Writing and Reading and Stuff

Writing:
When we play outside with chalk at home, I often draw "stop lines" (with the word STOP) on the sidewalk where the boys are not supposed to go alone. They are approximately one house away in both directions. I also draw a stop line on our driveway to remind them to not run out into the street.

Yesterday we took our chalk to the park when we went to play with our YEA! friends. DS1 asked me how to spell "stop". I told him, then he asked me to spell it slower. I spelled it slowly. A few minutes later he beckoned me to come see what he wrote. He had drawn a line across a sidewalk that connected the playground area to the nearby building. He wrote "STOP" with a bunch of vertical lines after it. The S and P were both backwards, but one of the other kids recognized that it said "stop". This is the first time that I am aware of him writing something completely of his own accord.

And Reading:
We have a book from the library called Clifford's Riddles. I have read it to the boys many times. Now DS1 reads it to me. He and DS2 have memorized the riddles and the answers, but I think DS1 is actually reading not just reciting the riddles because sometimes... he... says... one... word... at... a... time. Also, sometimes before reading a riddle, he will ask me one of the words.

Two weeks ago my nieces spent most of Saturday with us. The older cousin just finished kindergarten. She can read. I noticed something different between how she read the book and how DS1 read the book. She read almost the entire thing by herself the first time she picked up the book. However, when confronted with a word she didn't know or couldn't sound out, she skipped the riddle and went to the next one. She didn't ask for help. It happened twice, on the same riddle. This difference might be due to personality differences, but I wonder if it might be related to her having been in a school classroom for 9 months.

And Stuff:
My two sons are between my sister's two daughters in age. We trade babysitting, we trade parenting tips, and we trade kids' clothes. When we go out to eat after church with them, my DH jokes about his harem. I think DSis and I are particularly close because our mom died before either of us had kids, so we can't call Mom for advice. We have found other moms for support and advice, including each other.

It is very rare that I mentally compare our children. I remember when DN1 got a bike at her 4th birthday party, thinking that DS1 wasn't any where near ready for one. He's 5 & still doesn't have one, but I think he is actually physically big enough and strong enough for one now. DN2 is 6 months younger than DS2, but she is practically toilet trained (DS2 isn't). She also weighs so much less than him that she feels like a feather when I pick her up. The physical differences are pretty easy to ignore and attribute to "everyone grows and matures at their own rate". But the reading difference struck me. Not that DS1 might be "ahead" (compared to DN1 at his age) but at the reaction to an unknown word. I don't like thinking "It's because she's in school", "Is she already afraid of being wrong?", and "Is she embarrassed to need help?", but those are the thoughts and questions that popped into my head. It's really hard to not judge and not think "our way is better."

Repetition is good, right?

We're going on a vacation to Colorado in the near future, so at our last library visit we got a book on Colorado and one on caves (Cave of the Winds is on our agenda). Yesterday I read the cave book to DS1 at least 4 times. Actually I started it 4 times. We never got to the end, but each time we restarted he wanted to start at the beginning instead of where we left off. I thought I might get to the end of it today because the last time we started it, he said I could restart in the middle on the same day but I would need to start at the beginning on a new day.

However, we didn't touch the books today. Today we watched videos a lot. The boys call them "Kids Singing." Two of the 3 are from Cedarmont Kids and the other is a Bible Action Songs video that is similar but from someone else. I think those 3 videos were watched a total of 5 times, but I may have missed once or twice. DS1 will sometimes do the actions along with the kids in the video, but only when he thinks I'm not watching. We also watched at least 3 of our Baby Einstein series videos. (Last night we misplaced the TV remote, so changing channels was time consuming today. I'm not sure the boys know we can change the channel from the front of the TV. The DVD/Video player has its own remote.)

The Young Scientists Club's Online Store

The science kits at The Young Scientists Club's Online Store have been recommended by some of the folks on the Sonlight forums. Both the "Young Scientist" Series and the "Magic School Bus" series look great. The Young Scientist series can be bought 3 kits in a set, or as a monthly or semi-monthly subscription. There is also an online "clubhouse" for kids. When we are ready for more science experiments, I definitely want to look into this further.

Sonlight Box Day

On Thursday, I placed a big order from Sonlight for the rest of the books we will use for "kindergarten", as well as books for the next year. The "Core" is history, geography, and literature read-alouds. It also has language arts, readers, and science. There are other electives available, too, but I didn't get any of them this time. The Core, Language Arts, and Science each come with an Instructor's Guide. It is primarily a schedule, but there are also activity sheets, teacher notes, and other resources.

The box arrived this morning. It came by FedEx and weighed 30 lbs. I had considered waiting to open it until DH was home, but DS1 said, "Let's see what's in the box!" So we opened it. It contained 52 books to read, 2 CDs, 4 instructor guide/schedules, 1 calendar, 1 set of time-line figures, 1 game, 1 binder, and 1 necklace (the free gift for mom).

It was funny today, when I was putting the IG together (into the binder), DS1 asked what it was. I told him it was something for me for his school. He said, "I don't go to school." I said, "Well, you're homeschooled." He replied, "I know that." He was still confused about what the IG's were for. We've never used a schedule of any kind. The only time he's been in a school building is when we go to Parents As Teachers playgroup, that we call "playgroup at the school". We also go to "the homeschool church" where our small co-op meets. Poor kid, his mom should just pick some vocabulary terms and stick with them.

Visitors

We had a playgroup at a park today. But it rained. So I invited 2 of the moms (and their 3 kids) to our house. It's the first time in YEARS that I have spontaneously invited people over. I honestly cannot remember the last time. (I have a very close friend who comes over on a planned weekly visit, though.)

I had lots of fun, and I think the kids and other moms had fun, too. :-) When they left, I felt great and thought "Wow, I feel like I have friends!"

After an interesting, in depth conversation with DS1, one of the moms said told him something to the effect of "you're pretty smart, aren't you." Those weren't her exact words, but close enough. He responded basically with, "As I get older, I get smarter." He just turned 5 last week, but he understands that he is learning new things all of the time and that he knows more now than he used to know.

I don't think he comprehends the implied comparison to other kids his age when an adult comments to him like that. Since we socialize with a wide age range of children in our homeschool circles, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't compare himself to other kids his age yet.

Startwrite Handwriting Software

Startwrite Handwriting Software was recommended to by many people on the Sonlight forums as software to create your own copywork / printing worksheets in the Handwriting Without Tears font (since Sonlight's writing worksheets use a "ball and stick" font, even though they do have it on the HWT 2-line paper).

US Heritage Award

I just found out about this US Heritage Award that kids (ages 6-18) and adults can earn through by learning a few things about US history and patriotism. The amount of requirements and difficulty seems about equivalent to a Girl Scout badge (from what I remember from my youth).