Decisions, Decisions

So, we've been processing through Mia's school options for next year. We are in a slightly unique situation because California law is changing the date that kids will enter kindergarten by slowly pushing the age cut off of 5 to September 1st. This year, kids have to be 5 by November 1st to qualify for Kindergarten, although many parents recognize that their kids aren't ready and make the decision on their own to keep them back another year. Mia's birthday is in October, so she is a candidate for Kindergarten. When talking with her teacher and the special education administrators, their recommendation was to put her in a mild to moderate delayed Kindergarten class for several good reasons. Mia is definitely smart enough to handle general ed Kindergarten academically, but physically she is definitely not ready. So being in the mild to moderate class, the teacher would be able to work on some of her limitations with her in a smaller class size setting. So, last Friday I had the opportunity to visit the class that they thought was best suited for Mia. The teacher is wonderful, the class size is around 14, but after visiting and talking with the teacher, I had a few concerns. First, our district is going to full day Kindergarten this fall, so Mia would be in class from 8-2, approximately. That is a huge chunk of time when we are trying to also work into our day quite a few therapy visits. And after talking with the teacher, she told me the class goals for the year, which Mia has already mastered almost all of them. She is a smart cookie, Praise God! (Let me remind you that she was supposed to have no higher cognitive function. Thank you Lord for your amazing healing power.) As we are processing through all of this information and what is best for Mia, it made a lot of sense for us to keep her home next year and to look into a private preschool for at most 2 mornings a week. This would give us more time for therapy and more time for me to work with Mia in the areas that she is coming up short. And of course, I love the idea of spending more time with my babies, they grow up way too fast and it goes by way too quickly. So, now we are looking at some preschool options and trying to figure out what would work for Mia. :)