F is for Finished

I'm blogging through the alphabet for the next few weeks. You can read more AtoZ posts by clicking here. Thank you for taking the time to read. I'd love for you to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

F is for Finished

Today, we finished our last lesson of K4. IntelliGent has done a fantastic job listening and learning. His reading has improved and I am amazed at how quickly he picked up on all the different concepts we've talked about.

It boggles my mind that we could complete the whole curriculum in six weeks. I may never get used to how quickly IntelliGent learns. I marvel at the gift of intelligence God has given to him, and pray that Dr. Dad and I can help him to learn to use that gift for God's honor and glory.

To celebrate, Dr. Dad and I are planning a picnic dinner at the park for IntelliGent. We'll take a three day weekend (summer break) before jumping into K5 on Monday. I have no plans to speed through K5 at the same pace as we did K4, but I'll be taking cues from IntelliGent to discover the correct pace for our situation.

Way to go, IntelliGent. Dr. Dad and I are so proud of you!

Halfway

On Saturday, while preparing this week's school lessons, I realized we have made it to the halfway mark in our curriculum. Honestly, I was a little surprised. We've only been doing K4 for three weeks.

Sometimes, I struggle with this accelerated pace. I feel like we are attempting a marathon at sprint speeds. More than once, I've wondered about slowing thing down, just to be more "normal." Dr. Dad has reminded me, more than once, there is nothing normal about a 2.5 year old doing K4. My job isn't to slow him down, but to give him what he needs to learn and be challenged.

Currently, that means five lessons a day.

IntelliGent's love for school proves we're not going too fast.

Our school room

I strive to keep school fun. Our basement school room is a bright and cheerful place. Our schedule jumps from one subject to another with songs and games between. IntelliGent loves discovering the hidden letters, colors, and numbers in the "learning tree."

Perhaps these are the reasons IntelliGent insists on doing school every day. He'd do school on Saturdays too, if I'd let him.

If we stay at this pace and on this schedule, K4 will be done in three weeks. I've already ordered our K5 material. It should be here in time for a smooth transition once we finish our last K4 lesson.

Who Invited the Pilgrims to Easter?

Starting the K4 curriculum at the end of March, combined with the fast pace we are keeping, has put us in a rather unusual holiday situation.

The unit IntelliGent is going through right now focuses on Native Americans, the Pilgrims, and Thanksgiving. Next week we'll talk about Christmas. But sandwiched right between those two out-of-season holidays is the real Easter Sunday.

I was tempted to skip over the Thanksgiving unit and move on to the next. Then I decided to go ahead and teach the unit anyway.

Is there any harm in talking about the Pilgrims at Easter-time?

The Pilgrims were thankful for the freedom to worship God in the New World. Their thankfulness was not reserved for that first Thanksgiving feast with their Native American friends. Easter is also a time for giving thanks as we remember the finished work of Christ on the cross.

We've invited the Pilgrims to our Easter celebration. Who are you inviting?

Accelerated Learning

Today we finished the first quarter of Bob Jones University Press's Footsteps for Fours - a program we started a week and a half ago. Most of the content we covered in these first 45 lessons was a review of what IntelliGent already knew. However, he's demonstrated a good grasp of all the new concepts, except Left and Right.

When Dr. Dad and I ordered the program, we knew that we were going to be going through things at a quick rate. We were aware that IntelliGent already understood most of what the program had to offer but, afraid that I had missed some key concepts in our informal learning time earlier, we decided to purchase Footsteps for Fours anyway.

Keeping IntelliGent engaged and challenged has required we do a week's worth of lessons in a single day. IntelliGent is learning new skills as he cuts, glues, colors, and writes. His favorite part of the program has been the stories and nursery rhymes. Above all, he loves the little dog, Max.

Accelerated learning makes more work  for me than running through the teacher's manual as written would. Nap times are almost completely consumed with preparation for the next day's school time. It is tiring work but worth it when, in the morning, IntelliGent is barely out of his breakfast chair before he's pulling on my arm, begging to go to the schoolroom.

"Let's do school, Mommy. Would that be fun?"

Yes, buddy. It would be.

Just let me finish my mocha first.

Please.