Change.

My brother is getting married this weekend.

It's not entirely a perfect scenario. In a perfect scenario, all our loved ones would be able to attend, I would be able to attend, and there would be no stress or worry or rush.  But, life is seldom perfect, is it?

Aside from the nuances of life that pop up to impact us all, though, I find this to be wonderful news.  I've never made a secret of the fact that I am fiercely protective of my family, though I have mellowed in my adult years... sort of.  I love my brother.  I've probably hated my brother a few times, but really, that's the hate of children, and it never lasts beyond who had a bigger cookie.  I love my brother, and I make very little secret of the fact that there are things that I want for him, and things I don't.  Some things are good enough for him, some things are not.  He's my brother, and he should only have the best.  That's just the way it should be.  Yeah, then that life thing smacks us around a bit, and I have to remember that shit happens.

Then, he brought home a girl. I was set to be pleasant.  I was ready to smile brightly, and try not to be transparent that she might not be good enough for my brother, after all, it's not my call.  And then I met the girl.  She was a lovely girl - no, really.  Not a lovely girl like 'can't think of anything nice to say,' but she was truly a beautiful girl.  Even more, she was funny.  And my brother adored her.  He lit up around her, and she really got him.  I was thrilled to find that I smiled brightly because I really liked her, and I didn't have to try not to be transparent, because as high as my standards were, this beautiful, bright, funny girl was a wonderful match for my sarcastic, handsome, athletic brother.

And this weekend, they will be married.  I'm sad I couldn't be there for this day, but I write in the hopes that they will see that I am thinking of them, and know that I am there as best I can be.  Tomorrow, I gain the sister I've wanted for so long.  She fits right in with the family, and we all love her.  I couldn't be more thrilled for my brother - he is marrying the woman he loves, who really gets him, who can play his straight man when he needs one, and who can keep up with him.  I am, of course, thrilled for his bride, as well.  She gets my brother.  The one who hung the moon. I can think of nothing that would make me happier for them than this, and I cast my wish out to all who might listen - may they be as happy for the rest of their lives as they are now - or possibly happier, and may all their challenges be faced not side-by-side, but back-to-back.  May they cover each other, be profoundly blessed, and may love brighten every single one of their days.

I love you both, and I wish you nothing less than the lifetime of happiness you both deserve.

To my little boy, on his fourth birthday.

It's hard for me to believe that four years have passed already.  It seems like just yesterday I was waiting for you to come into the world, feeling your kicks and rolls, and scrubbing baseboards as I paced floors.  You've been a fixture in my life now, for long enough that I can't really imagine life without you.  I remember there being more sleep, and less injury, but really, I just can't conceive of it.

Today, you turned four. I'm not going to jinx anything, but you held my hand for three quarters of our walk to the pharmacy, not dashing away like you would have before.  You asked for spaghetti for dinner, we watched Cars all day, you ran and played.

It's been an absolute joy watching you grow.  You have a sharp mind, a keen eye, and an incredible sense of fairness.  You love Star Wars, and Curious George, and anything by Pixar.  You love spaghetti, and Chicago-style pizza, and fruit - any fruit you can get your hands on.  This year you were so excited to plant our vegetable garden and watch the plants grow from seeds.  You like to draw and color, you're very logically minded, and you are an amazingly social creature.  I could give you statistics, potty training, reading, writing, arithmetic, words, sentences, all that stuff, but really, I think it sums everything up nicely to say "You amaze me.  Every single day, there is something you do that completely stuns me."  There isn't a boring day in our lives.  We're always out moving, doing, catching, growing, learning, playing.  You love to be outside, but you hate staying in the yard.

