Off to the big K!

School starts up and summer comes to an end.  This was a big milestone this year as Phoebe started Kindergarten and Ellie went to a revamped Shining Tides which now follows roughly the Montessori pedagogy which, based on the pamphlet they sent home is the following:

• little kids learn from big kids
• the big kids are unaware they are teaching the little kids
• the role of the actual adults is to just stay out of the way

I recently reread, actually skimmed the Lord of the Flies where some boarding school boys end up stranded on a desert island after what appears to be a nuclear war.   The Montessori approach ensues and I can say that, at least in that setting, it is not a good idea.  After skimming I also concluded that as an adult I will continue with my choice of reading only non-fiction.   Piggy has nothing over Shackleton.  Perhaps I need to do a better job vetting because there are a few fictionish books I have read recently that I like including In the Slick of the Cricket, and The Road which, as a father, was an incredibly intense read which led me to buy Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian which appears to be written by a bloodlusting data mining bot that tapped into a pool of uncommon adjectives.

 Back to the kids, Phoebe was anticipating Kindergarten at roughly the same level the kids prepare for Christmas.  We rode the bus with her on the first day and sat for much too long in the cafeteria.  It was an important information session and I felt a bit guilty because I had roughly 5% of the concerns of other parents about safety and education.  I have full confidence that the school has it together.  

The principal seems sound and Phoebe has an energetic teacher.  We were also fortunate that her class size swelled exactly to the point where they had to hire a fourth teacher which meant she has a small homeroom of only 13 kids instead of the close to 20 they were going to have.  She absolutely loves school and has a special activity on each day.  Monday is art, tuesday is gym, wednesday is library, thursday is computer lab, and friday is music.  We had an open house a few weeks in and the school is incredible.  It is modern and beautiful and has great technological amenities.  All of the rooms have doc-cams and macs. Ellie continues to be jealous and it is hard for her in the morning to stand with the 10 or so kids on the block waiting for the bus and then watch them board and drive away.  I do feel for her but her time for K will come soon enough.