Nell is thriving at her preschool. We decided last year to take her out of the lovely laissez faire day care centre both she and Zac have attended since they were babies, because we felt that Nell would benefit from something a bit more structured for her pre-school years. So she is now attending a private preschool with a much more classroom style of learning.
I had a few misgivings about the preschool in the early weeks. It is part of a large private school in inner-city Sydney, so there are kids from age 3 to 18. It's in a busy part of town, there is no parking and I felt overwhelmed by the whole introduction process, the enormous number of kids and the clockwork precision of the systems they use to regulate that many people in such a small space.
Nell, on the otherhand, thrived. On her first full day at preschool, surrounded by the howls of other toddlers mourning the separation from their parents, Nell sat down with a pencil and paper and we had the following conversation.
Nell: "I am drawing a picture of you saying goodbye, Mummy. You can go now."
Me: "Well, would you like me to introduce you to that little girl across the table? She might like to play with you."
Nell: [exasperated] "No, Mummy. I will make friends when you are gone."
My reservations aside, Nell has come home everyday in love with her new preschool. She is either singing a new song she just learned or telling me a word she encountered in her daily French class. Her progress has been quite astounding.
This morning one of her teachers approached me and said that Nell had been talking a lot about gravity yesterday. The teachers got excited and have decided to put together a unit of learning about gravity based on Nell's obvious interest in the subject. I am afraid that the preschool now thinks that we are a studious science-loving family, when in fact I know that Nell's interest in gravity stems solely from watching her brother play Super Mario Galaxy which is her favourite way to wind-down at the end of the day.
Oh, I am glad she is doing so well! What a cutie. I am laughing about the "making friends when you are gone" thing. I get instructions about what I may, and may not, say to parents of Stella's friends.
Posted by: jano | March 04, 2008 at 05:46 PM