You are the pride and joy of my life, sweet boy, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't love you beyond measure - even when you tear apart the house, spill cheerios and rice all over the floor, dump the milk, climb the freezer and dance on the dishwasher.  I love you even then.  <3 a="a" always="always" am="am" and="and" are="are" be="be" ever="ever" grateful="grateful" had="had" hand="hand" have="have" i="i" in.="in." in="in" incredible="incredible" life.="life." me="me" most="most" much="much" my="my" nbsp="nbsp" ou="ou" p="p" perpetually="perpetually" so="so" summer="summer" sunshine="sunshine" sweet="sweet" taught="taught" the="the" thing="thing" to="to" ve="ve" will="will" you="you">

Continuing Push

In an effort to be as geeky as possible, we're celebrating Pi Approximation Day.  22/7!  I also spent this afternoon teaching reading... using the text crawl at the front of Star Wars.  Because one kind of geekery isn't enough.  ^_^

Today, we skipped over math again.  I haven't had a chance to plan, so it's hard to focus on the math.  It inevitably needs preparation, and I haven't had the ability to plan, and I've been so busy running in circles that  I haven't had the headspace to make good use of my time, either.  Hopefully, I'll have a chance to get it tomorrow.  LP has been sleeping a little better, so I should have my evening time back again, which would help considerably.

I have been on reading, though.  That's a lot easier on me, truth be told.  I put in a DVD, we go over the pages, he's done.  It's a lot less planning and pieces.  Of course, it's also a lot more nerve wracking, as LP is getting better and better and I'm starting to go a little googly-eyed at the strides he's making.  Today, he tackled the entirety of unit 1.  The whole thing.  We did review of the Big Words from yesterday, he did all of unit 1, and went through the unit review.  I'm going to have him do the unit again tomorrow, as he was having trouble with -sh and -th at the end of the words.  Not enough that it was giving him trouble with the actual words ( /h/-/u/-/s/-/h/  hu/s/-/h/... hush!), but I'd like to see him without that middle step.  So, tomorrow will be review, I will try to breathe, and I will try not to panic.  There are so many things I want to be doing right now, not the least of which being gearing up for logic introduction in August, but I'm just so out of the groove from the time off and LP's poor sleeping that I haven't been doing as much as I'd like.

I'm hopeful that the sleeping issue was the result of his making two simultaneous strides - he's grown about an inch and a half, and then the reading thing.  Of course, as that would see a fairly quick end to the issue, that's mostly wishful thinking, but hey.  I'll take it.

Long Break

We took a ridiculously long break.  We spent a week in IL with Hammie and Buppa, and then when we got home, we spent a week trying to get the Little Prince back into his usual headspace... then went to Day Out With Thomas.  It's been an interesting couple weeks.

Today, we started back up with reading.  We got up, got dressed, got breakfast, got vitamins, and I turned on his Hooked on Phonics DVD.  This prompted an immediate meltdown of epic proportions (like, shrieking and screaming and crying along with flailing and throwing things) because I wasn't turning on Franklin or Curious George.  Needless to say, that's put a kibosh on his watching television for a while.  Yikes.  Anyhow.  He finally settled in, and watched his lesson... and then asked to watch another.  And another.  And an hour later, he'd gone through a full unit worth.  So I called it there, as that was the last unit in level 1 of Hooked on Phonics.  We read the review page for the unit, and while he's having some trouble with the sight words and the BigWords (like kitten, happen, traffic, and muffin), he has it all.  I shake my head, as he went through lessons 8 and 9 (unit 2) and then the unit 3 introduction, and lessons 10-15.  In a set-up where the two levels take approximately the 36 weeks that are in a school year, this amount of work would take 9 weeks.  I was planning for it to take 6 weeks.  He finished it in AN HOUR. I called off math for the day, as I can really only take one shock per day.  Maybe we'll do our history read-aloud, maybe we'll put it off until tomorrow, I don't know, but right now, I'm very much shaken... and very glad I picked up level 2 a month ago.

Holy Woah!

I do my planning on Wednesday afternoons.  I sit down, think on what we got through the prior week, and how that ought to translate to the coming week.  Last week, we made it through Lesson 1 of Hooked on Phonics, and three math lessons.  This week, I set us up to do another HoP lesson, and four math lessons.  No worries.

Math is progressing as expected - still at double time according to the general timetable - but since I'm still trying to find his limits, as opposed to just teaching him mew ways of doing things he already knows, I'm okay with that.  I knew he was good at most of the math before we started, so plowing through it is nothing too new.

