Who knew it would be such work getting Ana Isabel into voluntary pre-kindergarten.

Broward County this week started handing out vouchers for the state-paid voluntary pre-K program for 4-year-olds. It's done on a first-come, first-serve basis. And the more popular VPK programs generally have waiting lists.

So on Monday when I got to the Southwest Regional Library to get a voucher, the line wrapped around the building. I knew beforehand that there would be a wait. But I didn't expect to stand around for four hours for a piece of paper that says my daughter is eligible to start her schooling come August.

Afterward, I went to one of the three schools we had picked as our top choices to enroll Ana. All three have had waiting lists in the past. My intent was to drop off the voucher and get her on a list. Simple, I thought. Not exactly. Administrators there haven't even started to create their waiting list, they told me. And they didn't want to take my voucher until they had created it. So why did I wait for four hours?

Next, we call our second choice school. They, too, haven't figured out the waiting list. OK. We want to make sure Ana gets in somewhere, so my wife visited the third school on our list.

Guess what? No waiting list, yet. Administrators there said last year the list didn't start forming until May. But at least they're taking applications and vouchers. So all we need to do is apply and Ana should be in.

I'm still sore about the four-hour wait. All the rush to get a voucher and then on a list apparently wasn't needed.

Vouchers are scheduled to be distributed throughout the county in March. Here's a schedule. The same thing is happening in Palm Beach County.

Can't wait for Ana to start applying for colleges. That should be even more fun.