brain child

Yesterday, Sage brought home her brain. Astonishingly, it was the study topic of the day at her uber-advanced pre-school; and she had made a little model out of blue, yellow, and green Play-Doh.

Of course, we chose the school in the first place because it's very cutting-edge in its philosophies and curriculum; it also guarantees a minimum of one teacher for every six students. Despite this, I had honestly figured she wouldn't be doing much more in school than learning to get along with other kids, since she's only in pre-kindergarten. (Which is a level I never even knew existed before, in between nursery and kinder.)

Just this morning, however, she informed me that "full" was her favorite "moon shape", winning out over crescent and half-moon; and that the moon goes around the earth, "which is our planet". She has some trouble remembering the exact terms, but if you prompt her, she now knows that the basic parts of the brain are the thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebrum, and cerebellum.

And by the way, at her age, she should actually be in nursery--but when she went for her interview with the school director, she was immediately accelerated to pre-K. Maybe in a few months she can explain to me just what it is a "thalamus" does.