I'm feeling all emotional. After complaining all weekend that she didn't want to go to kindergarten, Hanni waltzed off happily with her group and barely even said goodbye to me! Me, I just want to spend all day watching her through a one-way mirror. My baby is growing up!
I'm loving this little school more than ever. In the morning before school all the kids hang out in the livingroom of the old house that the school is in. Kids who hadn't seen each other over the break were hugging each other. Some kids were playing with world's largest slinky, and they were coordinating with each other about who would stay still and who would shake their end to make standing waves. (The school's science theme for this year is waves, light, and sound.) And the big kids didn't take it away from the littler kids.
Then one of the teachers rang a Tibetan chime (such a difference from the strident buzzer of the local public school that I can hear from my house), and everyone plopped down on the floor for what a larger school would call an assembly. Taking roll for the entire school took about a minute, and then the there were announcements and stuff. The head teacher mentioned that there is a new front gate, and one of the kids asked how they chose the color to paint it, and the teacher talked about that a little. Then he introduced Hanni, and the whole school said hello to her.
Best of all was watching Hanni get increasingly happy and excited as the room filled up with kids, and watching her magnetic attraction to OLDER KIDS who were doing things SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO DO YET. I could practically see her little neurons kicking into hyperdrive.
I realize I'm in a honeymoon period here, but if this school turns out to be even half as good as I'm hoping, then we've gotten really really lucky. I feel like I'm out-sourcing homeschooling.
I feel a little bad about sounding so happy about this, because I've read about so many struggles on this board. I'm wishing everyone awesome learning experiences for their kids.
