Did you know that preschool comes with homework now? Nora’s does, anyway, and here’s a photo of the little one (note: not the littler one) reading stories and writing the answers to reading comprehension questions. I hope kindergarten is correspondingly updated –I recall being bored to tears because I could read in kindergarten and most of the other kids were learning their letters.

As has been noted here on several occassions, Nora greatly enjoyed her preschool back in Ann Arbor and was anxious to get back to school as soon as we got to Houston. Every morning began with her asking sadly if she could please go to school that day in precisely the way a wilting daisy might ask for water. Our days were spent hunting for a place where the kids weren’t disturbingly, Stepfordly silent and obedient. What we wanted was the controlled chaos of our school in Ann Arbor; a place where little kids could be little kids while learning to get along with one another.

Stepping into Miss Renee’s classroom was a tremendous relief. The children were laughing and happy and busily playing and interacting with one another. It was like walking into a room full of engaged kids rather than an early training facility for the local actuarial science program (not that there’s anything wrong with actuaries; 89.45% of them are fine — well above the national average). It wasn’t chaos, but there was plenty of room for fun to happen and Nora has thrived in Miss Renee’s class. She’s learned to read, she loves numbers, she’s discovered a fascination with all things outer space, and most importantly she’s developed socially into a friendly little girl with high betweenness (she connects disparate portions of the social network that might not otherwise interact).

Anyway, Miss Renee has retired and Nora will miss her immensely, “Miss Renee is my favorite. teacher. ever, Daddy!” We’ll miss her too and greatly appreciate the attention and affection she lavished on our little one.