We missed preschool application deadlines by three weeks.But the bigger problem?Where do we want our daugter to go.
You probably already knew about this–so,you know,feel free to scoff at my misfortune–but if you (a) have kids and (b) they're old enough to go to school,you sort of have to apply to schools before they're allowed to go there.我不知道我在想什么（也许我们只是开车把孩子放在门阶上，like the proverbial stork,但是有一个3岁的孩子吗？），but apparently I wasn't thinking very much at all.
So right now,我们正在经历一个激进的第一步，把我们的孩子送到幼儿园。由谁决定 which就学前的to send them to.
I was raised going to public school,但从那时起，a few things changed.I became Orthodox.Then I married into a pretty hardcore Hasidic family–and by "hardcore," I mean that I now have relatives I've never directly spoken to,因为她们是女人，而我不是。对于像我这样的人，who's always been committed to public education and whose parents and sister work in public schools,it's a big leap to send my kids,not just to a private nursery school,but to 12 years of a rigorous religious education,接下来（可能）是神学院和耶什瓦学院以及一些宗教灌输营。
But: We are,的确，Hasidic Jews.公立学校也没有像中级意第绪语和中世纪犹太经文评论员这样的头衔。如果你致力于一种生活方式，you gotta go all the way.
My wife–who,应该注意，is both more comfortable with these things,and smarter than me–told me to chill out.（她说了很多）从我第一次工作开始，of course,which went roughly:
Matthue:
学校死囚3周前！？！what do we do???) until I got home,she'd called up a dozen relatives and half a dozen schools,established that we were in hot water,but not entirely washed up,and that many schools were understanding of first-time parents and had flexible acceptance schedules.
In the meantime,since learning that we still had a choice,我们一直在为最终的选择做准备。We're scheduled for a bunch of interviews,and we're still scheduling a few more.We've both made lists of the top three things we want in a school.(Well,my wife has.I'm still working on it.)
Here are hers:
- The school shouldn't care about surface Orthodox stuff (like asking "Do you wear stockings all the time?" or "Do you own a TV?," even though we don't) above basic things,like teaching the rudiments of喀什鲁特,or having caring and involved teachers.
- It doesn't have to be aLubavitchschool,but it should have some sort of Lubavitch influence (She and her family are Lubavitch Hasidim).
- It should be a place where people are warm and friendly (which seems like a given,but it never is).
I haven't figured out mine yet,except that I'm really determined to find a school with a good secular studies program.Not like those scary Jewish day schools that start from first grade in grooming and prepping their kids to get into an Ivy (not like I even necessarilywantmy kids to attend an Ivy–we'veseen what happenswhen Orthodox Jews show up in those schools),but one where English classes read real books and science is more than just "rain makes the flowers grow."
