Montessori Musings

So far, so good. Jack is a kindergartener at Montessori, which means he is still in his class of children ranging in age from 2 to 6. But this year he is a "role model" and gets to help the younger children with everything from new "works" to tying their shoes and helping them with jackets. He is in school from 9:00-2:45 each day. Our la-di-da award-winning school district with the great SAT scores and plethora of AP classes for high schoolers still has half-day kindergarten. And not everyone will fit, so there's a lottery for who gets morning or afternoon. Going to school in the afternoon would suck, right? The nearby Chester-Upland school district has federally supported full day kindergarten because with their tax base they could never pay for it. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with that use of federal money, it's just strange the way things work.

Anyway, Will also is at the same school this year, same times. It's a bit much for a almost-four-year-old, perhaps, but it's such a great place, and they do fun things in the afternoon, like Spanish, art, and gym. So far his teacher says he is "a sponge." A couple outbursts of temper, but nothing out of the ordinary. We keep giving him a cloth napkin and placemat every day at lunch last week, but they kept on not coming back, and at Parent Night we figured out he must be putting them in the "laundry" every day, which is where the extras go if kids have forgotten to bring their own napkin and placemat in. We still haven't gotten anything back yet, and I'm getting down to skeevy old washcloths for him to take in. On Friday he did mend his ways,though.

Wednesday's post and all the comments put me in the mood for more company, so I invited a family whose daughter is new in Will's class. Hadn't talked to the mom much, just felt like maybe we were on the same wavelength. We had a great time and the kids had a blast, eating their cotton candy ice cream on top of the "clubhouse" and playing mysterious games with quirky rules. I had a backlog of eggplant from the CSA so we had eggplant lasagna with garlic bechamel sauce, from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It was divine. They brought salad, bread and a red zinfandel. Her family runs a business out in western PA that John's family frequented, to we got to say "Small world!" I love saying "Small world, small world. . . . Huh." Another sip of wine.

Another thing I really like to say is "Two Silver Kayaks Upon a Silver Prius." Is that not a pleasant phrase? We spotted this vehicle (vehicles) on the way to church yesterday and marvelled upon its general silveriness. It was actually "Two Silver Kayaks Upon a Silver Prius with a Thule Rack." Ouch.