andamu

My precious one, after reading the preceding post, casually asked: "So is this going to become entirely a book blog?"

The answer is that no, it will remain the same random hodge-podge, cobbled together from bits and pieces that occupy me at any one moment.

I am currently having tremendous fun with the book group, and I would encourage anyone who might have an interest in reading and discussing works shortlisted for and receiving the The Man Booker Prize to join in. The current discussion deals with The Nice and The Good and Iris Murdoch in general; August's book will be DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little.
What I like about the group is that you are never put on a spot: you do not have to say something if you just wish to follow the discussion. And if you want to actively participate, you do not have to say something profound and learned, if you want you could ask a simple question for clarity.

But this seems to be turning into yet another book post, so I will move along to other news.

Angel Face will turn five in October. The cut off date in the school system here is August 31st. This means that she cannot start Kindergarten this year.

And then we heard of the Early Entrance program, a trial this year. An application is made, recommendation letters and assessment letters have to be submitted, and a group is selected from the applicants to undergo testing.

The four year-olds are taken and tested by a panel of teachers in sequence, round robin fashion, for two-and-a-half hours. After the week of tests are concluded, the teachers meet and evaluate the children and select the ones that will be allowed to start Kindergarten in Fall.

The children are tested in Conceptual Development, Language Development, Auditory Memory, Auditory Perception, Visual Memory, Visual Perception and Visual Motor Performance, and rated in terms of Age Equivalent Range of "Less than 5", "5-5.5", "5.5-6" and "Over 6."
In four of the seven categories, our little 4 year and 9 month-old girl was evaluated in the "Over 6" category, and in every case she was evaluated to be beyond her age level.

Which means that come Fall, we will have a Kindergartener in the house. She must have inherited her Doddamma's genes, don't you think?