My son is barely one year old, and I am dreading when he turns two. Why I am so afraid for him to turn two? Because I can’t afford Preschool.

Currently, I am staying home with him and my boyfriend is working. We figured out that if both of us were to work, we wouldn’t be making more money.

The “extra” money brought in would go directly to paying for some sort of childcare. Thereby defeating the purpose of me working altogether.

So I chose to stay home with my son.

However, we are still really struggling to get by financially. So, by the time my son turns two, I though about enrolling him in sort of Preschool situation.

Until I started researching the possibilities.

The majority of Preschools in New York City are privately funded and extraordinarily expensive.

For example, I had heard wonderful things about the Montesorri School in Cobble Hill. So I looked up the cost of their programs or two year olds.

I kid you not, for two days a week, part-time (meaning 9am – 12pm) it is nearly $8000/year!
Clearly, this is not a viable option for my family.

And surprisingly, this is a typical cost for a preschool program.

I started to wonder if I was alone. Does everybody just suck it up and break their bank accounts to send their kids to Nursery School?

But then I met another mom at the Brooklyn Public Library who has two boys, one is almost one and the other is two and a half.

We got to talking about the whole Preschool dilemma. She, too, was in a bind. Her older son was currently enrolled in a Preschool in the East Village but it was costing her money that she didn’t have.

She was concerned about what would happen to her finances when her other son turned two.

She said to me

“There’s got to be another way.”

I agree with her. There has to be an alternative solution. But I have yet to figure it out.