For the last month or so Hollis has been asking to go to school. He also asks to "go back to soccer game" and "can I play baseball game too." I think it is great he is able to tell me that he has interests and that he wants to get involved. Last year my best buddy went in on soccer lessons for Hollis. We all (Hollis included) thought that he would be playing soccer during the lessons, but he just didn't like the whole sitting down and singing songs or talking part of the soccer lessons. It was an hour long and about half of it was sitting down, a quarter of it was running around looking for sharks, and the remaining quarter was playing soccer. I spent the entire time trying to fight my child to participate like all the other kids. He didn't want to do it, and honestly I didn't want him to do it either. We only made to half of the lessons and I never thought about it again. Hollis, however, is thinking about it again.
The last few months I have been trying to wrap my head around preschool. Which one to choose? How close is it, what days do they
offer, can we bike there, how many hours do they offer, what do they feed the kids, can we afford it?????? I found the Nymphs in Nature program, a one-hour, one day a week outdoor nature play program during my preschool search and told Hollis he was going to school. He was thrilled. We talked about what we put in his backpack, and what we might do when we get there. Today was his first day, and although he was bummed that Georgie and Ayla weren't there, he had a great time.
When we walked in to the classroom he was immediately engaged in wonder. There were tanks and cages with animals. He was greeted by Teacher Laura, and said "I didn't bring my ninjas." She showed him where to hang up his backpack and jacket and took him to meet the class rats, Salt and Pepper. He sat with the class during circle time to learn all about beavers. He helped dress up a classmate as a beaver. We went outside and played games, collecting cards that represented a beavers needs and he ran around as a beaver trying to escape the teacher posing as predators.
We went inside again, the kids built a beaver dam out of sticks and mud and then they put houses and trees in a tank full of dirt, the teacher scraped out a river in the dirt and then she flooded the tank with water and watched the river fill. Then the kids helped build a dam. He loved every minute. Especially when he saw a box turtle crawling across the room toward him. He smiled ear to ear as the teacher let him touch the turtle. We had such a great time. I look forward to sending him to preschool at the same place. It will also be nice because we can walk and bike their easily.
