NO MATTER WHAT

So...I've started homeschooling Rob.

I wasn't planning on homeschooling Rob this year.

Rob decided he wanted to be homeschooled this year.

So...I've started homeschooling Rob.

It all started with some books. A friend from church passed along some old pre-k workbooks her children had outgrown. The second they entered my house, Rob was drooling over them. "Can we look at them?! Can we do school?! PLEASE?!" So, I thought I'd let him just look at them.

Not enough for this kid. Within a week, he had blown through atleast a quarter of the comprehensive workbook - and it's a decent-sized book! Given, it was mainly review topics for him (i.e. colors, shapes, letters, etc.), but he never complained or grew bored. Just hungered for MORE.

We moved on to numbers in his workbook, which briefly introduced basic math in a round about way. Rob was fascinated and asked lots of questions about what he was doing. I explained that what he was doing was called math; basic addition and subtraction. He started salivating again. He wanted to learn MATH!

So, I found some very basic addition problems to print off and whipped out the brand new Unifix Cubes I had purchased awhile ago and we did MATH. I'm sitting there thinking, "This is going to be too hard for him, but that's okay - he's only four!"

I was quite mistaken.

He took to it VERY quickly and now LOVES math. We'll see if he's still saying that in junior high or high school...

(Rob also has started using the Unifix Cubes for pattern building and Drew likes to stack them and count them. Good buy!)

Much to his dismay, I put math on hold and moved on to reading. Thanks to Reading Eggs, he knows his phonics pretty well. Some friends recommended the BOB Books (I blogged about them here) and I'm happy to say that he is still LOVING the books and is progressing wonderfully with his reading. "The Old Truck" (pictured) happens to be one of his favorites, and one of the more challenging ones in his sets.

He is also able to comprehend and recall what he has read to you, which is something I struggled with greatly in school. We make sure to stop every page, look at the picture, and review what we just read to make sure he's tying it all together. I could not recommend these wonderful books any more than I already have. They are well worth the money.

I'm having lots of fun picking up these learning tools I had in school as a kid. Today, our Pattern Blocks arrived. You would have thought Christmas came early. I was fortunate enough to find some freebie printables of Pattern Block Mats (saving me atleast $5-$9), printed them off, and put them in plastic sleeves so they could be used and abused. The boys really enjoyed this activity!

Drew, who floats in and out of schooltime, putting in his two cents here and there, can participate, too. It's really great for his little brain, as he tries to match the shapes and colors. Or he just completely does his own thing and tries to count them. Whatever the case, he's earning those brain wrinkles, too!

I have another friend who stresses the importance of letting them do their own thing - especially with art and creativity. She once told me the story of her oldest daughter, the first in a line of eight, homeschooled children, who could write beautiful letters, but could not draw a stick figure to save her life. So, I make sure to give the boys time to "express themselves" artistically.

Rob's drawing skills have greatly improved over the last month or so (must be all that brain expanding going on) and he likes to write little messages on his pictures (with my help, of course). Drew has followed suit and tries to copy brother (as he's done since the beginning). He'll scribble a blue blob and say "firetruck!" He's using his imagination, right? It's really quite adorable.

Now. My disclaimer.

I am not bragging. The Lord has blessed them with some brilliant minds (unlike their mother) and He gets all the credit and glory for anything they may achieve in that department. I just hope I can keep up with them before they're teaching me a thing or two! They never cease to amaze me.

I don't push them - they push ME. I don't think you all realize just how lazy I am (come look at my house on any given week day and I can prove that...on second thought, don't). They both are extremely curious about the world and are quite eager to learn more. It's all I can do to even keep up some days! I try my best to work at their pace, only encouraging (read: pushing) when I see a need to. I am merely a driving instructor in this vehicle.

I pray they always keep their curiosity for learning. And they don't realize that their mother is "slow" too soon.