exhale

I have purposefully waited to begin formal studies with my six-year-old because I wanted him to be very ready. I wanted him to be enthusiastic and successful, not to have to drag him along. I want him to love learning. I wanted him to come to me and say, "mom, I need to know what this says, will you teach me to read?" So I waited.

Waiting is tricky.

We get anxious because all the others are off to school at three and four and already learning to read at five. But I am taking the road less traveled and putting all those theories I read about to the test.

One theory says that little ones should experience life as much as possible, out of doors, playing, experimenting, living everyday life beside you. Their play is their work. So we waited.

And I've read that we push too much seriousness in academics and sports on young kids and let our teens play when they should be working. So we waited.

We also wanted to work on obedience. I wanted some level of first-time obedience as a habit before we started studies. Is he perfect? Not by a long shot. But neither is his mother. However, you kinda need someone's attention if you're going to teach them something. So we waited.

Before I added another student I was looking for some level of proficiency from the older three. A dependability and trustworthiness that I could give them a task, or a list, and they could follow through. Adding a new learner would mix things up and I wanted some stability before doing so. So we waited some more.

And at each milestone I have asked myself, Is he ready?

I've been holding my breath.

I knew that when we finally started his studies that he might not be ready and I might have to back off. These last two weeks have been a dipping of the toes into the water to test the temperature.

Hmm. Seems warm enough.

He gets short lessons throughout the day with lots of playing in between. Sometimes he occupies himself outside or in his room or on the porch while the older girls study. Sometimes he plays in the same room where I am working with one of the girls. He does a decent job at being quiet.

Yesterday he was playing legos in the living room and M3 and I came in to do her reading. I figured he would continue to play while we read. I didn't count on C plopping next to us on the chouch to listen and then narrate back to me. He jumped in and told me all about the bee and his adventure in wonderful detail. His sister was so mad he only left a bit of the end for her to tell.

I've also seen him go from wiggly and goofy to purposefully applying all his attention to his copywork or his math. And he is all about his astronomy lessons and adding pictures and words to his notebook.

**exhale**

I think he's ready.