21st-century Education

Fall made an appearance over the weekend, at least as cool drizzle and completely overcast skies. But the tired green trees aren’t playing the part yet, and various weathercasters say things are going to warm up again later in the week. I think of it as summer’s tug back to the mild tug of fall.

Ann started preschool last week. Mostly it was introductions to the teachers and classrooms. To avoid separation issues, the kids won’t be without parents for the full two hours until the end of this week. But I suspect that Ann will make the transition without much fuss. She sat down immediately at a table to play with clay during one of last week's classes, and later when I told her it was time to go, she said, “Go, Daddy.”

Lilly of course has been in school a few weeks now. One of the lessons at the beginning of third grade happens to be about the planets, and last week she and I had a discussion about Pluto. “I think Pluto’s still a planet,” I said, exercising my God-given right to have an opinion about celestial objects. “No, it’s a dwarf planet,” she answered. Ah, the new party line. Re-education camp is a distinct risk for me.