So the NY Times has a writeup on the Speyer Legacy School, a new independent elementary school on the Upper West Side founded by "a group of high-powered mothers" who apparently wanted to take the whole Hollingworth Preschool@Columbia experience with them after their kids aged out. Speyer's curriculum is geared specifically to "advanced learners," and I am assuming that is not, as the Times seems to think, just teaching five-year-olds to drop big words:
...students are told they are discussing meteorology rather than the daily weather, and that they are studying entomology rather than insects. Classes are limited to 18, and include time for art, music, chess and Spanish.Don't get me wrong: I'm all for spending $28,500/year on kindergarten, if that's what it takes for your little genius to reach her full potential. But just be clear about what you're getting: the personalized attention that comes with a small class size, and [hopefully, if you've chosen your school well] an educational and cultural philosophy that fits your kid and your family....
Ava Roberts, 6, who moved to Speyer this fall from the private Claremont Preparatory School in Lower Manhattan, said that her kindergarten class last year studied shapes that she had already learned at Hollingworth. She said she even showed her teacher a new shape: the nonagon.
Because just as every kid with an Olivia book knows Jackson Pollock, every. single. preschooler with an iPod knows what a nonagon is.
Teach your kid what a nonagon is and save $28,486! with the TMBG Here Come The 123s CD/DVD [amazon]
ha ha. great end line.