Old Video of Hunter Naming Presidents, Age 2

Hunter (and monkey!) naming some of the presidents with one his favorite (and first) bit cards.

And making fun of Andrew Jackson's big head.

Hunter, in video, was 2 years, 10 months old

Hunter's Reading Update

I haven't video taped Hunter reading in a while so I decided to take a little clip from him reading his 1940's school textbook earlier today.

His reading is getting better in that he is able to read a lot more words by sight, his speed is improving, and he is getting better at inflection - that is, pausing at the right times, speaking in a "talking" voice when reading words in quotations, etc.

Sometimes I don't really notice the progress but when I realize that he was still in Bob Books ten months ago, I really do see how much he has grown in this area.

I always knew that I was silly for "worrying" about his reading at age three and four, where he knew lots of words individually but really didn't have a desire to read books on his own. And here he is now, an independent reader, still growing and not yet perfect but definitely enjoying the journey and definitely going at his own pace, as always.

"To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding"

Proverbs 1:2 

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

Hunter Swims Length of Pool

While we were camping this weekend, we spent a lot of time at the camp site's pool.

Most of it was spent like this:

And this:

And this:

And doing "pencil dives" in the deep end, twisting jumps, cannon balls, catching balls and jumping for frisbees, racing, playing Marco Polo, and generally just messing around and having a good time. Made possible by his new-found swimming ability.

In the process of it all, though, he built the endurance (and courage) to swim the length of the pool. Nice little byproduct, eh?

"...and I will lead on softly, ...and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir."

Genesis 33:14

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

Cursive Beginnings

 

Hunter has recently decided that he wants to learn how to write in cursive.

The above picture is of a free-hand lowercase alphabet he decided to make for me the other day.

I was printing out a cursive handwriting guide, something I was possibly considering teaching this fall and wanted to get him excited about it now, and he managed to smear water all over the first copy whilst helping me with the printing. Gotta love little kids help sometimes.

Feeling remorseful about destroying it, he decided that he would just "make me a new one" and proceeded to spend the next hour-ish meticulously copying the lowercase cursive alphabet onto a blank piece of paper. First in pencil, then in ink.

It was a sweet gesture, really.

Since then we have gone back to it a couple of times and he has learned to write his first name, and has been practicing (a little) the first few letters of the lowercase alphabet. No rush of course and, he thinks it's really cool. A "secret code", if you will.

Sounds good to me.

Cursive Handwriting Printable

"All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern."

1 Chronicles 28:19

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

Head Out of Water

So Hunter decided that he can swim with his head above the water last weekend.

We've gone swimming a half dozen times this summer, and while it took me until last week just to get him to swim under water like he did at age three and four, (although I wasn't really focusing on it too much, we were mostly just splashing around) he can finally, legitimately, swim.

I am incredibly excited that it was so sudden and effortless, on both of our parts.

You can read the summer 2009 post and especially the summer 2008 post on a little bit about our journey in learning how to swim. Even though we don't have that long of a history in Hunter's learning (he hasn't gotten nearly the ideal opportunity / exposure to swimming), it has been a fun adventure and I'm so excited for where we are now.

What's next for us?

Well, seeing that my goal for this summer was to get him to get his head out of the water and, perhaps, perfect that head-above-water swimming, I guess we'll be working on the second half of that goal and hopefully progress from a professional dog-paddler to a bona fide crawl-stroker.

Using exercises from sections 4 and 5 of How to Teach Your Baby to Swim, we'll be breaking down the elements of the crawl stroke (1. breathing, 2. arm motions, 3. leg motions) in different, fun activities to work on each element individually, practicing diving, streamlining, back-floating, and, of course, lots of fun games.

Hope everyone else has a great swimming summer!

"Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered..." 

Psalm 18:15

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

No Comment

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

Jeremiah 33:3

Hunter is 5 years, 2 months old

Reading, 1940's Style

Hunter reading "In the City and on the Farm: A California State Textbook". Publishing date? 1940.

Lately, "Dick and Jane" style readers are a favorite, including the first and second grade readers in the Pathway series (Amish/Menonite school books). Now that we found this 1940's state textbook at a thrift store for fifty cents last weekend, he has been blazing through it.

Either way, the 1940's "city" life is certainly no NYC. With tales "apartment houses", "fun at..." the park, the zoo, the circus, the movies, the grocery store, and the library, the clothing, setting, and lifestyle is probably more of a history lesson than a familiarity.

Either way, he enjoys the stories and, as always, whatever keeps him reading!

"To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding" 

Proverbs 1:2

Hunter is 5 years, 2 months old

Early Numerical Stimulation (Mathematical Mondays)

"Never forget that when you are giving a child visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation with increased frequency, intensity, and duration that you are actually physically growing his brain. We have never met a neurophysiologist who didn't know that - as we have rarely met a professional person who actually deals with kids who did."

-Glenn Doman

"Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts."

Isaiah 28:9

"Ty", daycare child, is 9 weeks old