Ramblings...

Well Child #2 isn’t much a tot anymore, he is a preschooler and this preschool status has had me mulling over for a while the best way to tackle his education. What shall I do with this bouncing sponge that is my child. He already knows some of the basics *colors, body parts, how to say the alphabet, and count to about 12 without mistakes*. We are currently working our way through letter and number recognition.

Number recognition is proving challenging not because he doesn’t get it, but because he insist on saying everything is the number of his age. Even if he knows it isn’t, and you can ask him to count the objects and he will count them and give you the correct answer. He just prefers everything to be the same number he is…which is actually kind of cute, but still slightly frustrating because I want to know that he really knows this.

I’ve tossed around for the last few months the idea of getting a box curriculum *nothing expensive* just something to get our feet wet on the kindergarten end with Child #2, since he is ready in some respects, but not ready in others. That way when the 2012-2013 school year rolls around we could either start formal kindergarten or our K/1st combo, since we’ve never really had solid grade levels it’s always just a combo of things.

For instance Child #1 is on a 1st/2nd combo *1st in Language Arts and History, 2nd in Reading and Math (their science topics are beyond what is usually taught in 1st/2nd grade so I don’t count it)*. It works and ensures each need is being meet, and while I’m finally at a point where I feel I have a good grasp on Child #1’s plans I am just now looking at the full picture with Child #2.

Should I go box to expose him to formal lessons since he is so vastly different from Child #1 or should I piece together something from what we already have and see how that pans out? I was so close to going box, just to help me figure out what exactly I should do with him. But then I realized I already know this child. When I really sat down and thought about it, I already know exactly how he learns.

He is a mover, a shaker, and a creator. He is a lover of bodily functions and knows how songs in their honor either freaks grown-ups out or sends them into hysterics. He is our little entertainer and constant source of laughter and frustration. He is definitely not a child meant to fit into any sort of box, and for to even consider it seems blasphemous to the very essences of who he is.

So now what? I realized getting a box was out of the question even though there was one I really wanted to try *mostly just because I wanted to try it…I’m an educational material junkie…don’t ever leave me alone at a homeschool convention please!* So what am I going to do with him for the 2011-2012 school year…well a lot of what we do now, with a little more emphasis put on it.

I currently have the PreK Learn To Read program through HOP, and we have used that a little. My current plan is to increase our usage of it throughout the rest of this school year, since it is fairly easy and can be completed before the end of our school year. After that we will move to the Kindergarten program that HOP has which we already own. I’ve started using it a bit just to see how Child #2 would react to it, and he enjoyed it. We just spent a few minutes playing the audio disk and flipping through the alphabet cards, but it appealed to him.

I know whatever I use with him, it will have to allow him to do something on his own *like flipping the cards*, as well as not confine him to a single area *an audio disk means he can move about the living room going through the cards while listening…which makes him very happy and even more eager to do a quick lesson*.

While I have phonics down, I still have to tackle the issue of math. It is such an easy subject for Child #1 and a lot of what he knows he taught himself . I have yet to actually teach him a math lesson this year, I just handed him the Saxon Math 2 workbook 1 and he has been going through it, reading the questions, asking for help when needed, and getting the work done.

He even takes it upon himself to write the days of the week on our class board so he doesn’t have to ask me to spell them when prompted to give a day of the week in a math problem. He has always been like this…Child #2 on the other hand is his polar opposite. And has to be taught accordingly, this I know.

Which means I have to be creative, yet still tackle my own personal feelings of guilt about potentially leaving something out in his education. I’m not 100% sure of how I will handle this in the higher grades, but for his PreK/K work I’m leaning towards various workbooks and hands on activities.

I can get workbooks from the base bookstore for very little money and we own a box full of math manipulatives, which will at least give us a base to spring from. Hopefully, it sparks his interest and then I can see about working in Saxon Math sometime during the 2012-2013 school year. And then just go from there.

As far as his science and history go, well I’m finding that just letting him be present has proven good enough. He enjoys doing our hands on stuff with us, and he is actually absorbing what he hears, even if it seems like he could care less. He just chooses to blurt out random facts *like that we live in the milky way* while holding a glass of milk at dinnertime.

Of course this earns mommy another point as The Spouse looks on in shock that his preschooler knows our galaxy, but it also helps ease my fears a bit. Maybe, just maybe if I’m consistent enough he will absorb it all and there is truly nothing to fear. Not like there isn’t any pressure not to screw him up or anything….