So... today was orientation for Smush's first year of school. Tomorrow is her first day. It's just a half day - 8:30am to noon, but her first day nonetheless. Photo Phriday will be delayed until we get that first day of school picture! I am thinking, at this point, that she is handling this much better than I. Unless, of course, she's not. I've noticed that she keeps a lot inside. This sometimes makes it difficult to really tell how she's feeling. She also has a really good social laugh that she pulls out when she thinks she should laugh... anyway...
Orientation didn't really orient me much other than letting me get a good view of what her classroom looks like, where her cubby is, and that while there isn't a really good "spinny" thing in the playground, there is a seesaw and she likes that. Her teachers seem nice enough. One has a lot of experience, one is young and actually had the head teacher when she was in nursery bet. I am actually quite relieved that we got Morah Judy as I had met her at the Open House and felt like she might be a really good match for Smush. I have also heard good things about how she handles children who might need extra work b/c they catch on pretty quick. We think Smush might be like that.
One relief is that there are many other children in this class who have like-minded parents as us regarding food and food choices. This makes the snack issue much easier and we have already decided that instead of each of use sending in an alternative snack we are going to pool together. And, when the school director heard we were considering this, after speaking with one of the parent's in our class who actually owns a health food store, she is considering getting the entire class's snacks through him so there is no alternative snack, just the one, that is healthy, whole grain or fruit and not packed with high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated fats, etc. So nice that a few waves can encourage the sea to swim more healthily.
What am I afraid of? It's just school. I managed to turn out okay, as did Hubby... millions of children do it... but yet... now, as a parent I know I want to do what is right, what is best for my child. She is a wonder. She is so creative and a thinker and I just don't want any of that stifled by a system that wants her to conform. Is it because I read too much? Probably. Do I think I could do better at home? No, not right now. Certainly not with Mr. Squiggly around! Mr. Daredevil who has no fear and regularly unlocks the door to walk to Grandpa and Omi's when I am barefoot and not ready to go out, or am cooking something that I can't easily walk away from the stove! Plus, it's not that I don't have faith in the local education system, it's just that you hear all these stories about children being left behind, or not encouraged...
I really do like the idea of home schooling, but I also really like the ideology and methodologies of Waldorf and Montessori. Neither of which are options right here right now. And, so, for now we are a HANC ECC family, for better or for worse, right now hoping for better.
Showing posts with label school starting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school starting. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
More Schooling thoughts...
We've chosen a pre-school. I should say it actually chose us. Or, really, my inability to manage life with two children has chosen a pre-school. I wrote a bit about schooling and choices previously. I have this really big issue with the fact that the schools (at least in this area) have turned Pre-School into daycare. While I do understand that I am extremely fortunate that I am able to stay home with my children, at the same time there is no reason why a four year old needs to be in school 5 days a week from 8:30am until 2pm. Smush will be in school for the rest of her life after this (unless I figure out a way to make homeschooling work for us.) It makes me want to cry. No matter how good the teacher is, no matter how much fun she'll have, no matter how much free-play they say they schedule into the day, it's still regimented school. Sigh.
As for homeschooling I really wish I could make it work, but I just don't think with Smush and Squiggly being so close in age. In addition, he is so into everything and needs to be watched pretty much the entire time he is awake. So far, this week alone I have prevented him from climbing into the 20 gallon fish tank we have in our kitchen, stopped him from climbing over the gate we have at the top of the steps to the basement, grabbed him as he worked his way out of the shopping cart seat (yes he was buckled in) and many more things like this. He is 19 months, he understands what we are telling him, but he is still into everything. EVERYTHING. As it is I know Smush gets frustrated that I can't finish books I am reading to her because I have to grab him or pull him into the den or just hold onto him, which then causes the book to get shoved to the side. When we are all playing together it's fun, but when Smush wants to do a project or read a long book, it ends up being relegated to his nap time and I don't think that's fair for her at this point. Future potential for homeschooling is still there, just not at this time.
So, this fall, Smush will join the legions of "back to schoolers" and will head there herself. The big question is why do I feel so guilty about it, and why is she so adamant that she doesn't want to go to school or to grow up? Peter Pan, where are you to answer all these questions?
As for homeschooling I really wish I could make it work, but I just don't think with Smush and Squiggly being so close in age. In addition, he is so into everything and needs to be watched pretty much the entire time he is awake. So far, this week alone I have prevented him from climbing into the 20 gallon fish tank we have in our kitchen, stopped him from climbing over the gate we have at the top of the steps to the basement, grabbed him as he worked his way out of the shopping cart seat (yes he was buckled in) and many more things like this. He is 19 months, he understands what we are telling him, but he is still into everything. EVERYTHING. As it is I know Smush gets frustrated that I can't finish books I am reading to her because I have to grab him or pull him into the den or just hold onto him, which then causes the book to get shoved to the side. When we are all playing together it's fun, but when Smush wants to do a project or read a long book, it ends up being relegated to his nap time and I don't think that's fair for her at this point. Future potential for homeschooling is still there, just not at this time.
