Sam mountain biking with Ben, me and a new friend (Sabrina) at Maunawili Ditch Trail.

Sam loves to learn about several topics – music, space, caves, nature in general. Right now we’re reading about space again (thanks for that awesome book, mom, it really is great!). A friend of ours sent a picture of the crescent nebula from a recent trip into the desert (thanks, Ken!) and that sparked a trip out to the deck to see if we could find Ken’s nebula. I think we did – right in the summer triangle. So after reading more on nebulae tonight for bed (with Ben pulling at all the interactive fold-outs in the book and flopping his legs wildly on the bed) I tucked the boys in – as I was shutting the door I said “I love you guys more than all the stars in the galaxy and Sam said “Mom I love you more than all the water and ice on Europa. Europa is one of Jupiter’s moons.” Wow!

Sam continues to enjoy school, yet does comment that the computer time is growing tedious (I don’t think the literacy game they use – Imagine Learning – is moving quickly enough to keep his attention). He also got his name on the board (only the second time since school started Aug 2) – it was for laughing at a whole litany of naughty things the other kids were doing. This is on the heels of a brief conversation we had yesterday about what is worth laughing at and what should be ignored, of all the antics the kids perform. We decided if it’s a new trick and a good one at that, then go ahead and laugh. If it’s not new material, then ignore it. So I guess today was replete with new material. 🙂

Sam seems to be pretty popular among the kids – they make a point of saying hello to him, and seem particularly interested in his bike. It is unusual for a lower-class kid to bike to school, and he unlocks it and walks it out to the front turnaround all by himself to meet up with me (either in the truck or with Ben on my mt bike). Today some older girls wanted to ride his bike around (after trying to get on my mt bike before discovering it really was too big for them). Go Sam!

We are continuing to homeschool as a supplement to what he is getting at school. He’s doing Fry’s sight words (I made flash cards) and this has really helped accelerate his confidence-building for reading. Fry expanded on Dolch’s sight words (I think 25 of them) to create a list of 300 words that represent about 90% of what we read on a daily basis. So if kids can recognize those words right off, they are much better able to read. The sight words are typically “glue” words which hold concepts together and which are not easily illustrated (around, then, upon, etc.). So I have three sets of sight words, divided up into 25 cards per day. We whip through those “quiz kitties” (after a Skippy Jon Jones book) right after homework. The words he doesn’t get right off get their names written up on our white board, with a smile 🙂 This allows us to review the 10-12 words that were trickier at the end of the week. I spent two weeks per set so right now we’re on 2nd grade sight words. He’ll finish Sept knowing the 3rd grade sight words. I have already seen such a big difference in his confidence, which was the big obstacle for him. Sam wanted to read perfectly from the start – he didn’t want to have to sound things out. So it’s been a real effort on my part to balance helping him learn and showing him the benefits of practice, with giving it space and time.

Dave is also impressed with Sam’s continued growth in doing fraction math even though we aren’t teaching it in any formal way at all. We just occasionally provide him with a word problem to wrestle with. The most recent example – if we have 6 hard boiled eggs, how many does each of us get? Sam responded in approx 30 seconds with “one and a half.” He’s got a good mind, and I think we are doing ok in public school, although I really really really wish I could convince myself to take on the drive and hassles of enrolling in the Hawaii Tech Academy – a hybrid cyber charter school. It’s 21st century education and shows so much promise. We’ll wait for WA where this concept is a bit better developed and the logistics are easier. Right now we’re enjoying see Sam be part of his school community and reap the benefits of all those intangibles which can’t be measured with standardized tests.

That was a long update…thanks for your love and interest in our ohana.