I'm curious what people's thoughts are on preschool.
I have my daughter in a MWF half-day preschool for $500/m (for those not in a high COL area, just assume this is a reasonable going rate). It had been my hope that I would use that time to prepare for being self-employed next year when she goes to Kindergarten including doing some projects that would be sellable or working hours that were billable. At this point, it's December, and while I've gotten time to do work on some projects, nothing has come to a point of making $$, and it's been really slow going. Furthermore, the shop I've been going to is moving and I've no idea how long it'll be shut down. Maybe a day, maybe a couple of months.
My daughter has also seemed less interested in going to preschool because one of her preschool friends is down the street and she has afternoon playdates and she's felt socially left out at school (even by this friend sadly). I do playdates with the friend twice a week, but for reasons I don't want to get into here, I don't want her spending too much time with the friend, and I would continue these playdates, but I would not more than two hours a day, three times a week.
I'm debating about canceling preschool. I've already paid for January, so whether or not she goes after we return from Christmas break is irrelevant. But I need to decide whether to cancel February soon because Feb is due beginning of January. I could save $2K if I just take her out now instead of letting her stay until May. She wouldn't have gone during summer anyways. Once I cancel, there's no turning back--they will fill the spot immediately. I do like the preschool--it's one of the nicer ones--but I am unmotivated to make her go if she doesn't want to, and $2K seems like a lot of money to save. We had a meltdown one morning a couple of weeks ago when I REALLY had to go to the shop because I'd promised a friend I'd do something for him that had been dragging on, and I lost it. I can't deal with both "customers" and kids pressuring me at the same time.
I am a homebody. I like cleaning up the house, reading forums, web junk, etc. I'm horrible at taking people to a park. I hate the library. I am vaguely interested in mom's groups, but the ones I'm involved in happen once a month each, and one of them I'm not sure I care about because I'm only just getting to know the moms and I expect to not be going after I try to go back to work next year. These groups do meet on preschool days which makes me less likely to want to go to them.
She has another non-preschool friend, but her mom works, and the friend spends time with a relative who is a bit draining. I'm an introvert, so while I know that playdates are important, I dread them, and the way I'm feeling right now (kind of frustrated and depressed) doesn't honestly make me an enjoyable person to be around.
This girl is a talker. I need quiet.
She likes to be read books. I hate most kids books (Sandra Boynton excepted). I hate Elmo, I can't stand the tedium of Dr. Seuss, and princess stories make me ill (don't tell her I said that). I hate reading the same book over and over.
When she's home, she's been playing Plants vs. Zombies (yeah, sorry, that's pathetic--I would nix it but hubby brought it into the house, and I try to be tolerant of his likes in return for him being tolerant of mine) or other video games because she's bored. She does like Blue's clues and Curious George. I like those too. I feel guilty telling her no screen time partly because I spend a lot of time on the screen, but also because I know playing by yourself for 7 straight hours can be boring, and she likes playing with other people.
I could try to help her learn to read, and try to practice handwriting with her.
I could play games with her, but that could lose its appeal pretty quickly, and she's walked away in the middle of games in the past which has been problematic for the other people playing.
I could take her out to do things, but a lot of them would cost money, so then I'm not saving money.
I could also continue to keep her in and push forward and try harder to make the most of the preschool hours for learning skills that would make me more hirable or even try to get some hours from my old boss, though that's not the career direction I'd intended to go.
Thoughts?
(No debt, nowhere close to FI)
