. Huh? Do you really have to apply for your kid's pre-school or kindergarten? How do they evaluate your child? Do you have to bring in an example of overachieving, like an eco-friendly Lego home your kid built? Why isn't admission on a first-come, first-served? How important are social connections? If your kid doesn't get into the right pre-school/kindergarten, do they have a hard time getting into a decent private elementary school? Please enlighten me....honestly, I am clueless! What is all the fuss about?

[Anonymous]

Here's some advice: Relax, have your baby and enjoy. You have a good 2 or 3 years before you need to "worry" about this!

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried...just amazed that people are applying to pre-schools and getting all competitive. Seriously, can someone please answer my question?

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of variables including testing, pre-school attended, sibling preference, connections, etc., etc. Yes, pre-school is important, not necessarily a make or break but not going to a top notch pre-school makes admission to Pre-K more of a stretch. I'm just dealing with this now, I'm sure there are others who could be a lot more thorough with your question.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not worried...just amazed that people are applying to pre-schools and getting all competitive. Seriously, can someone please answer my question?

Pre-schools! You should read the threads about playgroups. If you wait until pre-school, apparently your child will be doomed.

[Anonymous]

make sure you get into a good playgroup early on that will be helpful in getting into a decent preschool

[Anonymous]

This is Washington, honey. Of COURSE childrearing is competitive!

[Anonymous]

IGnore all the advice that status-conscious moms out there are doling out. Just read to your kid a lot, don't talk baby talk, expose him to age-appropriate things, and all will be fine. BY the way, even if you do alll the "right" things (i.e. expensive playgroups & "feeder preschools"), there's absolutely NO guarantee you'll get in anywhere, as plenty of parents will learn this week. Just let your child laugh & have fun --- he's got a whole lifetime to become competitive and "status-conscious" -- there's really no need for parents to give them a "jump-start" in this domain!! Just my 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

Hi. There are a lot of preschools out there that run the gamut from play-based to academically rigorous, that are less and more competitive. There are inexpensive co-op preschools in most communities, church-related schools, and private schools in churches that are non church affiliated, Montessori schools, Waldorf and the various private schools, including the "big 3" as they say that are in the discussion at the moment. Not all (most?) preschools are that competitive. Some preschools are first-come first-serve. (We applied to an excellent and innovative first-come first serve preschool -- the Outdoor Nursery School). All preschools have some kind of admission procedure that you have to be tuned into - e.g., days for tours, meetings with the parent and child, application deadlines, etc. Not all (again most?) require IQ tests. A lot will depend on your values, interests, goals for your child and what meets the interests of your child. There are schools in DC, which I understand are "feeder schools" for particular private schools. But I don't really have information in that regard. We're looking at Catholic parochial schools for our child. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

I've already started teaching my fetus Chinese, calculus, and pre-law...is there anything else we should be doing so we can get into the right playgroup?

[Anonymous]

eat lots of eggs and fish oil...

[Anonymous]

This just makes me glad that most preschools out this way (western F'fax County) do their admissions by lottery!!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, DC has the worst public schools in the nation, though there are some notable exceptions. Plus there are a lot of young families moving back into the District (which is great!), but preschool slots haven't changed, so things have gotten a lot more competitive.

So, even if you don't care about your children getting into the Big Three (and there doesn't even seem to be a consensus on this board about what schools ARE the big three) you do have to think about your children's education.

I would just start by asking around. Ask moms that you like and admire - people you meet at the park. And figure it out for yourself. Just make sure you talk to lots of your peers and keep on top of the admissions deadlines, etc.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Not all of us are vying for a spot at the elite schools, and therefore we are not stressing.

Not all of us engage in the competition.

When my son applies to Harvard (joke), they probably won't know that he couldn't read until he was six.

[Anonymous]

so glad I don't live in DC anymore...