"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire" - W B Yeats

[anastasiav]

I'm starting to realize that I really, strongly (more strongly than I had realized) want E to go to a good pre-school starting in the Fall. Something with a Montessori or Waldorf theory behind it. Unfortunately, any such school in my area that offers such a program is also far out of our financial reach -- around $13K (including extended day fees, because we would need him to be there for an entire workday, not just the half-day formal preschool). And that's only for a school year ... we'd still need to find and pay for care for him in the summer. A couple of schools do offer financial assistance, but only once the child is school aged. No assistance is offered for pre-K.

So, yeah, another way I'm failing him, I guess.

Comments

[soteltie.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't hurt to ask the schools if they have any sliding fee/financial aid programs. I'm way out of touch with this scene, but way back when I taught at a nursery school it was common to have such programs. Usually the parents had to do some extra work for the school in exchange.

[soteltie.livejournal.com]

Some YMCAs also have very good childcare programs--have you checked in your area? The Y I go to has financial assistance. I don't think one has to meet a particular low-income dollar amount, just write why you need the assistance and what you want to use it for.