Reading, on the other hand...  I have no idea how to plan at this point.  He finished lesson 2 yesterday, and blew through the first third of lesson 3 today.  At the rate he's going, he'll finish lesson 3 this week, and lesson 4, possibly 5, next week.  This means he will be done with the first half of the level in about two months.  Each level is assigned a graded year.  He is likely to finish a half school year of reading education this summer.  I'm reeling.  The next question, of course, becomes "how do I plan for next week?!?"  ^_^  I think I'm just going to try to keep up, and see where he goes.  He doesn't know he's doing work intended for much older children, and I haven't any intention of telling him, so he just goes ahead and does his work at his own pace... and we'll see how high he flies.

End of "Official" Week 1

This was our first "official" week as homeschoolers.  Why?  No monumental occasion, just that my planner started on June 1, so it seemed a good time.  We're planning to be year-rounders, sticking to something akin to a 4 weeks on, then 1 week off schedule.  What's really nice about this is that the world aligns perfectly to then give me two weeks for soon-to-be-Auntie N's bridal shower and Thanksgiving, and also a two week break for Uncle F and Auntie N's wedding!  Even nicer, it gives us a week break every month, PLUS an extra week floating around whenever we want to use it.  That puts our school year at 195 days, which means we have 15 days over the regular school year to have sick days, take off on birthdays, or go on impromptu field trips.  I love this already.  If LP were in regular school this year, we wouldn't be able to go to Thanksgiving OR the shower, and we'd be pushing it to go to the wedding.  We certainly couldn't take two weeks for both of them.  Then add in that March break does NOT line up with Easter, and there's a lot of family holidays we'd be missing because LP needs to be in school.  As it stands, we're able to schedule our breaks whenever we want them, and it's Mighty Convenient!

End of week one.

Week 1 taught me several things.
1) Play Dates in the middle of the school week, while epic fun, are a bitch to make up for.  There is no way to do anything resembling lessons after spending the morning with friends, so the day is a write-off.  Then, I have to try to accomplish things one day off - so technically, while today is our Friday, we'll finish the actual activities for the week tomorrow.

2) Trying to get anything serious done after preschool SUCKS.  Like, MASSIVELY sucks.  I had today designed to be a quick-review day, and mostly playing games, because I figured trying to get anything done after the morning was spent in preschool would be difficult.  I did NOT expect a 45 minute meltdown over a cookie - a cookie that he didn't even want, mind you - nor did I expect his math lesson to be like pulling teeth - he's usually gung-ho for his math.  o.O;;

3) We are completely able to do this.  This whole homeschool gig will be totally workable for us.  It may not always be easy, it may not always be games, but it is certainly do-able.  I am very excited for what this year may bring!

On Reading and Research

So, I've spent the last several months up to my eyeballs in anything I can find related to giftedness, gifted children, and gifted education.  The drive to know more, learn more, keep reading...  It's intense.  I mean, this is my son.  He has particular needs, and it is my job as his parent to make sure his needs are met.  I've now gone through three websites, two forums, and eight books on the topic.  Since mid-March.  So, I like to think I've learned a thing or two.

Truthfully, I'm glad I've gotten as much done as I have, and I'm glad we got the assessments run.  Both the parental survey of dates that assessed how ahead LP is, and the OT assessment at preschool.  They told me things I really already knew (that LP is very ahead, and that he has no business being in a full-day classroom in the fall), but it gave me the oomph to take on the research, and to start planning for his educational needs.  Right now, LP is working on a grade 1 reading curriculum, and flying through a kindergarten math curriculum.  Even if he slows down to working on one grade level per year (as per public schools), he will likely be a minimum of two years ahead of his age-mates.  These kids won't be his peers, not truly.  And since our district "doesn't do" acceleration, if I send this child to school, he will spend the entirety of his school career bored out of his skull.  They don't have formal identification until grade 3, which means a minimum of four years before the district even considers meeting his educational needs.  Needless to say, that's not acceptable.  And, since the district won't accelerate, they won't meet his needs even when he is formally identified.

