Day 27: Or bidding?

Exile #3 has been attending school full-time since Day 9 although technically she is still pre-school age here. In the UK, she had already done a term of full-time school and four terms in total of National Curriculum education, starting at age 3. Our experience of this UK system was very positive and Exile #3 seemed to thrive on the independence and confidence she gained. So, how does it feel to be thrown into a very different system? Well, it feels very much as if things are a year behind here. Next year (at 5) she will start Kindergarten - the 'preparing for learning' year, very much like Reception is in the UK for 4 year-olds. This year is much more relaxed, feeling in nature very much like her time at Nursery in the UK last year. However, the children are not developmentally behind in terms of language, motor-skills etc., so the content is much richer than that possible at the same educational stage in the UK. To be honest, I can see the good in both systems.

Anyway, while September to December were spent learning to read and write, for the last week or so she has been doing things related to a Day-Sky/Night-Sky theme. Learning about planets, stars and the moon etc has seemed particularly interesting for her. One day she came home and said she had been on a rocket-ship ride to the Moon (although she did feel the need to tell me later that they hadn't really - more savvy than the space-cadets then). On another day she informed Exile #2 that 'The Moon has no light of its own', and yesterday she was talking about the planets orbiting the sun, except that she had never learned the word 'orbiting' before, so, naturally enough she learned it the way the children and teachers in her class say it. It's the beginning of a slippery slope and I suspect that like the toboggan (picture taken on Sunday), it will go further once Exile #4 joins in and they will both end up sounding (to us at least) pretty well Americanized(!)

(US accent pun #1 for the title watchers)