Schooling

So we're still doing this book: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. And Leah still loves it! We are in the 50 somethings. I know it's working and I know she can do it but ya know... Sometimes you're doing all this homeschooling stuff and teaching her everything you think she can absorb and you wonder if this is all doing any good. If that makes sense. But then a few things happen and you learn two new things yourself.

1. You underestimate your child and what she "can absorb" or is ready to learn.

The other day I thought I would print out an addition worksheet (just +1 problems. ie 1+2, 4+1, etc) and just introduce her to the idea and the math vocabulary. (I'm tired of counting) And she got down with the whole worksheet in less than a couple minutes. Forget the vocabulary. I explained it to her and the idea just made sense and she did the problems. Here I was all prepared with M&Ms to introduce the concept. Forget that too. She was way ahead of me.

Now we're working on other things with Math 2+3, etc. Those she actually has to stop and count in her head. Or she'll use the M&Ms or hold up two fingers on one hand and three on the other and count them.

I think I'll show her some subtraction today. We'll see how that goes.

2. You have no idea how much she's retaining. It's probably more than you think.

And the reading. I know she rocks at the lessons and she does really well. She loves to walk around sounding out words to herself and rhyming everything she can think of.

But yesterday in the van. She wants us to look at her doodle pad while we’re driving and there was this:

OPRĀT – operate

If she were to see that in the reading lesson book it would look like this: operāte - with a line over the a to mark a long a sound. they make the letters you don't sound out smaller in the lesson. She spelled that exactly right given how she'd learned it.

And don't ask my why she chose operate. We weren't discussing that. I just have no idea. lol

Anyway - look! It's working. I'm ever so glad. Not bad for 4!