school search

the stories you may have heard about multiple-year waiting lists for preschools in big cities are exaggerated, but not by much.  we've been working on finding a preschool for max for fall 2010.  we've picked our favorite school, a montessori school in oak park, but max is far enough down the waiting list that the odds are probably against him.  there are some ridiculous hoops to jump through -- even if they do get down to his name on the list, they'll want him to do a make-or-break one-on-one assessment with one of their teachers.  the principal has told me several times that kids have to be potty-trained when they get there ("we're not going to follow any of our children around with a plastic bucket") or they'll be kicked out.  but once (if) you get past all of that, the school seems great.  it's diverse.  the kids seem happily engaged and the teachers seem happy, too.  they have a nice big nap room for the younger kids.  there's a beautiful park across the street, and they take the kids there all the time when the weather is agreeable. 

we're hoping to have this more nailed down by next week -- in the meantime, we're visiting other schools and trying to figure out a plan b.