school

We've been dithering about sending the little one to school. I really love having her at home and i enjoy the process of teaching her in various ways. In fact, my home looks like a school with charts galore, every piece of furniture labeled, little drawers and containers to put various toys...I guess when it comes down to it, i really like playing school with her. While neither of us cares two hoots about whether she knows her ABCs or how well she counts, we DO care about her social development and while giving her plenty of opportunities to interact with children in church and at playdates help to some degree, it is never quite the same when such interactions are supervised.

In other words, we need her to learn to survive in the playground jungle: how to take turns at the slide, tell a bully off, get reckoned with if SHE is the bully, how to initiate friendship and back off when not wanted...these lessons are hard to learn when she is the only child. So much as i would love to homeschool, we feel it necessary to send her off to kindy.So off to kindy she'll go in 2 weeks and although for a mere 3 hours, I'll miss her. hopelessly. She's already told me she doesn't need me in school with her, but I am to wait at the door of her classroom. I am also allowed to peek in occasionally, but i cannot disrupt her class.Baby Rachel (her doll) and a chubba-chub will accompany her in her standard-issue school bag so she's got all the comfort she needs.

So now I'm taking all the chance to do the stuff I won't be able to with her once she starts school, like going to the beach on a weekday morning, playing with the water fountain at Vivo, taking the MRT willy-nilly, losing ourselves in the library at Pasir Ris. I've also bought her white school shoes and pretty white socks, blue ribbons for her hair and a whole host of little treats she'll discover in her school bag. I'm also going to find ways to customise her school bag and uniform. the non-conformist in me cannot stand the concept of uniformity!