The O'Goldsmiths

You have heard about Mrs. Lewin's Nursery School in Atlantic, Iowa. It was cool, but can't compare to Creative Beginnings Pre School in Creston. Our kids Amy and Jud are proud graduates. They each attended two years.

Mrs. Weeda and Mrs. Drey - two sisters run the school in the local Methodist Church facility. So of course there is no boozing or swearing for the cherubs. Those Methodists may know how to sing compared to us Catholics, but they don't know how to have fun. We had to call early to get on the list for Creative Beginnings - there was a waiting list of parents eager to send their children there.

Creative Beginnings was not a school one could simply drop a child off at with no preparation. No sir! There were assignments for each school day - hard ones, like "It's I day for the letter I. Bring a map of Ireland, cook a 5 course Italian meal and poke your I's out. Okay I exaggerate a little but it was hard. And the map part was accurate.

On St. Patrick's Day, Amy and came home with a beautifully lettered crown in the shape of a shamrock that said "Amy O'Goldsmith". Pretty clever! There were a lot of themes, and assignments that took time to complete.

Parents of students took turns taking snacks from the approved list of healthy foods. If you forgot, they broke out the graham crax and apple juice. One time my friend Bobbie made beautiful muffins for snack. Too bad it was my day to drive the car pool and I neglected to get the muffins out of the back of the van.

The car pool was convenient so nobody had to leave work two times a day three days a week. But it forced one to put up 5 screaming meemies on the one time a week I had to drive. Baily Rogers shrieking (without being able to pronounce the R sound) "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" So it was more like "Wew in the Wiwode is Cawmin Sandiego?"

When each Creative Beginnings graduate graduates from high school, the teachers send them a nice kid's book as a gift. Those ladies think of everything!