Matthew

Okay, time for the Matthew post. I just now published this as the first sentence only...hopefully no one is trying to read it....

Matthew is an active five-year-old, for sure! He has always been my high-energy child and he hasn't slowed down yet. No, I take that back. He does slow down enough to play his favorite Wii games and would play for hours if we let him. He's a master at Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Party 8. I haven't really gotten him onto the computer much, but we're going to work on that soon. Our whole family loves playing the Wii (which the boys are currently doing) so it's no surprise that Matthew is an much an addict as Rob and I!

We've started letting he and Ben go outside by themselves. That's finally going well. I hadn't really allowed it sooner, partly because our yard is a mosquito plantation in summertime and partly b/c I was nervous about what they would DO if let out alone. But it's going well and I'm glad. It's good to say, "Go outside!" when they get too rambunctious. And my kids are as impervious to the cold and Rob and I so I'm sure they will go out until the temps dip into the teens. Maybe they'd keep their jackets on at that point....

Kindergarten is going well. We are contintuing to use Sonlight's Core 4/5, which is a preschool program we started back in the early spring. We will finish it up around January. I'm not going to order the whole of Core K, but just a few books and then get all of the readers and such from the library. We're supplementing the core with the Explode the Code series for phonics and Minquon Math. I'm not sure I really like the math program, but he is learning and I like to finish it before I pass judgement. We believe in a more unschooling approach to learning, so he may be learning more math from the games we play and, oddly enough, video games than the math program. I also purchased the entire Think it Through set from Discovery Toys and that is supplementing the math program very nicely. He's reading well and loves to take books to bed with him. I enrolled him in Pizza Hut's Book It program and he has already earned his November certificate! I decided to have him read 10 easy readers per month (the level 3's) but that seems to be too easy. We tried a short chapter book but he was overwhelmed by it, so we'll stick with the easier books. I know he reads at least twice that amount of books each month, so I think I'll up the goal in December. And try again with the "regular" books.

We decided not to do a handwriting program with him. He's very determined to write his letters properly, so I don't see the need for a program to teach him. We also try to fit in crafts where we can, the most recent one being egg carton caterpillars. Reminds me...they are not finsihed yet! We are also working on skills that kindergarteners need to know, like shoe tying, knowing address and phone number, and some other things. He's working hard to tie those shoes but hasn't quite gotten it yet. Anything that doesn't come easily for Matthew frustrates him. So we're also teaching patience :)

Matthew loves attending Tiny Trackers each week. They have too many kids for one room now, so the kindergarteners are taken to a different room for part of the night. He loves going and memorizes his verses easily. Ben wasn't there last week b/c of his cold/croup, so we'll see how he handles it next week when Matthew starts in a different room.

Matthew and Ben have been great friends for awhile, but he and Anna are bonding great as well. They love to make each other laugh. She knows just what to do to get him going! He's a great helper around the house and is usually eager to help out. He completes his chores quickly and thoroughly, something I NEVER thought he'd do!

There is one major problem with Matthew, however. He keeps growing! I told him to stop, even threatened punsihment, but he tells me that he can't help it. He said he's supposed to get bigger b/c that's the way God made him. And God made him a pretty neat kid.