I think it’s safe to say that our children surprise us on a daily basis – but sometimes they surprise us in such a way that we are left truly staring in open mouthed shock.
Learning Moira could read was one of those days. Or discovering that Bennett knew the entire alphabet by sight, could name them, knew phonics sounds for several of them and could write a handful of them. Christopher’s just full of surprising stuff ALL the time, but his has become more philosophical proclamations than academic tidbits. Tidbits, you know – like my four year old reading words?? 
Hardly a tidbit. I’m still amazed by that.
At dinner we discovered Moira can count by 10s. We never taught her that but she did, from 10 to 100. She must have overheard us teaching it to Christopher? It makes me wonder what else she’s picking up on, sitting there with her quiet little self observing everything.
I reviewed the Texas guidelines for what a kindergardener needs to know, just to have some idea for next year. Kit burst out laughing when I read it to him and we both commented that I guess Christopher gets to take the next year off of “school” – though Mo’s not quite completed all the kindergarden expectations. Okay, so she’s not suppose to even start kindergarden for another 14 months and she’s got more than half of the skills down. And I know these are the minimum standards but still, it’s exciting to see how far they’ve come with their own enthusiasm for learning and minimal input from us. Christopher’s well into the first grade standards and Mo’s racing not far behind him.
We want to keep an eye on how their are progressing and we do like some rough guidelines so we can make sure we aren’t overlooking a crucial element of their educational experience. But we try to not compare them and to discuss with them just their own progress, independent of where they “should” or could be in a different learning situation – I want them to be motivated to work hard for the love of learning and a job well done, not because they are being graded or tested or compared to peers. We want them to feel that learning is part of their life and on-going, not something just done during “school” (which is why we refer to “lessons” instead of school – we have lessons all day, in all different ways.) Mom & Dad are still learning, still growing, still developing talents and exploring new topics.
I am so impressed with these kids, with their minds absorbing everything and their eagerness to learn and question and explore. I want them to love books but I want them to find ways to bring that into their life, to apply the principles and theories and experiences they read about. I hope we provide a supportive environment for them to develop their talents with enough structure to encourage a love of learning and setting & accomplishing goals. Of embracing challenges and of helping others. Nothing too ambitious there, right?
I’m just grateful that these children are so passionate (even as their passion sometimes makes me bonkers) and excited. I love seeing them make connections in the world with what they learn and read and see. I love watching them. Sometimes, more and more especially with Christopher, I feel like I am a spectator – I’m here to answer questions or help him find the answers, but I am simply a witness to watching him learn and make discoveries. We set the boundaries and guidelines and they just grow and grow, all on their own.
Okay, but we do have to give due credit to the Leap Frog Learning DVD collection because we’ve been getting asked frequently what we did to teach Ben his letters and the kids how to read – yep, we let them watch tv. This collection is worth every single penny.