So, this fall, Smush will join the legions of "back to schoolers" and will head there herself. The big question is why do I feel so guilty about it, and why is she so adamant that she doesn't want to go to school or to grow up? Peter Pan, where are you to answer all these questions?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
School Days...
Smush is going to be 3. I can't even begin to believe this. 3. WOW!!!! Not so long ago she was just an idea and now she is 3. I am hoping that certain things will happen soon, by being a BIG girl... first of which is potty learning. She certainly knows how to use the toilet, it's just a matter of doing it. Of course, out of the mouths of babes... the other day I manage to get her to sit on her little red potty to take care of some business and as she is sitting there she says, with a twinkle in her eye and a huge grin, "Can I have a present?" Basically meaning, okay, I sat on the potty, I didn't use my diaper, what are you planning on giving me. We are prepared for this. For peeing on the toilet or potty she has been getting pieces of a clock puzzle toy. She has the base, and numbers 1-4. But, this was big, it was #2, so I gave her a book that I had bought a while back that I had wanted to give her but wanted to save for an occasion. This was that occasion.
Smush now has the book "Knitting Nell" in her collection. This is the third of 3 knitting or yarn/fiber based books that I have found and given to her for different reasons. The first was "Flusi and the Sock Yarn" which is put out by Regia Yarn Company. Lastly we have a really cute version of Baa Baa Black Sheep that shows the sheep knitting gifts for all the other farm animals, as well as providing wool for the master, the dame and the little boy who lives down the lane. Whenever I see books like this I buy them for her, put them away and then give them so her as new books need to be added to the rotation. I haven't figured out yet what types of books to be looking for for Squiggly. I'll have to work on that.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I had an interesting phone call tonight and thought it was a good opportunity to share some thought on schooling. Smush is still home with me. Many people ask us when she is going to start school. As if she won't be spending enough time in school when the time comes! I don't really understand this pushing kids into school earlier and earlier. When we went to school we started w/ Nursery School which was a few times a week for a morning or an afternoon and we were 5, I think. Then we went to Kindergarten. Smush will be 3 in 2 weeks. There are people who can't understand why she hasn't already been in school this past year. Ummmm... so someone else can change her diapers and watch her hit milestones? So she loses the joy of free playing and no set schedule to prevent us from going into the city or the zoo, or the carousel?
I tell you, the looks we get when it comes out that she isn't signed up to go someplace in the fall... Whoa, you'd think we were going to be messing her up for the rest of her life by not sending her to an expensive pre-school program where she might be told what colors to draw with and which page to draw on. I don't think so. Not yet, at least.
The phone call, thought, was intriguing. We haven't really discussed what school we will be sending her to when the time comes. I suppose we should start talking about it as the fall of 2011 is out there and usually signups are the spring before... Anyway, our local Yeshiva (religious school) has been holding some focus groups to see what parents are looking for in an elementary school education for their children. There are many different types of yeshiva schools, including co-ed and separate gender. Then, within the co-ed schools there are some separations when the children get a little older for different subjects.
I had often thought that the joy of an all girls school would be that not just for the Judaic subjects (which is why schools in the yeshiva world are separate gender) but for the math/science classes. I struggled mightily in math all through school and I wonder what might have been different, or if it would have been different, had I been in an all girls environment. Who knows. However, the literature does point to stronger math and science skills in those separate schools. But, it would mean busing to a school outside our little community here and I don't know if I want to do that. Of course busing is a whole other issue that I hope to write about soon as it is going to be on our local school budget ballot. More on that later. It's late and I need to get going!
Smush now has the book "Knitting Nell" in her collection. This is the third of 3 knitting or yarn/fiber based books that I have found and given to her for different reasons. The first was "Flusi and the Sock Yarn" which is put out by Regia Yarn Company. Lastly we have a really cute version of Baa Baa Black Sheep that shows the sheep knitting gifts for all the other farm animals, as well as providing wool for the master, the dame and the little boy who lives down the lane. Whenever I see books like this I buy them for her, put them away and then give them so her as new books need to be added to the rotation. I haven't figured out yet what types of books to be looking for for Squiggly. I'll have to work on that.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I had an interesting phone call tonight and thought it was a good opportunity to share some thought on schooling. Smush is still home with me. Many people ask us when she is going to start school. As if she won't be spending enough time in school when the time comes! I don't really understand this pushing kids into school earlier and earlier. When we went to school we started w/ Nursery School which was a few times a week for a morning or an afternoon and we were 5, I think. Then we went to Kindergarten. Smush will be 3 in 2 weeks. There are people who can't understand why she hasn't already been in school this past year. Ummmm... so someone else can change her diapers and watch her hit milestones? So she loses the joy of free playing and no set schedule to prevent us from going into the city or the zoo, or the carousel?
I tell you, the looks we get when it comes out that she isn't signed up to go someplace in the fall... Whoa, you'd think we were going to be messing her up for the rest of her life by not sending her to an expensive pre-school program where she might be told what colors to draw with and which page to draw on. I don't think so. Not yet, at least.
The phone call, thought, was intriguing. We haven't really discussed what school we will be sending her to when the time comes. I suppose we should start talking about it as the fall of 2011 is out there and usually signups are the spring before... Anyway, our local Yeshiva (religious school) has been holding some focus groups to see what parents are looking for in an elementary school education for their children. There are many different types of yeshiva schools, including co-ed and separate gender. Then, within the co-ed schools there are some separations when the children get a little older for different subjects.
