Kindergarten Hell

Ben goes to kindergarten next year, and we are currently in kindergarten hell. Extreme, you say? Well, it goes like this.

Last summer, I begin calling schools. “Oh, ma’am, you are wayyyy too early to look at schools! Wait until spring. Our kinder round-ups are in the spring.”

So February goes by and March comes and I think, “It’s spring! Time to go look at schools. I will not seem like a helicopter mom now.” So I call.

This is the answer I get. “Oh, you are out-of-area? Well, our deadline for out-of-area applicants was February, ma’am. You’re too late.”

What? What the hell? First I am too early, and now I’m too late. What part of “spring” is February? Don’t we call that “winter,” or am I crazy?

So now we are looking at private schools for Ben because our local school is a failing school (I mean really failing, as in “anti-graffiti program for 3rd graders” failing) and we have passed the deadline to get into other TUSD schools. The cost of private school is astounding, however; $5,970 for kindergarten. This is more than tuition for the U of A.

However, I toured the private school this morning and it is impressive. The question is, how to come up with $6000 a year for the next eight years? Because I don’t want to keep switching schools. That’s $56,000 for a primary education.

And the real question: is it worth it?