Family update!!!

Christina admited last night that me losing my job was a blessing, if for any other reason than it forced us to homeschool.  We were planning on sending Maura to school in Pre-K 4, although she'd be 5, because her birthday was after school started.  Likewise, we were going to send Nolan to Pre-K 3. 

In retrospect, that would have been horrible.  Although Maura likes to play, and would have had fun at school, when it came time to learn, she'd be bored out of her mind.  Currently, she is reading books, mostly on her own, at a second or third grade reading level.  This is what she loves to do.  She will read to Nolan sometimes as well.  She is in her first grade math program.  With math, she's not as motivated.  She is bored by the busy work, which is what it appears to her to be, and likes the learning sessions.  This is not to say she's not as bright, she'd just rather be reading.  She is really taking to her end-of-the-day journal, and this seems to help her synthesize some of what she learned or did that day.  Maura is very mature.  Its hard to believe she's only 5.  She looks and acts like a 7 year old (and reads like one too),

Nolan is a bundle of energy.  At home, he can mostly be bouncing around and yet learn.  I'm not so sure that would happen in a school.  Maura is on level 4 for reading, while Nolan is on level 2.  He enjoys reading, but enjoys being read to much more (he likes the attention).  In math, it is another story.  He is only a few lessons behind Maura.  According to Christina, he'll ask for help for the first problem on a page, and once he knows how to do that, will do the rest on his own.  His handwriting is a bit more advanced than a "normal" 4 year-old, and it is one of the only things that clues you that the kid is only 4 years old. He speaks at a level much higher than a 4 year old, and he remembers extremely well.  Besides his habit of saying wierd things ("Mommy, why are you a bat that was swallowed by your hand?"), it almost impossible to tell he's only 4.

Little Colleen isn't saying much, but she's a smart little bugger.  While Nolan had a vocabulary of like 20 words by 15 months, Colleen says "No, no, no!" and "How!" (from Peter Pan).  I think she's saying other things, but its hard to say.  However, she doesn't need to be verbal, because she's picking things up left and right.  She helps unload the dishwasher, and helps put toys away on her own.  She also is learning to join in with Maura and Nolan in their play (they might not understand it, but it is clear that she is attempting to join them).  Oh, and she loves all our pets: Maggie, our three gerbils, and our fish.  She's particularly fond of pulling Maggie's tail and staring at the gerbils.