All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten

Well, not truly.  All I actually learned in kindergarten was that I couldn't sleep in strange places (I still can't) and that it was a big deal to know how to spell "butterfly."  (My mom taught me how to read at 3.  So sue me.)

But oh, man.  How I wish I had attended this school. It's called Forest Kindergarten, a branch of Waldorf education in which the kids go outside every day for three hours, even in the snow, even in the rain, even if it's below freezing.  They dig, splash, gross each other out, and do all the other things kids do well.  They spend some time indoors reading and writing, but mostly they play outside.

The bad news?  Tuition is $7000 a year.   It's ridiculous -- this program should be instituted in all public schools, even if they have to plant a garden in flowerpots in a parking lot.  Especially if they have to plant a garden in flowerpots in a parking lot; nature will be all the more precious to those children, and they need as much of it as they can get, and they won't get it at desks being crammed full of differentiated knowledge to prepare them for placement tests while they're still young enough to forget to go to the bathroom.

Sorry; that sentence got away from me.  Well, I guess this is why I advocate homeschooling.  It's the only way you can ensure your children have a balanced education at less than $7000 a year.