I had often thought that the joy of an all girls school would be that not just for the Judaic subjects (which is why schools in the yeshiva world are separate gender) but for the math/science classes. I struggled mightily in math all through school and I wonder what might have been different, or if it would have been different, had I been in an all girls environment. Who knows. However, the literature does point to stronger math and science skills in those separate schools. But, it would mean busing to a school outside our little community here and I don't know if I want to do that. Of course busing is a whole other issue that I hope to write about soon as it is going to be on our local school budget ballot. More on that later. It's late and I need to get going!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
delinquency.... shocker!!!!!
So, I am still developing my thoughts for what I truly want to include in this blog. I know I want to use it to organize myself, I want to be able to share what's going on in our world, but I don't want to bore the world. Part of this is just to track my days as I become more adjusted to raising a family versus it just being me and my husband, and also, I want to keep my brain active. In the interest of actually making this a full view of me and our family, it is not going to just incorporate the fiber world thoughts I have, but also include the important things in our world, like the fact that we are Modern Orthodox Jews and that we are trying to start a business as well. Some posts are going to be about fiber stuff, some will be about the time of year it is, some will be about our business venture, and some will just, well, be.
On to the topic at hand... every year this happens. School starts and with it all the reminders of fall. I know that every fall the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah comes, and every year I feel like it is either too early or too late. This year, of all years, where it falls in the calendar actually feels just right, but perhaps because of Erin I feel like I have not been prepared. In addition, this year is what we call three day yom tovim, where a bunch of the holidays which are celebrated for two days butt up against a Sabbath and thereby create a situation where we end up celebrating for three days, which isn't inherently a bad thing, it just is, HOWEVER... It does create a situation where it feels like all we do is eat, sleep and go to synagogue.
What it really creates is a backlog of laundry, mail, and other things that need to get done. And, it prevents me from writing regularly. I will be writing more about the holidays in a little bit - not today - today is laundry day - particularly because Erin chose to poop all out her diaper and onto the blanket that she loves to lay on on the kitchen floor.... so that had to get done. But, I was inspired to write a little to share to anyone that might be reading this, that my good friend who is living as an ex-pat in Japan started her blog and she is an amazing author, so if you are interested in reading about life for an American living in Japan, check out aimeeweinstein.blogspot.com - you won't be sorry! enjoy!
It also means that not much knitting or crocheting gets done - although between my mother in law and sister in law and myself it does get discussed. In addition, the new WEBS catalog just arrived, so it's in our thoughts. Just a few words on this - I am almost done with the knit sweater for a friend's baby, I finished the carseat blanket, except for weaving in the ends, I have been getting a little done on the "to be felted" diaper bag and I did 4 rows of the new sweater I am making for Erin... so a little has been accomplished, just not as much as usually gets done.
And, as if that weren't enough... Erin is teething so instead of giving me nice big 4 hour blocks of sleeping, well, lets just say it's "sleepus interruptus" but we're working on it.... more on the holidays and how teething and lack of sleep plays into it all... see - I am not intending to be a blog delinquent... it's just sort of happening....
On to the topic at hand... every year this happens. School starts and with it all the reminders of fall. I know that every fall the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah comes, and every year I feel like it is either too early or too late. This year, of all years, where it falls in the calendar actually feels just right, but perhaps because of Erin I feel like I have not been prepared. In addition, this year is what we call three day yom tovim, where a bunch of the holidays which are celebrated for two days butt up against a Sabbath and thereby create a situation where we end up celebrating for three days, which isn't inherently a bad thing, it just is, HOWEVER... It does create a situation where it feels like all we do is eat, sleep and go to synagogue.
What it really creates is a backlog of laundry, mail, and other things that need to get done. And, it prevents me from writing regularly. I will be writing more about the holidays in a little bit - not today - today is laundry day - particularly because Erin chose to poop all out her diaper and onto the blanket that she loves to lay on on the kitchen floor.... so that had to get done. But, I was inspired to write a little to share to anyone that might be reading this, that my good friend who is living as an ex-pat in Japan started her blog and she is an amazing author, so if you are interested in reading about life for an American living in Japan, check out aimeeweinstein.blogspot.com - you won't be sorry! enjoy!
It also means that not much knitting or crocheting gets done - although between my mother in law and sister in law and myself it does get discussed. In addition, the new WEBS catalog just arrived, so it's in our thoughts. Just a few words on this - I am almost done with the knit sweater for a friend's baby, I finished the carseat blanket, except for weaving in the ends, I have been getting a little done on the "to be felted" diaper bag and I did 4 rows of the new sweater I am making for Erin... so a little has been accomplished, just not as much as usually gets done.
And, as if that weren't enough... Erin is teething so instead of giving me nice big 4 hour blocks of sleeping, well, lets just say it's "sleepus interruptus" but we're working on it.... more on the holidays and how teething and lack of sleep plays into it all... see - I am not intending to be a blog delinquent... it's just sort of happening....
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