How I'm Searching for a Daycare/Preschool - Part 2
This time, a comparative analysis spreadsheet!
Hi! I live in a competitive town called Los Angeles, where everyone is vying to be hotter and fitter and richer and more VIP than the next guy, and babies need to audition from the womb to get into preschool. Everyone needs a headshot even if your only proof of potential existence is an ultrasound. The advice I got for early education programs: START EARLY. As in get on waitlists while you’re still pregnant.
I always love an earlier-the-better moment, but for the last 3 years we were so transient in our living situation that I felt forced to defer my competitive preschool research until we had landed at our permanent residence. This made me so uneasy that I gave myself a deadline. If we hadn’t found a permanent residence by my target date, I would begin an exhaustive application process at my top 3 school picks in our top 5 potential neighborhoods. I was dreading the idea of having to do this, but ready to accept the task if it really came down to it.
But! Thankfully our house hunt is over and we are moved into our new home. Which means I know where we are living for the foreseeable future (A BIG WIN!). And I’m happy to report that we landed in a favorable school district (ANOTHER BIG WIN!!!!). So I even happier to report that I have commenced my local preschool research. This week I am beginning a round of school tours. Naturally I reached into the TSR files for my handy dandy TSR Daycare Assessment Worksheet.
I printed out my worksheet of questions to ask and have it in my purse during the tours. I’ve done one tour already and have found the list to be super helpful!
Now that I’m gathering answers to my questions, I have turned this worksheet into a spreadsheet. I’ve transcribed all of the pertinent criteria onto a chart that keeps my notes organized and creates an easy visual for comparative analysis, to ultimately choose the best school for our child.
One crucial part of the gathering stage is carving out a few minutes after each tour to debrief, do your data entry, and reflect or discuss with the village. There is a section for personal notes, overall feeling, as well as a color code to mark school qualities I loved vs. didn’t love.
Welp there you have it. I have a some version of this spreadsheet for virtually every decision I need to make. Feel free to modify the format for anything from deciding which car to lease, which apartment to rent, which boy to date, which camping tent to buy.
Paid subscribers scroll on to listen to this article and access the spreadsheet!