(AF) Pre-K GRADUATION??!!!!

I learned last night that my middle granddaughter is having her Pre-K Graduation tomorrow night. Seriously? Pre-K? GRADUATION?  Now, don't get me wrong, I will tell you in an instant how proud I am of my grand kids. I also look forward to participating in all of their events that I possibly can. Although I don't get to very often, I love getting to watch them in their plays, graduations, sports, etc. It just makes a grandma swell with pride! But some of the activities kids are involved in today, one must wonder just where exactly the logic in it is.

Way back when, there were two graduations.... Middle School (or 8th grade graduation if your school was one of those that went from K-8th), and High School graduation. Then they squeezed in 6th grade graduation. (especially in places that had a middle school) It was initially pretty simple, but, as time went on, it became more hyped-up involved. Then, just as we adjusted to the extra "graduation" (and I say extra because with six kids, any year we had less than three 'graduations' was a relief a light year.), they threw in KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION!

I never have adjusted to the idea of Kindergarten Graduation. I am still from the old-school way of thinking where Kindergarten is "optional" and First Grade is where it all starts. By "where it all starts" I am not referring to the process of learning (because I believe that begins at home prior to school), but the beginning of tossing our kids into the hectic jungle of learning where the biggest thing they initially learn is other people's morals and ways. Setting aside the fact that I don't think, in today's society, that ANY of our public schools are fit for our children to attend, if they are going to, I think they should still learn as much as possible at home for as long as they can, at least until Kindergarten or First Grade.

But now kids are starting public schools as young as 3years old, sometimes even 2 years .... in what is called Pre-K. Personally, I think it is just a glorified babysitter, yet society is really pushing these kids to enroll in Pre-K as early as possible. I am sure it serves a great purpose for children whose parent(s) work and they have to go to a sitter anyway, but I have strong beliefs that children should receive their initial education and morals AT HOME, from their parents! When we send our children to school, they aren't just learning what the teacher is teaching them (and I often question the quality of that, too), but they are learning all kinds of things from the other kids around them, and from the parents that come to pick up their classmates. It becomes EXTREMELY difficult to instill our own morals and values into our kids when they are away from us all day.

I do not at all agree with the direction the younger end of our school systems have gone (and I also disagree with most of the upper end, nowadays, too). I have no doubt but that family values are falling to the wayside because of this push for 'early education.'  But I could easily elaborate much more fully and go on all day on this topic, so I will stop with that, because I am sure you get my drift by now. I will say; however, that if I had a child to raise in today's world, they would never even set foot in a Public School for even one day. I ended up homeschooling my youngest two children, and, in today's world, I would start out that way from the beginning if I had it to do now.

But...... I do LOVE my grand kids and I am so very proud of them for all of their accomplishments. So, irregardless of my opinions on them going to Pre-K, or having a Pre-K Graduation (which I just learned won't even be at their school, but at our town's big Civic Center!) I will be there to support them, because it is important to them.

So, since my granddaughter loves dolls so much, and loves for me to knit her things, I knitted this little (6-inch) doll for her 'Graduation Gift.'  I had just recently found this pattern as I was looking for a small doll pattern for another project I have started, and I just had to make my granddaughter one, too.  I found the pattern HERE and made a couple of alterations. Instead of casting on 20 stitches, I Cast on 18 stitches and knit in the round. I did the arms as her pattern stated, but for the legs, I used a 4-stitch i-chord. It just seemed right that the legs were a little bigger than the arms.  For the hair, I cut 12 (8.5 inch) strands. I tied them together in the middle, braided each side, then tied the ends with a small bit of coordinating yarn. It has been years decades since I put hair on any dolls. I use to quite a bit, but I am sorry to say, I have forgotten how. So this was my simple stab at relearning. On one doll, as I attached the hair, I left the yarn tail long so that I could satin stitch some bangs on her. It turned out really cute, too. As for the eyes and mouth, be patient with me. Once again, it has been years since I did any faces, too. Obviously, I need to drop down a yarn size for the facial features. BUT, as none of us are perfect, I will show my goofs to you, too (even if I have been knitting for 40 years and showing them is embarrassing). I figure, when new knitters come along, if all they see is our 'perfect' work, they might get discouraged. But if they see that even those of us that have had our knitting needles glued to our hands for decades still make mistakes, too, it might encourage them to continue with their new found hobby and join the ranks of us hopelessly addicted knitters.