What, Me Overschedule?

Today is Imani's first day in Abbott Pre-School class. I like the head teacher and assistant teacher who both said they were pleased that we decided to place her in their class. "We treat the children well, no matter what class they're in," said the assistant, meaning just because this classroom is funded by the public school and therefore free (not including after care) doesn't mean they treat the children any less.

I called my in-laws after leaving the farm last night (we belong to a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, which I'll post about later) and Imani totally outed the new Abbott class. "Tell Mumsy I'm going to a new class, Mommy, and the we don't have to drive there we just walk down the hall and down the steps!" And so now my mother-in-law, who wasn't in favor of the move, knows the scoop. Her concern is that Imani is ahead of her age group and she isn't sure she'll get the attention she needs to continue to grow in the Abbott class. Nevertheless she said that she hopes it all works out.

Interestingly I found out that Imani has been to that classroom before when her "Community" (Montessori) class visited the Abbott classroom for joint activities. "Imani seems so much older than she is," the Abbott assistant teacher told me yesterday when I went to meet her, "she speaks so well for a child her age." I thought that was a good thing when she said it but in light of my mother-in-law's concern, I plan to watch Imani for changes, like lax speech.

Anyway, in addition to the Pre-School it's also time to register her for all her fall activities. A few weeks ago I posted the following on my Facebook page:

Planning Imani's fall activities: ballet/tap (Thurs), swimming (Sat), drawing (Mon), the farm (our CSA, Sat) plus Pre-K Scholars tutoring (Tues, Wed) from me. Am I overscheduling?

Overwhelmingly folks said, "Yes!" The funny thing is that I forgot one activity: Music Together, which I started doing with Imani a little before she was one-year-old and now I'd like to do with Imani and Naima as a family. The deal is, if you add on gymnastics which Imani also wants to do these are all activities that she requested -- ok, maybe not the Pre-K Scholars Kindergarten readiness tutoring from me, but everything else. And if you replace Pre-K Scholars in the list with "What Your Preschooler Needs to Know" book and workbook these are things she did last year!

So is it overscheduling if she asks for all these activities?