I just sent Athena off to school all dressed up for her school pictures but I forgot to take a "preview" photo so I guess we'll just have to wait for the final result. But that reminded me that I have been meaning to post these photos from the girls' other school.
This is our current schedule, three days a week Athena goes to her new preschool and two days a week, Zoe and Athena go to a play school together. This is the school that Zoe went to last year which closed down and then reopened under new management. It's a parent CoOp, so I'm also there half the time, and it's the exact opposite from Athena's other school.
The play school is extremely free-spirited, totally wild and they believe in getting dirty, digging your hands in kind of experiences. I love it and I love that Athena has the balance of structure, learning and schedule at one school and play, freedom and fun at the other. Whereas Zoe, who doesn't like to be left at any school, gets to be in a school environment with me and Athena close by.
Each class has two teachers and three parents volunteers on any given day which means a ratio of 5 to 1. Chris thinks its a bunch of crazy, overly involved parents playing school, but I enjoy the camaraderie and seeing the girls interact with their friends in a school setting. Chris' criticism is valid because it did close down last year due to infighting and unnecessary drama. But it seems to be a much more stable governance now, and the girls and I love it, so we're giving it another chance.
One other very special thing about this school is that Zoe's teacher loves to take photos of the kids at play. She then posts them to a Shutterfly account almost immediately. So the days I'm not there, I can log on and see pictures of what Zoe did that day.
Here's some of my favorites of Zoe at play, all taken by Zoe's teacher:
Checking out a fuzzy spider with one of the visiting Dads.
Getting ice cream from the ice cream stand they set up.
Playing in the play car.
Catching leaves.
Caught it!
Getting a hug from her buddy, Calais (pronounced "cal-A")
Running!
Swinging!
Painting!
5 comments:
Great that both Athena and Zoe get to play and be "kids".....we learn a lot that way also.....and after all, they are very young! Heck, I still like to muck! lol And good for you to be there as well .....those early years go so fast, so enjoy being with them as much as you can, as being involved and being a helicopter parent is not the same thing..... love to all!
sounds like you have the perfect combination of school experiences for the kids. And you getting to be there with them is FANTASTIC...and this is coming from me as a mom and as a teacher! I think that the co-op sounds great! Love the pics! The girls are adorable
How cool that she does that!
I long for little Zoe hugs. I miss her so much. Glad she is doing so well.
Julie, I nearly SCREAMED when I saw that spider picture. I read the caption first and thought maybe a stuffed spider? ACK! I've still got the heebie-jeebies.
I've been wondering how the CoOp was going. Sounds like a LOT of fun for the girls. I'm glad they are getting to experience that and I hope the mama drama stays at a minimum this go 'round. :)
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