Right about now parents of preschoolers all over our city are beginning the freak out process that is known as getting your child into kindergarten.  It’s one of the 879 things that drive us crazy about this place.  The reason I bring it up is that yesterday I got struck by what an education Huck (and oh so many other children) receive in a given day.  I don’t mean to single Huck out; he’s just the example I know best.  I think it’s worth remembering that while of course we want our kids learning in school, they’re also learning everywhere else.

So for Huck here’s his first grade education these days.  At school he’s learning the usual stuff, with a big focus on handwriting and spelling.  He’s also learning a lot of music from around the world through the Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers program I’ve written about, and because Troy helps with this program we have a CD of the music here at home.  Last night during his bath he requested I play it, and there he sat surrounded by Mr. Bubbles singing beautifully in Arabic and trying to teach me the lyrics.

Before that he had his first class at Storefront Science down the street where he was the one and only student.  For an hour and 15 minutes he got one on one attention from the teacher and owner, who is also a professional jazz singer, as they explored the forces of motion and gravity.  On our walk home I asked if he wished more students were in the class and he shook his head passionately and said he loved being the only one, and he began telling me about every single thing he and his teacher did together.  With a huge smile and his front snaggletooth hanging out of his mouth, he told me that after dropping items (like a chair and a cotton ball) onto the floor and realizing that they always land at the same time, he coined the phrase “Matter Doesn’t Matter.”  He didn’t stop smiling for at least an hour.

Before bed last night we got out his script of The Pizza Thief to do the required drama homework.  He’s had his 16 lines memorized since the day he brought it home, but we actors know the importance of going over and over and over and over and over and over them.  Earlier in the day I was talking about the play Troy and I wrote together and Huck told me that the more he thinks about it, the more that’s how actors should always do plays.  If you write the play yourself (as he and his classmates wrote this one), the lines are much easier to learn.  I will keep this in mind.

Today he begins another season of his beloved Washington Heights Jazz Choir where he’s convinced he will finally learn Route 66.  He has proclaimed jazz to be his very favorite kind of music ever, which has really made Shannon proud.  I can completely envision the two of them in about 25 years sipping wine at some Harlem club together.

On any given day various toys are made into elaborate optical illusions and random objects become ridiculous magic tricks that in his mind are amazing.  Just walking through our neighborhood and passing the many Orthodox Jewish families sparks many conversations about different religions and faith traditions.  On Sunday he’ll sing a beautiful song at church in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. day and tomorrow’s the all-school ice skating trip at Central Park.  I’m leaving Troy and Huck for the three day weekend to be with my sisters, so rest assured there will also be plenty of mindless computer video games and animated movies in the mix, which I’m sure will teach him something, too.

And maybe that gross tooth will finally fall out.