School Search, Tokyo Version

So, when I reached the point when I had to accept that we were coming to Tokyo and staying for the whole run of the city^{1, 2}, I started looking into schools.  I had put it off I long as I could, telling myself I'd wait to see what options were in our neighborhood, I would wait to see if any of the other toddlers on tour were planning on going to preschool, and, mostly, I would wait to see if the preschool fairy would find one for me.  Sadly, none of those things worked out for me.  About a month ago, I tracked down a Tokyo Expat Moms Facebook group and started asking them questions about school.  They concurred with other things I had read/heard: stay-at-home parents can't enroll toddlers in daycares - the waiting lists are too long and the needs of other parents come first; public schools start at kindergarten age - too old for Kaylee; and international preschools would be happy to take her, but they'd be expensive.

I did some quick searches, found that none of the international preschools would be within walking distance, and decided I had to just suck it up and start requesting information from all of them and do the tours and go through the whole process³.

We've been here a week, to give me time to settle in and start the information requests.  Starting tomorrow, we'll be touring schools.  I have 5 scheduled for the next week.  Hopefully Kaylee will start school the first full week of February.  Unfortunately, it will probably drain all of our savings to enroll her. As a teacher, I get it.  I want the kind of environment and the skilled teachers who deserve the tuition that boils down to $30/hour (or more).  Yeah, I might pay half that for just a babysitter, but I don't want just a babysitter.  I want her to be exposed to positive group interactions, learn social skills, get the speech development she needs, and play, play, play.  I get that it costs $30/hour.  It just seems like A LOT when it's all at once, between enrollment fees, application fees, and tuition for the whole term.  And it makes me question, again, why I can't just keep her home with me.  But I know it's best, for both of us, if she goes to school.  I hope that one of these five will prove to be a good fit for us.

And that I don't get too lost trying to find it.

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1 And probably the whole country, all 18 months of it.
2 About a week ago
3 Since that Preschool Fairy never showed up to drop a perfect option in my lap