As kindergarten registration approaches, I�ve been feeling more and more uneasy about the idea of sending AJ to public school without even looking at other options. So I�ve spent a good part of today on the computer and phone digging around for alternatives, should the need arise.

Several good things came out of my afternoon. The first was the discovery, after logging onto our local public school�s website is that as of this year, they have expanded their gifted programs from 3rd grade back to kindergarten. I don�t know what the programs are or whether they�re any good, but the fact that they�ve done that suggests that we�ll at least have some resources.

So far I�m not impressed with the school for gifted students that our pediatrician suggested we call. They keep putting me on hold. I was, however, impressed with the people I talked with at a Waldorf school. I�m not sure how I feel about the whole Waldorf approach. There are some things I like about it, but others I�m not sure about. The few people I know who have attended or sent their children to Waldorf schools have been knee-jerk liberals. While I�m inclined to be left of center myself, I�m highly skeptical of knee-jerk anything. And in our current area, I�m very concerned about the potential for the right-wing evangelical contingent in our area to hijack such a curriculum, which has a spiritual component (although not explicitly religious). But I was impressed with what they had to say and with the kinds of questions they asked of me. I�m going to try to attend an open house in a couple of weeks to see what I think.

It is more than likely AJ will attend the local public school, which is nearby and has a good reputation, but it�s been interesting looking around to see what else is out there.

AJ has also weighed in on the matter. �Well, I want to go to a kindergarten that�s really far from our house,� he says. �Why?� I ask, although I already know the answer. We got AJ a book about kindergarten from the library yesterday. It has lots of photos and a detailed explanation of the kinds of things that happen there, and he has been studying it as if his life depends on memorizing its contents. He has been particularly fascinated by a page with a picture of a big yellow school bus. �If you live near your school, you might walk to kindergarten, with a parent and a crossing guard to help you,� the book says, �Or, if you live farther away, you might drive in a car or take a school bus.� AJ pipes up, �Because I want to take a school bus.�

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