We had our Teacher Conference today.. And I LEARNED LOTS about my little Vegman...
I learned that his obsession with telling me when a triangle is Scalene, Isosceles or Obtuse and a circle is actually a sphere and that something is shaped like an Ellipsoid, is all part of the Sensorial Lessons in his class.
Well, I thought that was Geometry stuff. A subject I couldn't stand, by the way. I didn't learn about the right angles of triangles until I was in High School.. In his class they learn this as part of the Early Childhood Sensorial Lessons. So by the time the kid is actually taking Geometry, he will know everything in the book and he will ENJOY IT! He will LIKE GEOMETRY because right now it is fun! It is already in his head.. He can feel an object with his eyes covered and tell you its shape and type. This is just amazing to me.
I also learned that his obsession with Math is VERY REAL... He is spending a lot of time in the Math Cabinets, learning his numbers. He's now working with fractions and coin counting.. He can sit for hours working on math equations, counting and "fetching" with the Golden Beads past the 1000's. His next step (starting soon) is Adding Large numbers and learning to carry over. And when I say large numbers I mean like 345+4782= Kind of large numbers.... They don't do memorization, it is hands on learning with beads that make up these real values. WOW - Yes, he is doing a lot with MATH!
Did I mention, he is 5...
He is loving the Science Experiments. I didn't know that the teachers started doing a new experiment each week and then allowing the children to follow as much as they'd like for the next week... But OH Yes! Lots of Science Experiments.
Last year he didn't show much interest in Geography, but this year he is taking a huge interest, which now makes sense why he was correcting me when I forgot to mention the Indian Ocean the other day...
Yes, not only does he now know all the oceans, continents, about biomes and parts of the Solar System, he also knows which animals live on those continents, What the difference is between a Lake, Gulf, Cape, Bay and River and where they can be found...So he is quite excited about these new lessons...
And I learned that he has been taught many new songs... but he doesn't sing to me this year, I didn't know about any of them much like I new nothing about any of the above items... Today I learned a lot about my little guy. And to think all of this in only 8 weeks.
I found out that he is becoming quite fluent in French. He is using his manners at school with French words... WHO NEW?? Makes me sad in a way that he isn't sharing this with us, but happy too that he is so independent and confident that he learning at his pace and doesn't need an adult to say so.
Now, one might ask..... CAN HE READ? NO, not yet! And looking at everything I just wrote, who would have time for such a mundane task as learning to read, based on the above schedule he has put himself on... My guy seems to be in overdrive, taking in as much as he possibly can... Remember his class is Student lead learning, so if he has learned a lesson it is because he chose that lesson... And Reading is NOT one that he chooses... WHY???? Because he hasn't finished all the "Building Words" lessons yet, of course!
OH Yes... He is working on Writing Letters (cursive by the way), Also Learning Nouns, Vowels, and other creating words with Movable letters... And as he progresses, all these pieces will come together to create words. Not because he has memorized the sequence of letters, but because he will know what they mean and where they fit in a sentence. Well of course? Why didn't I think of that??
I also learned that I was going about the teaching all wrong at home.. Surprise, Surprise... We are going about the whole reading thing ALL WRONG!! We shouldn't be teaching how to read... We should be teaching how to build words. Trying to get him to read, has caused him to be frustrated and his slight dyslexia (which I think is there) causes him to be even more frustrated....His attitude can make me get frustrated and it turns in to a horrible cycle....
But the time is right... He bought himself a simple alphabet puzzle and he stays up at night making words and trying to read his books. He says he wants to learn to read. And I don't want either of our hard headed frustrations to get in the way.
I learned today that I was sooo worried about teaching him "CORRECTLY" that I was going about it all wrong. It doesn't matter that Elephant has a PH instead of an F.. He just needs to know that it has the "FUH" sound in the center of it... And who cares if Love isn't spelled LUV like it sounds... Let him sound it out HIS way.... After all his style of learning is HIS way..... So we First make the sounds of a word... And when he feels comfortable he will write those sounds... Soon a whole word is built, even if not correct.... The point is to let him do what he is good at in his own way. The more we encourage and show positive praise for the good things he will begin to see how easy it is, and want to do more.... And doing so because HE WANTS to will make all the difference.
Tonight, while making Dinner... I tested his teachers theory and was quite shocked.... He was helping me break the green beans and I said, "How would you sound out the word of the item in my hand?" And he did it... we started saying other words, and just letting him sound them out.... Then he said something about "poopy" being all silly, and I said... "Sure, sound that one out" So he did..... And suddenly runs to get a pen and paper... He wrote out his word that he had sounded "PUPE"... Poopy! Of course!
As the teacher requested, I didn't correct his spelling... Because learning to sound and learning to spell and learning to read are three different things. But they all click together as time goes on, in his brain in his way.
The exciting part is when he wrote his word "PUPE" even if not spelled correctly, all the letters are in the right order... This means, doing it this way, will help get rid of those dyslexic tendencies. And as time goes on, when he is confident with the ordering of his sounds on paper, we can work on "Learning to spell" and by then, he will already know how to read! It will all click... I totally see that now!!!
The word PUPE was just the beginning of our night, he did things like this all night long and asked for a book before bed of which he helped me find sounds.
Needless to say, I'm proud of my little man...... I'm totally in love with his teachers, because although I don't get to hear all that is being taught, they are doing all the right things for him. I'm confident that this school decision is the right one. And I look forward to all the new things coming his way.
Now, if I could just get him to tell me about them.... We'd be all set! *smile*
P.S. Sorry for the uber long post...