Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Preschool, etc.

Well, the search is on for a preschool for Molly next fall. It seems so far away -- the baby will be 6 months old by then -- but the schools are holding open houses now and applications are due in Jan/Feb. So here we go!

We've been doing a "Mommy and Me" class at a Waldorf preschool with our neighbor Rhys and his mom this fall. It's fun, but aside from all the toys being made of natural materials and the snacks being all natural (buckwheat muffins and herbal tea), we're not really clear on what makes this different from other schools. It's the same routine: free play, snack, circle time, playground. There just aren't any plastic toys. They do puppet-style story telling, though, and that's really cool. The kids are captivated!

We went to a pumpkin decorating party at another preschool, one the kids across the street go to and love. It was more traditional, with way more stuff in the classroom and a much better equipped playground. Molly says she likes that one better because the playground's better. Noted.

I went to a Montessori school open house this weekend and loved it, but it was during Molly's nap time so she hasn't given an opinion yet. There are no toys in the classroom, only a bazillion "works" (like bean pouring, sandpaper letters, etc.) that the kids select on their own and practice. The playground looked fine, but what do I know?

 Meanwhile, Molly has just gone through some burst in development that's hard to pin down, but includes her using funny adult phrases and longer sentences and concentrating intensely while making a new style of drawing on the white board. That's the only place she wants to be photographed lately.

This is a funny video that finally captures something she's been doing for a while -- composing imaginary thank you notes to people. The text is usually something like, "Dear Grandma, Thank you for the present. I love you. Love, Molly."

In this one, I just put a bag of rags within reach for her so she doesn't have to ask me every time she wants to wash off her chalk board. Apparently she was pretending that they were washcloths and that Lex and Eve gave them to her. So she painstakingly made this drawing and then told me what it was. Through some miracle, she actually repeated the whole thing on camera.


2 comments:

Tessa said...

Awwww..... she is adorable!

Good luck with your preschool search. I'm sure she'll do great wherever you choose.

AnnaPK said...

She is a smart girl to be so cute with her thank you notes just when people are starting to think about buying her birthday and Christmas gifts! ;)

Preschool choices are overwhelming! There are like 10 in our tiny little school district area. One of the things that I like and think is important about Lucy's school is that they try to expose them to the things they will see and hear in the kindergarten here. So they are do some sign language, some spanish, they work on the alphabet, learning to write their names, etc. It makes kindergarten in the big school, all day long seem less scary. Also our preschool goes outside to play almost every day and they go on field trips. Not all the schools do those things. Some things to think about.
I have no idea why I didn't email you instead of typing it all here. I'm short on sleep this week and it is affecting my judgment I guess. :)