Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Come, Sit!
Elliott is getting much better at telling us what he wants. For example, pulling your pant leg (forcibly) and then patting the floor/couch means, "sit here!" I hope he learns the words before I dragged all over the house!
Friday, November 18, 2016
Now Enrolling: Fall 2017
Short story:
After many tours and much deliberation, we enrolled Jonah and Elliott in a new school for next fall!
Long story:
We've started to have some misgivings about daycare. Nothing serious, but it is becoming more and more clear that their bottom line comes first and the children second. Education is a distant third. Kids are constantly shuffled between rooms to make quota. Our flexibility and perks have also been declining with the new administration - our sibling discount decreased and we were charged a boatload extra just for switching which 3 days the kids attended for one week. During parent-teacher conferences, Jonah's teacher seemed particularly discontent with the way things are run. Case-in-point: for BOTH kids' teacher conferences, we were double-booked with another family! That gave us time to observe the 32 kids in Jonah's classroom and the chaotic play during the scheduled circle time.
In our town, preschools open enrollment for the following year in OCTOBER. Yikes! Add to that pre-enrollment for current families, and it starts to feel competitive to get one of the few remaining spots before they fill up! We looked at Montessori, which I wanted so badly to love, but I couldn't see Jonah - a very social learner - working quietly by himself. Elliott would fit right in, but what is the point in telling a toddler he can onlyplay work with something in one particular way? Apparently I value creativity more than I do the very beautiful and sophisticated math manipulatives. So we found a preschool that offers play in the mud (Jonah's favorite past-time), field trips to the library (I've always thought that was a super cute way to teach responsibility), and a kindergarten curriculum.
Yes, we are those parents pushing Jonah into an academic program to challenge his little brain. And so, at the age of 5, Jonah will start his first of two years of kindergarten, since he still won't qualify for first grade when he turns 6. Elliott will go along for the ride to preschool when he turns 2.9 in October. Oh, and school gets out at 2:30. Mommy and Daddy are going to have to figure out the rest...
After many tours and much deliberation, we enrolled Jonah and Elliott in a new school for next fall!
Long story:
We've started to have some misgivings about daycare. Nothing serious, but it is becoming more and more clear that their bottom line comes first and the children second. Education is a distant third. Kids are constantly shuffled between rooms to make quota. Our flexibility and perks have also been declining with the new administration - our sibling discount decreased and we were charged a boatload extra just for switching which 3 days the kids attended for one week. During parent-teacher conferences, Jonah's teacher seemed particularly discontent with the way things are run. Case-in-point: for BOTH kids' teacher conferences, we were double-booked with another family! That gave us time to observe the 32 kids in Jonah's classroom and the chaotic play during the scheduled circle time.
In our town, preschools open enrollment for the following year in OCTOBER. Yikes! Add to that pre-enrollment for current families, and it starts to feel competitive to get one of the few remaining spots before they fill up! We looked at Montessori, which I wanted so badly to love, but I couldn't see Jonah - a very social learner - working quietly by himself. Elliott would fit right in, but what is the point in telling a toddler he can only
Yes, we are those parents pushing Jonah into an academic program to challenge his little brain. And so, at the age of 5, Jonah will start his first of two years of kindergarten, since he still won't qualify for first grade when he turns 6. Elliott will go along for the ride to preschool when he turns 2.9 in October. Oh, and school gets out at 2:30. Mommy and Daddy are going to have to figure out the rest...
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
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