So what now, right?  At this point, I'm certain that homeschool is the best option for LP.  It meets him where he is, and will allow him to work at his own pace, keeping him challenged without having to languish for years to get there, if he ever gets there at all.  This is also, however, one of the scarier realizations I've had.  Knowing what I do about our son, I can't put him into public schools in good conscience.  I can't do it.  But that means that suddenly, we need to succeed at homeschooling.  That "oh, if it doesn't work, he can always go to public" option isn't really an option.  It'd be like sending a third grader into kindergarten.  It's wildly inappropriate, and the child already knows everything - it's a recipe for "behavior problems" and failure to achieve to potential.  But... that means I don't have a backup plan any more.  Granted, I probably haven't all along, but now more than before, I feel the distinct lack of a safety net, and am really awed by the enormity of the undertaking.

Well, I'll be.

After spending the past week or so fighting me tooth and nail about "reading words" (while simultaneously screaming that "I WANT TO LEARN TO READ, MOMMY!!!"), today LP flew through his lesson.  He has been reading one line of the practice each day for the last week and change - be it the "review" or the "practice."  Today, I put the book in front of him, and he went through two lines of words, only stumbling over one.  Now, granted, he's still reading "/sh/-/e/-/l/, shell!" and not reading each word straight up, but I'm of the opinion that fluency comes with time, and he'll learn it as we go.  ^_^  As long as he's not forgetting everything he learned to get here, I'm fine with it.  He is now watching his Hooked On Phonics lesson DVD, which he loves.  Today, we watch the unit introduction, the first lesson (which is what he blew through today), and then the second lesson twice (he will start that probably on Friday, as Wednesday and Thursday are our weekend).  This is usually about 20m of TV time, which is totally within 'acceptable' and doesn't see my kiddo bouncing off the walls.

Days like today, I really wish we were able to have the basement set up as a schoolroom.  Today, at 10 am, it is already 75* outside, and I suspect that we will meet or exceed our predicted high temp of 86*, and with my not wanting to face the ridiculously high electric bill that would come from turning the air on all day?  Yeah, I wish we could work in the basement, where it's nice and cool.  We have a plan, though.  We will ask MIL and her boyfriend if they "have any advice for us" on how to build this wall thing.  With any amount of luck, this will end with a practical lecture that I can use to take to Home Depot and actually assemble a wall that will hold up, have a door, and be cat-proof.  Or, perhaps, some ideas on how to divide up the basement for the purpose, and moving on from there.  We'll see how it goes.

Math, I expect to see go rather well.  I have to rearrange a little, as I forgot to put up the big calendar last night, and my only other calendar isn't a "standard" calendar (we use Sandra Boynton's Mom calendar), and we're supposed to cover days of the week.  The rest of the lesson, with the exception of needing to write tally marks, looks like it will be fairly easy for him.  I am still carrying forward "numbers in order," though.  We have squares that have tally marks, finger representations, and abacus representations on them for the numbers 1-10.  It is to be LP's job to put them into order, whether it's 1-10, 10-1, evens/odds, or whatever.  He is having a hard time with it.  He knows all the numbers, all the representations, and the order in which they go, but he is having a hard time putting the cards into any discernible order.  I suspect this is because he doesn't care what order the cards are in, so he's not trying, but I'm carrying on as if he doesn't know it until he demonstrates that he does - I don't want him to miss that skill.

Anyhow.  A bright and beautiful, albeit HOT, day ahead of us, and school has gone swimmingly thus far.  LP is even requesting to watch his lessons, which is a nice change from "No, I don't want to... Oh, THIS?  We can watch THIS?!?  YAY!!!"  o.O;;

Odd day.

Today is an odd day.

School went swimmingly.  LP flew through both reading and math, and there are a few games he's not quite getting that we'll work on as we go, but aside from that, he's still flying through the lessons.  This is always good news.

