Rebekah's Insights

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as of Tuesday, September 2nd, school will officially commence at our house! Liam and Aine LOVE school, and while we took a break from our regular schedule during the summer, Liam would actually ASK if we could please "do school" most days. (Ah, child after my own heart!)

I thought this might present a good opportunity to update regarding progress they each made during this past year in our new home. (As the five of you who read this blog are aware, I began last year with the best of intentions in updating the blog weekly with Liam's activities and progress. Well...let's just say I became so busy living life that it left no time for writing about it. This time around, I will try to update once a month to put less pressure on myself and see how that goes.) Here is an overview of the growth Liam has made this past year:

---is potty trained! :)
---recognizes all 26 capital letters; recognizes 23-26 lower-case letters (occasionally, there is still some confusion between b & d & p, which is to be expected)
---counts independently to 29 (with the exception that he frequently omits 15)
---tells how to spell his first name and prints the L and i (he verbally explains how to form the a and m, but is dissatisfied with how his turn out, so he usually wants someone else to make those two for him)
---confidently answers first 14 questions of the catechism.
---sings about 15 Scripture memory songs from memory.
---enjoys "reading" easy read books from memory, but is very interested in learning to read this coming year (He loves to watch Blues Clues on VHS and is fascinated by sounding out words.)
---especially loved the units we did on the "Five Senses" and "Growing Seeds" and will tell you lots about it if you ask him.
---identifies 8 main colors
---identifies 9 main shapes (crescent is his favorite and he frequently goes on his own "shape hunt" to see what we have in a given room)

Furthermore, last year's "pre-school" curriculum fueled his desire to learn, which was our main goal, since he was only 2.5 when we started last year and didn't REALLY need to start yet.

The following is the progress Aine made during last school year:

---speaks clearly and fluently
---spends up to two hours at a time "reading" stories to herself (she is as much of a book worm as Liam ever was!)
---sings alphabet song (& many others)
---counts independently to 11
---answers questions 1 & 2 of the catechism
---identifies circle, star, and crescent shapes

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NOW FOR THIS YEAR'S PLANS for Liam:

Liam will begin using this curriculum this year. We have decided to follow a Classical approach to education and this curriculum looks to be a good fit for us at this point. We will, of course, not know for sure until we use it this year. I liked it because I was already familiar with a great many of the books from my days of teaching Kindergarten. It is also from a Reformed theology worldview, which is also a perfect fit for us. Let the adventure begin!

Liam will continue to be learning the Scripture, Fruit of the Spirit, 10 commandments, Lord's Prayer, the catechism, Apostles' Creed, Italian and Sign Language; he will begin to learn to play the recorder at mid-year; and our social studies, science, art, music, and physical education will be more formal and focused than before. Being as it is still Pre-school and he is only 3.5, however, "more formal and focused" should not be taken to mean he will spend hours of every day sitting at a table completing work! It will be more formal and focused in comparison to last year, but still in accordance with his age and appropriate developmental level. There will still be much time for games, puzzles, and playing, playing, playing! :)

Aine will continue to glean what she will from being around Liam's schooling and we will purposefully add a time most days for her to complete alphabet puzzles, number games, A to Z Zoo, exploring a variety of media used for art to develop fine motor skills. By mid-year, if she seems inclined and interested, I may begin the Pre-school curriculum I compiled/developed last year with Liam. We will see. :) Oh, and Aine is potty-training, too.

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In other news, we are now nearing the end of our unseasonably cold and rainy summer and are quickly losing light. :) Will and I greatly enjoyed our anniversary trip to Ireland! The children greatly enjoyed their time with Nona, as she so lovingly stayed with them while we went away. As you can imagine, twelve days in a beautiful country necessitated the taking of hundreds of photos and with a backlog of photos from Aine's birthday, Fourth of July, trips around historical sites, etc. we are pretty behind on going through photos and getting them uploaded. It is also the time of year to take stock of what new clothes and school supplies, etc. are needed, which means time pouring over websites to find the needed items and getting them shipped here. So, it is a busy season and we will do our best to get caught-up as soon as we can.

Enjoy your week!