It is such a joy to hav Avi at home with me. I have to say he is quite a fun and funny guy. He is also quite sensitive, which leads to emotions over small things in addition to lots of snuggle time.
We start our school day with math. He is doing Singapore grade 1; I was planning to just take it slow and figured it would be an accomplishment to finish the first half by the end of the year, but he is grasping concepts quite quickly that we may do the whole grade. He quite enjoys it and look forward to the games. For English lessons we are working through The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading as I did with Zoe. It is such a solid phonics program and easy. He dislikes reading, though, and complains about it though he is doing well. We also have little readers he tolerates and then a computer program we do once a week as a treat. Writing time is still primarily focused on letter formation- just blank paper and copying mom or a preprinted letter page from Mead. Once we are done with the alphabet he will begin Writing With Ease I used and enjoyed with Zoe. For grammar/spelling/phonics/ writing – general language reinforcement he does a curriculum called Explode the Code. I love it! Wish I would’ve tried it with Zoe. It really brings stuff together. He also dislikes it even though it is easy and has lots of fun variety and pictures.
Those are our main subjects, but we also do Spanish practice with Little Pim daily. After a break we cover fun topics like science, art, geography and crafting. He absolutely loves doing science experiments, the messier the better. He is also liking learning about animals; his favorites have been unique like the humpback whale, bushbaby, and goats.
In the afternoon we have lunch out back in the sun, play a little, and then read together on the couch for quiet time. He has been enjoying listening to the Magic Tree House series and earning stamps for the passport from their website, but we mix it up with other good chapter books as well. Lately, he has been quite keen on James Herriot stories.
