School Open Houses

Happy December! In this crazy world of planning for children's schooling, it's the time of year when a parent's workload can get hectic.

Preschool and private school applications (and testing) need to get done in time for January deadlines. While it's easy to get caught up in the hoopla, it's also good to remember that schooling decisions can always be changed the following year. Kids are more flexible than we parents sometimes give them credit for.

Just look at Pumpkin Pie (who is turning 8 next week!). Our first nanny left us three months before he turned 2, when I was already planning on putting him in a local preschool that is now officially "on hiatus" -- Shaare Tefila. So, off he went to a day care in the Thurgood Marshall building downtown for three months, then to Shaare Tefila. When he finished up his "fours" year in preschool, he was too young for kindergarten and the school decided to unexpectedly move. So, well after those January deadlines, I was forced to find a new preschool. Enter Silver Spring Learning Center, which had a terrific "older" fours class. After his last year of preschool, it was off to elementary school. And despite all my hand-wringing over whether he'd survive, he's just fine. He loved all his schools and all the friends he made.

I've been digging around the Web to put together a calendar of school open houses. This is intended to make your lives just a tad easier. The list is by no means complete. If you know of an open house somewhere in the county, please send it to mocomoms@gmail.com. Also, many preschools, like the well-liked Children's Learning Center in Rockville don't have open houses posted on their Web sites. Your best bet for preschools are to call those you are interested in and schedule a tour with the director. If you want a fairly comprehensive list of preschools in Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Parents of Multiples group sells booklets for $10 plus $2 shipping.