So, does this blog feel neglected? I
truly mean to get on here once a week and journal our school.
Sometimes, though, I feel like there is just nothing to say. But
that's not true. Certainly I can come up with a moment of praise,
an instance of frustration, an "ah-ha" moment, a neat answer or fun
lesson to share. I will try harder, because I continue to be
pleased and thrilled with our homeschooling endeavor and I would like
to preserve the times that we share learning together!
Since I last wrote in late January, we have maintained a similar
schedule. Joshua does some independent work every morning.
This usually consists of a handwriting practice page and a page in the
math workbook (unless we're going over a new concept and that has to
wait until we have uninterrupted time alone!). Sometimes he also
gets his piano practice in during the morning hours if he feels so
inclined.
The afternoons are devoted to our reading lesson, science lesson,
history reading, and our new grammar exercises. I finally broke
down and ordered the First Language Lessons by Wise (The Well-Trained Mind).
We are currently on lesson eight and I'm not jumping for joy over the
curriculum, but it does seem to fit Joshua's learning style very well,
and it fits my teaching style to a "t"! Joshua does get "annoyed"
with all the repetition--and no wonder--he knows the definition or poem
we have to memorize by the second day. And so the countless days
of repeating the definition of a noun three times EACH day truly vexes
him and he insists that he says the definition on his own without
having to listen to me say it over and over or even to say it along
with me.
And I have truly found that Joshua's memory skills to be superb!
He memorized a short poem called "The Caterpillar" from lesson two (I
believe) in just two lessons. He had the definition of a noun
down in two days as well. In piano it took him less than one day
to have the lines of the treble and bass clef memorized. And he
has all his addition math facts memorized. I've been just as
impressed with his ability to memorize Bible verses as easily. So
memorizing is definitely a strong point where Joshua is
concerned!
But again, First Language Lessons is about exposure and not mastery. And that is exactly where I'm going with Joshua's schooling these early years.
In math, Joshua has learned how to read digits up to the hundreds of
thousands. It took him about two days to comprehend the 10,000s
and 100,000s. It was very difficult at first, but a breeze
now. He also knows how to find the Perimeter of an object.
Math is a fairly "easy" subject for Joshua.
Joshua is continuing to read well. He still requests that we do
his reading lessons aloud. He reads the stories aloud to me and
we go over the questions in the workbook that evaluate his
comprehension of the story. We're almost done with book two of
the Pathway Readers at the second grade level. This is impressive
to me because the Pathway Readers are touted to be advanced as readers
go. However, I think at some point he should read silently in his
head (right?). When do I need to push that transition? He
does a little silent reading on his own (the "Magic Tree House"
series), but I don't think he's reading word for word. I really
believe he's skimming and just grasping the story by scanning the
text.
But he should learn to read alone and silently--at some point, I
believe. But is he ready? How can I tell? One thing
that does concern me is that as he reads aloud I still do have to
correct him from time to time. The main problem is that he tends
to read quickly and pass over words or "concludes" on his own what
words are coming up and insert them. This is what gives me the
idea that he skims/scans text when he is reading silently. He
does a little of it while reading aloud with me. But he does read
aloud very well, with the minor slips here and there (although, these
slips can cause considerable changes in the meaning of the text!).
That's probably my biggest "concern" right now with Joshua's schooling. All other subject areas are going well.
