Elf Sternberg

Today was the last day of school for Kouryou-chan. This is true in more ways than one: she's been at this school, in the Montessori program, for seven years, and has never known anything else as a matter of schooling. She's had three of the most amazing teachers she could ever encounter, has had a life full of adventure and learning and fun, and at twelve years old knows more math, science, literature and art than any of her peers.

Her only frustration is that whenever the class learns something cool, all of her classmates get to go home and tell their parents, "Did you know..." and amaze the parents with new knowledge. More often than not, Kouryou-chan's "Did you know..." is often met with, "Yes, and to make matters even more interesting..." Which results in, "You guys know everything!" Well, no, we're just well-read and we love to challenge our children to be just as good.

After school closed down, the entire school met at a nearby park for the end-of-year picnic. It was truly bittersweet, with Kouryou-chan saying goodbye to classes, teachers, structures, and even a life she'll never again be part of. (Even if Omaha does get onto the school's board of directors, which she's thinking about doing in her spare time even as she's being feted to run for the local city council.) She played with them, and got phone numbers for some, addresses for others, discussed her summer plans.

I'm going to miss Three Tree Montessori all the more. That was an amazing community of people, but Kouryou-chan has outgrown it. The school admin said, "We're gonna so miss you guys. Can you two reproduce... quickly?"

I think Omaha and I are past those days, sadly.

Still, the whole point of Montessori is that it's designed to train kids to be good at doing things, at initiating and following through. Kouryou-chan is certainly that. I'm glad she went through it.