Gabbie’s thoughts on schooling…

I asked Gabbie yesterday if she wanted to go to school already. Without thinking, she said,  “Playground lang mommy, playground!” I was surprised and amused that she knew that kids her age should still enjoy playing. I said, “OK, playground lang.”

Last night her daddy bought her a Dora trolley school bag. She was so excited with the bag she brought it beside her to sleep. This morning she  filled the bag with her toys.

She was biking around the village when she asked, “Mommy, atan Mark?” Mark is a neighborhood kid. I said, “He’s in school. You want to go to school?” She answered differently this time, “Yes mommy, school Abby.” Wow, I thought. So I asked her, “What will you do in school?”

“Play with Mark!”

The idea and thought of Gabbie wearing a school uniform, sitting beside her classmates coloring books and reciting ABC… excites me. But it seems she’s not ready yet. She still equates schooling with playing, and I very much respect that.

After all, in our house, we do the things they teach in playschool. We sing, we dance, we play, we read books, we write and we color. She plays with kids in the neighborhood when the weather allows us to.

We’re setting up her room to look like a classroom (with a bed and sans a teacher).  She can count to 10 in English and Spanish. She can read or recognize A, E, I, O, U already. She knows some colors. And she can sing the ABC partly (ABC… GHIJ… PQRSTUV… BanyuEk… YZ). But most importantly, she knows how to follow instructions, she understands basic statements, she knows when to say Thank You and Welcome and she knows the use of Po and Opo.

Then again, she’s not ready yet.

~ by ivymarasigan on June 24, 2010.