I've been debating putting in a temporary wall in the basement.  That way we could have a little schoolroom, even if we might not use it all the time, that wouldn't have the disturbances that the kitchen table does - the kids outside, the weather, cars or trucks...  All that stuff.  But, I need a room that is free from cat-interference, too.  Last thing I want is LP's work on whatever project he's doing to be scattered to the four winds, or worse, peed on.  So, I was thinking of putting in a temporary wall.  I don't know how well such a thing would hold, though, so I'm a little leery of it.  We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I'm irritable about the neighbor kids.  I really dislike that they're so poorly behaved (seriously, they come by the backyard to taunt or shoot squirt guns at LP with only a very rare few saying "why would you do that?") that I can't send LP out to play unsupervised in the backyard.  I can't, for example, leave him in the yard to put my clothes in the dryer.  Why not?  Because the kids come by and encourage him to climb over the fence.  If we weren't within 100 feet of a major thoroughfare, I wouldn't be keeping such a close eye on him, but we are.  So his hopping the fence is a big deal.  I also can't just let him run and play, because these same kids are jerks enough to egg him out into traffic, and as he's THREE, the promise of "I'll be your best friend!" holds a lot of weight over a social only child.  I'm very glad we have play dates on the near horizon with the girls next door, a girl from homeschool parents' meeting, and hopefully a park hop coming up nearby with a LOT of other kids as well.  He needs the positive outlet (he's glommed straight onto the WORST POSSIBLE KID - yes, the stalker child - as his new buddy), and I could use a break from having to constantly tell him no, these kids who throw rocks at each other, swing tree branches at the door, spray things at him, and teach him how to make "MUD BAAAAAALLLLLLLS!" in his sandbox can NOT come into the yard.  >.<;;  I really wish we had our back fence completed.

Anyhow.  No more griping, I'm done with it!  On to my positive day!

May is winding down.

Well, it looks like the Hooked On Phonics level we picked up is, in fact, accurate.  LP likes for things to come easily for him, and doesn't care so much for having to actually work at new things.  So, the "review" list, being in a new format, and not in sentences was not a favorite activity.  I think that at this point, after going through it for a few days (different word lists each day, largely on an attention-span basis and not an ability one), it is patently obvious that when he wants to, he is perfectly capable of reading the words.  Not fluently, but the book doesn't seem to require that he see "cat" and say "cat" straight off, as opposed to "/k/-/a/-/t/, cat!" so I'm not worrying about it.  Tomorrow we'll actually start on Unit 1, lesson 1, and we'll see how it goes.

Math is another fun one.  The concepts are things he knows already, which is nice, and makes for easy lesson time.  The problem is that the actual application is tricky for him.  So, "enter 9 on the abacus" is significantly more difficult than "show me nine on your fingers."  I suspect it has a lot to do with how frequently we're doing each thing.  We often review his numbers - "show me X!" but not his abacus use.  Maybe we'll take a day this week and just use the abacus.  Either way, the lessons are designed to be in two parts.  What this means is that there's the first half of the lesson, which LP already knows, with practice at the abacus which he doesn't know, followed by a concept he doesn't know at all.  Last lesson was ordering by size (which was easy for him), before that, triangles versus quadrilaterals, and today was parallel lines and planes.  We'll use parallel at the park today, and keep moving along.  So far, he's been whipping through the math, which I expected (I have levels A&B here), and the reading is steady, so overall, I'm pleased.

I also picked up a planner.  I ADORE IT.  It is entirely secular, and is up to me to customize however I want.  I am SO excited to be using it, and once we hit the first full week of June, I can keep tabs on what's going on using the planner.  I'm entirely too pleased about it, which is really just a level of my dorkiness, but hey.  As it stands, there is very little that I don't geek out about, so hey.  I'll take it.  ^_^

Social stuff... is going to get harder.  It looks more and more like our SpiralScout circle is going to be on hiatus.  That's a big bummer, it was really fun for LP.  However, if it does fold until the fall, I should be able to get LP enrolled in the local co-op, which would not only be more regular and frequent than SpiralScouts, but would also be significantly more kids, and across a broad range of interests.  That, to me, sounds like a large potential win.  I'm so glad I've been thinking about this stuff all along - now when things go pear-shaped, I have a reserve plan.  Hooray!

Anyway, off to finish lunch and go to the park!