Homeschooling Update

Jack turns five next week, and as his birthday has gotten closer and closer, we have seen all the signs that he's getting more ready for more organized schooling.

His awareness of the world has expanded amazingly, as has his interest in exploring ideas. Rod isn't ready to buckle down to "schooling" just yet, so we're sticking to what I can do on the evenings and weekends, which actually seems to be just the right pace.

I have mentioned before that Jack has been going through a serious dinosaur period. He loves them -- he knows their names and periods, what they ate and how big they were. Huge gobs of facts that he has collected from books, videos, and web sites. I'll admit that the fascination has always puzzled me, but I am old enough now to just accept that that seems to be how little boys work. ;)

Jack borrowed "Walking with Monsters" from the library, then "Walking with Dinosaurs" and Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special" and finally "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts". In the Prehistoric Beasts video, we had a brief introduction to hominids -- a perfect entry point for human history.

I borrowed Walking with Cavemen and bought him the companion book, which added a LOT more detail ($3 used...can't beat that!). Then I showed him my copy of Journey from the Dawn. Next we found Becoming Human, which though very interesting, is not exactly Jack's cup of tea. It's a photo-based documentary that was a little too in-depth a slow for a wiggly five year old. He watched it with some interest once through, but hasn't asked to see it again. I have visited the Discovery Store and found Ice Age Columbus and The Real Eve which both look pretty good and will problem be in Jack's stack of gifts for his birthday.

Frustratingly, I can't find much literature to help us learn about pre-civilized life. I found one called First Painter in the library catalog - - but the book has disappeared. Another was there -- but Anoonka's Answer is about a 13 year old girl, and I have a hunch that it's not going to be the sort of thing to keep Jack's attention. (I checked it out with the intention of looking it over myself. I am hoping I am wrong.) Of course, in running those books through Amazon to create links, I did find more. *laugh* I'll put them on the list, too.

So, that's history.

Using dinosaurs, Jack has been studying comparative measurement (math) using his new tape measure. He looks up how long a dinosaur was and measures that from Dad's desk chair and then compares that with another dinosaur, measured from the same point. Over and over and over and over...

He's also using dinosaur names to examine Latin and Greek root words. (pachy = thick, cephalos = head, etc.)

Since we want to use a Classical foundation for his education, I have also introduced Asterix and Obelix to give him a context for studying Latin. It's not a really literate introduction, but Asterix is available in Latin, so it will be one of the things he can use to practice, once he's finished with Minimus Book One.

It will also give him a context not only for studying Latin, but also for eventually studying the Roman Empire. Eventually. First we will be exploring the first settling of Australia and America, then the Sumerians and Mesopotamians, and on through time.

But of course, all of that is still at the planning and laying groundwork stage.

Mostly, on his own, Jack is obsessing with the Magic Tree House and Magic School Bus books. They're side by side at the library and not far from the Boxcar Children and the Bobbsey Twins. Mostly twaddle, I'm afraid. (Between that and all the videos and computers, this whole homeschooling thing is *not* going the way I had envisioned.)

We do read some really good literature, though...we have read Little House in the Big Woods and a lot of Thornton Burgess stories recently and we are now reading Ronia Robbers' Daughter. I was only familiar with Astrid Lindgren from her Pippi Longstocking stories and so I was honestly not expecting much beyond fun...but Ronia has surprised me by introducing depth of character, complexity of motivation, and some interesting ethical questions. We also have The Brothers Lionheart and Mary Poppins on the stack (though the stack is about 20 books deep, and we may end up pulling something else off first.)

And of course, there is "noticing" almost every day.

And now, abruptly, I have to go and actually keep company with the little man, who wants to show me what he's learning on the San Francisco Symphony's kids website.