Mothers' Day Out, Year 1

Before we jump into a new school year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our first year of "Mother's Day Out."

First, the facts: At 2-yrs-old, Noah attended "The Little School" at 4th Ave Church of Christ in downtown Franklin on Monday and Wednesday mornings (9am-12noon), Sept-April. I chose the school because it's 1mi from our house, had a good student-teacher ratio, and accepts 2-yr-olds. I didn't have a choice on the days/hours (we came off the wait list).

PROS
1. Noah LOVED it. He was always eager to go and thrilled when he occassionally got to stay longer (till 2pm).
2. During the fall when Aaron was still eating at night, it gave me some time to try to catch up on sleep.
3. During the spring, it gave me a structured time when I could schedule Aaron's biweekly medical appointments.
4. Noah learned songs, stories, and various tidbits of information -- the classmate who gave him the lowdown on Batman, the teacher who insisted on "Yes, M'am" (which he still says!), even the concept that school is really fun.
5. The teachers at the school knew and loved the kids well.

CONS
1. Little School includes a mini-nap 12:15-1:30 which would have messed with Noah's 1-4pm nap so I picked him up early (i.e. we were paying for 5 hours and only used 3). This also meant I couldn't utilize the car pick-up line and had to cart Aaron in (often waking him to do so).
2. They follow the Williamson Co schedule with NO MAKEUP days for all the MANY Mondays that we were out of school (for MLK, President's Day, snow days, parent-teacher conferences, etc). (Not to mention we were paying the same as those on Tues-Thurs.) Needless to say we're on the Tues-Thurs schedule this year.
3. I was paying $20 per 3-hr day for just Noah. I might have been able to get a regular sitter to come 6 hrs/wk for both boys and only paid $20 more (and had a lot more freedom). But then Noah wouldn't have gotten all the socialization and excitement he got at school. So I think it was worth doing MDO instead, but not just for the babysitting.

This year, we're headed to "The Mustard Seed Preschool" at Christ Community Church because I love their curriculum (including Spanish!), their intentionality with every activity, their hours (9am-1pm, no nap), and their location (<1mi away). We would have started there last year, but they don't take 2-yr-olds. Thankfully, we got in this year. And boy is Noah ready! Sept 7th can't get here fast enough. :)