O is five-and-a-bit.  Last fell, he asked me why HE didn't have any notebook work to do, like big brother J.  I responded that he was four-and-a-half, and that school is supposed to start when one turns five.  Well.  He was having none of that.  So I started him on Explode the Code (book 1) and Singapore Primary (1A).  Some days, he was very eager to do his notebook work alongside his brother; some days, he'd do half and page and tell me he was done.  I never pushed or prodded him, since in my mind it was rushing him a little to start, anyway.  I figured once or twice a week, with enthusiasm, was more productive than every day if it meant turning him off to schoolwork.  (He's also been "narrating" one sentences snatches of stories, memorizing Bible verses, learning Spanish phrases, and doing science experiments, picture study, and nature lessons with us-- we do those things all together.)

Well, he finished both those workbooks and now is reading Bob Books and some early readers (like Dr. Seuss and Level 1s).  He's very nonchalant about it.  He started ETC Book 2 and is now independently writing words with 2-letter blends (e.g., FLag, CLam, BLock) prompted by only a picture.  I'm impressed.

I took him on a date to the library & the coffee shop on Saturday.  He wanted a book of Peanuts cartoons, which we read over ice cream (for O) and Early Gray (for me).  When we came home, J wanted the Peanuts book and pointed out to O that since he (O) couldn't read, there was no point in his having the book.  O said, "Maybe I can't read, but I can figure out the words by sounding out the letters!"  I wonder if I should explain to him what reading is.

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