Dena overheard Ronit and Miriam having a discussion about school yesterday. Ronit was sure that Israeli Gan is better than Temple Emanuel. Since I bike with Ronit to school and drop her off everyday, I can attest to her prefernce for Gan Lotus (kindergarten). This summer it used to take Ronit 10-60 minutes to get settled at Camp Polliwog, and before that she was starting be less than enthusiastic about going to Temple Emanuel. At Gan Lotus -- we lock our bikes outside. I take Ronit inside and help hangup here helmet and backpack, and then I find her something to do. The first few days, I needed to find one of her english speaking friends Jenny, and ask Jenny to hold Ronit's hand. Now though, Ronit picks out where she wants to go, and that's it. Abracadabra -- I'm invisible. Maybe I help her find a blue magic marker or something else, but as often as not, she starts playing and does even know that I exist. Yesterday, Ariel came over to play. Today when we got to gan, Maya right away said hello to Ronit, and then joined Ronit at the drawing table. I said hello and introduced myself to Maya to which she responded, "I can speak english too like Ariel. Ariel had a playdate with Ronit." So it appears that Ronit has another admirer. I promised Maya we would set up a playdate for her and Ronit too.
Back to the question, what's better? Miriam was pretty sure that JCDS was better than Yavneh (her school here). Margalit and Dani were not around, but you can be pretty sure how they would vote.
On the topic of hebrew langauge acquisition.... Ronit loves mazes, and for the past few weeks instead of reading a story before bed, she wants me to draw here a maze. Somedays I've made a maze in the shape of a house, or a pencil or the ocean -- whatever Ronit requests. Yesterday she asked for שמים (Shamiyim) meaning sky. I asked her if she knew how to say it in English. Sheepishly she said, "I forget". Not for too long. Within about a minute she remembered.
