First Week Almost Complete

This week has definitely been a learning experience for both of us.  Overall, it has gone well. Samuel has done well with the Math pages.  They have been easy for him, but it will start to get harder and take longer soon.  He has enjoyed Science as well.  He is learning about the first day of Creation right now.  He also is learning Bible stories and started with Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel.  I had him draw a picture from this week's story.  I plan to create a book at the end of the year with all of the pictures from the Bible stories we talk about.

The week hasn't been easy in one area, though.  Phonics & Reading has had some difficulties.  He has learned the letter sounds of A, B, D, O, & C this week.  He does really well with the letter sounds and identifying simple words/pictures and even writing the individual letters.  The difficulty for him is the amount of writing he has to do. (It is more than he's used to, but not as much as he will be doing soon.) He has had to write letter combinations and his first word yesterday (dad).  He procrastinates by hemming and hawing, dropping his pencil numerous times and just refusing to do it.  Yesterday, he got really frustrated and even broke down at one point.  Needless to say, we took a long break before we continued.  (We will do this in the future, as the amount of writing increases.)  When he grudgingly does it, it is half-hearted and just to get it done.  I am by no means expecting him to write perfect letters.  I am just wanting him to at least try to write them correctly and do a good job with them.  When he does slow down and try hard, he does a pretty good job.  After he writes several letters, he gets to erase the demonstrated letters on the white board, run up and down the hallway several times or jump up and down a couple of times.   I am hoping that the more confidence he gains in writing, the easier it will get. 

Darius and I have also been working in his preschool book.  My plan has been to do two pages a day, but he has really enjoyed working in it.  Several days this week, he has wanted to do three or four pages, so we have done the extra pages.  I think next week, he will start learning how to write letters.

I have enjoyed teaching the boys and I look forward to continuing with them.