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!