Sunday Slivers, Monday Musings, Tuesday Thoughts: 2/6/11

I seem to be creating a minor tradition within the tradition of the Sunday Slivers to post a day late. Perhaps I should rename these Monday Musings. (And plus computer glitch, it is now Tuesday...)

We've spent many nights over the past couple of months talking about the impending decision of where to send Sava to Kindergarten. We moved into a house within an excellent school district over a year ago with the express purpose of sending Sava to the local public school. Then we made the mistake of asking "what if," and now we find ourselves racked with uncertainty about whether to choose the public school or an alternative private school which would swallow all of our discretionary income, and then some. We don't even know if Sava will get accepted into the private school, but we'd like to have chosen in advance.
The reason for our uncertainty is that we live in 1) a country that is foreign to our own early school experiences, way back when behind the iron curtain and 2) a country that boasts some of the world's best universities, but has a hodgepodge of secondary schools, many of which fail to provide even basic education. We feel a heavy weight of responsibility in choosing a place that will motivate Sava to want to learn, teaching him actual skills (not just the misguided self-confidence about presumed skills that many American students are reported to have) without stifling his creativity.
We come from an educational system where the concept of creativity did not even exist. Success in school meant learning by rote and regurgitating pre-masticated information; conformity was rewarded and differences smoothed out. We compensated a bit through our college experiences here, but we still wonder what sort of people we might have become had we gone through a different educational system that nurtures individuality and fosters creative thinking.
We also know that American schools are plagued by their own sets of problems, the biggest of which is that no two schools are alike. Some place too much emphasis on testing at the expense of learning. Others favor individual attention to a fault. Still others seem stuck in traditions that date back to another century.
We understand that every child is different, and all of these models exist in order to give everyone the opportunity to fit somewhere. The problem is that we won't know how Sava might fit until we try one of the models, and by the time we try we might have already made an error in judgment.
In the end, we realize, it probably comes down to what we offer after school here at home. And by offering I don't mean extra lessons, tutors, or other educational bootcamps. I (probably) mean the way we relate to each other and to the kids, the free time we spend together, and the books we read at night in bed. We'd like to believe that this is what really matters. And the choice of school is...well...one big fat stroke of luck.
*****
This week--

We finally made it, for the first time, to Coyote Point and CuriOdyssey. Fantastic museum for older kids, and a great place to hang out close to but away from all the hubbub.

 View of the whole Bay, and dozens of planes landing at SFO every few minutes, literally.

 

 Great indoor space, and a lovely zoo/aviary/garden. They're watching a bobcat in a hanging boat.

 

 The harbor is right there, as is a lovely playground on the edge of the woods.

We hiked the Rancho San Antonio in the uncanny February weather. (But lest we should feel smug about our luck with the weather, we take note of this sobering column by Paul Krugman.)

 We saw two separate families of four deer each.

 He insisted on wearing pink glasses and a hat the whole time.

 We even made the short trip over the highway to Huddart Park, where we had not gone since Sava was very little. It was a bit precarious hiking with Raya along a path that bordered a steep cliff, what with her wanting to run down the path and climbing fallen trees and all, but it was a wonderfully refreshing walk. Amazing what an hour in the woods can do for everybody's spirits.

 Meadow from which hiking trails in the redwoods branch out.

Watching the ranger drive off after he told us that the park would be closing in thirty minutes. Sava was very worried he might get chastised for picking flowers.

And, in the middle of a balmy Saturday afternoon, we played on the lawn next to Stanford's art museum.

  

 

 Love watching the boys making her a part of their play.

 

She is such a show-off.

*****
Plus random things...
Such as a bed-head that is not clearly visible on the picture--

And my favorite photos of the week, brother and sister playing "crash your car in mine"; it gives them utter and breathtaking delight--

 

 

Sava would never have liked this sort of play when he was sixteen months old, but Raya finds it hilarious and, now that he is older, so does Sava. I fear to think of what is next, but I'm also kinda looking forward to it.