So a quick update on Hanni's new school -- it is actually exceeding expectations. I am giddy. She's learning geography and local history and science and Spanish. I hadn't realized how under-challenged she was at preschool. And the kids really are nice! One of the older girls wrote her a welcome card.
But here's an interesting revelation I've had -- educating Hanni is still and always my job. The school is great, but there is so much more that her little brain is demanding. I feel like, by putting her in this school, I'm just outsourcing part of the job. I'm still the project manager.
We are continuing to afterschool with a vengance. Not deliberately, but that's the only way to describe our evenings. Here's a sample day from this week:
- Picked her up at 3:30 and went to a performance of Mexican folk music at the university. (We've got this whole accidental music education thing going. Her current favorites are
bhangra music, Bill Withers'
Ain't No Sunshine, and the
original South African version of Mbube, which she has declared to be "more interesting" than The Lion Sleeps Tonight.)
- A kid at school had told her about after-images (you know,
this kind of thing). Well! I teach that stuff! So when we got home I pulled up my lecture slides and showed her some demos.
- Worked our way through a Spanish picture-book using Google Translate.
- Watched
this totally awesome tour of the International Space Station. Discussed gravity, why zero G is bad for your body, what would happen if the return capsule landed in the middle of a desert, and what would happen if some of your pee didn't make it into the little funnel thingy.
- Went to bed with Hanni wobbling around the room shrieking "I'm in space! I'm floating!" and read a big stack of books before turning out the light.
My plan for the next decade of my life: FEED THE MONSTER.
