Too cool for school.

At the beginning of this year I found out that the elementary school a couple of blocks from our house offers preschool for four-year-olds for free. I was really excited about this because all the private preschools I'd found were at least $100 a month - not something we could afford. So since then we've been getting Tay psyched up to start school; he'd be on the same schedule as the Kindergarteners (three hours a day) and it would give him a chance to learn and make friends. He was hesitant about the idea at first, but slowly started getting more and more excited about it.


A few days after we got back from our Seattle trip last month I took him in for his preschool testing. In a word it was incredibly comical. The teacher sat him down at a little preschooler-sized table and asked him questions like, "Are you a boy or a girl?" and, "Can you count to ten?" and, "What color is this crayon?" Taylor answered every question correctly, but would constantly glance over his shoulder and look at me like, "Is she serious?" (keep in mind that just the other day he counted to 50 on his own).

She then had him do a bit more challenging activities like writing his name, drawing a person, and repeating long sentences back to her verbatim. He did everything she asked him to do and then some. She'd say, "What is the name of a friend you play with?" His response: "Well, I had a good friend that lived a few doors down from me but she had to move away. Her name was Emma and I'm sad that we can't play anymore. But we'll go visit her soon, I think." I was trying so hard not to laugh.

So at the end of the test, she had another teacher come in and they talked about all that he'd said and how his fine motor skills are (he doesn't hold a pencil or scissors the correct way), and they concluded that they wouldn't accept him into preschool. Why? Because he is....







...wait for it...






...too SMART.

Yep. Their words exactly.

They said that they want to allow children into preschool who are behind so that they can make sure they're caught up for Kindergarten and that Taylor already knows everything they would teach him. They also commended him on his communication skills, which have always been pretty advanced for a boy his age. They told him good job and said, "We'll see you next year for Kindergarten!"

So after getting him all psyched up for school for months, it turns out he's not going after all. I think we may try to put him in a tumbling or karate class at the beginning of next year, but for now I suppose we'll just keep working on his fine motor skills and have fun at home through the upcoming holidays.

My kid is just too cool for school. And I'm so incredibly proud of him.