I officially pulled Victor out of his preschool this afternoon. When I picked him up yesterday, I ended up having an informal conference with his teacher and I got the sense she was frustrated and no longer willing to deal with him. She said she really doesn't think Vic is getting anything out of this experience. He constantly craves their undivided attention, which they simply aren't able to give to him considering there are 17 other children in his class. During the structured activities, he seems to do okay but whenever there is free time, he does nothing but cry and ask to go home. SO, I thought the best thing to do for everyone involved was take him out of there and try something different. It wasn't the right place for him. At first I was upset and emotional, but the more time I have to think about it (I didn't sleep a wink last night, so tired) the more I realize that it really isn't THAT big of a deal. Victor is an amazingly wonderful child. So what if he has an extremely hard time being away from home and specifically, me. He is only four years old. It is our society that urges us to get our children away from the home at such a young age, and that is why I was feeling the pressure and stress to get him used to school right away. Many children are okay with this transition but he is obviously not developmentally ready. It seems unfair to him (and me) that I force him to be without me when I am home and able to provide him a loving and safe place until he is ready, which I know will happen eventually. In the meantime, I am going to be looking into different classes and programs, ones that allow the parents to be present. We really are in no rush. If I have to home school him for a while, then I am totally fine with that.
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I know we've talked about this thing enough, but reading this entry has gotten me annoyed again. The reason why he became difficult during the free time is because the toys they had there probably didn't interest him. Why he couldn't just bring a couple of his own toys is a total mystery to me.
The bottom line is that it's all for the best that he's out of that place. It had an atmosphere of total mediocrity. The woman obviously stinks as a teacher since she could only handle the generally docile kids who came from daycare. I'm going to research Montessori and other non-standard education schools in the area. He just needs teachers that understand that kids don't come off of assembly lines.
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