Well I now have 2 bright and beautiful students!
D finished up at preschool after some dwindling days of refusing to go, mixed with doing a lot more work at home. It’s been a natural curve of his inclination to learn going backward into playing Legoland on the computer more than working with me directly, to using that to his advantage and getting him onto learning 3 letter phonetic words on the net through http://www.learntoreadfree.com/gameroom.html which is a Montessori inspired interactive game that teaches about 55+ words. Never let it be said that Maria didn’t leave us with some WONDERFUL tools! Follow the child
over and over, Follow the Child… my mantra!
We’ve enjoyed excursions to rivers with our home ed group to learn about water management and bugs with a local volunteering educational group, ice skating, parties and gymnastics. I’ve even folded and will be becoming one of D’s leaders for Joeys (and help out with M’s Cubs too!)
I’m very tired and happy, and feel swamped all at the same time! I feel that I need to write a program for D of some kind, to track his reading especially. He finished at his Preschool after finishing all his sandpaper numbers but only about 6 or so sandpaper letters. He is only just beginning learning sounds and he is 5 1/2.
His hearing has been checked but we will still be checking with an ear, nose and throat doctor as his grandfather had a cleft palate and D was born without a bridge to his nose and a sharp ridge protruding through his palate. Much of this was corrected when he was 6 weeks old onwards by my WONDERFUL chiropractor, with some cranial work every two weeks. He has a LOVELY nose and the ridge has receded a lot. It had caused him a lot of pain at times, and just pressing up on the roof of his mouth relieved it…. “ahhhh” he would sigh! This stage is done but we need to check for a hidden cleft palate.
I have already been placed on the waiting list for a speech therapist, which is a relief.
M continues to thrive socially…. academically though??? I’m concerned that she is too complacent with her ‘smartness’ and being a young child who can read well above her age may be giving her the illusion that her work is done! It certainly is not though, and her maths and writing are still a bit below average.
All this aside, my children are definately doing VERY well. They are confident and polite and enjoy people of all ages. The past few months have been socially rich and they have received many comments about how lovely they are. Self esteem is naturally high and with that they are comfortable to be themselves in all situations. I’m certainly glad that my M isn’t in school still, where I know she would have continued to become a carbon copy of what ever ‘mood’ was popular that week. I’m glad, for her, that she is self aware at 8 and has the freedom to continue to grow naturally.
