2017-18 End of Year Assessment: Mister Man

Soooooo . . . this kid is crazy smart.

A friend once said to me, "Don't worry about really smart or gifted kids; leave them alone, and they'll educate themselves."

That's true.

But not always wise.

Mister Man is perfectly capable of educating himself.  He reads voraciously at a late 5th/early 6th grade level.  He loves both fiction and nonfiction, so he gathers a wonderful variety of information all on his own.  His favorite books of the year have been The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (he read it 5 times) and Jenny and the Cat Club (he read it twice).  He recently discovered The Boxcar Children mystery series, and he's reasonably fond of those stories, though some are beloved, and some he won't finish.  He read and loved as many (a dozen?) of the Thornton Burgess animal books as we've been able to procure.  He's devoured Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Indian in the Cupboard, Charlotte's Web, and other childhood classics in a single afternoon apiece.  Others, such as Farmer Boy, have taken a bit longer.

He's always happy to share his talent for reading.

Finding new material that is subject-appropriate for a 6-year-old as well as challenging and interesting enough to bring him joy has been quite a challenge.  The good news is that he's happy to re-read books that he likes, and he still loves picture books as long as they are available by the dozen.

He loves Academy, evening reading, Morning Meeting, and audiobooks in the van.  He talks insightfully about what we read, and he remembers information well.

Mister Man also thinks writing and spelling are terrific activities.  He worked through a dozen pages a day sometimes of his Explode the Code workbooks.  He holds his pencil kind of funny, but it's the same way his uncle holds a pencil, so I'm not worrying about it.  He loves to write notes, sounding out words and asking for help with words he can't sound out.

Math is less of a love.  In his pre-K year, he completed Alpha Omega level K math, and this year he completed about 75% of Rod and Staff grade 1.  They basically cover the same information, and Alpha Omega level K probably covers more information, just less thoroughly.  So for Mister Man, most of his math was a repeat and a cementing of basic skills.  Learning to tell time on an analog clock was his favorite new math skill of the year.  But counting money came in a close second.

Mister Man's behavior over the course of the year taught me that he should not be left alone to educate himself because when he doesn't have enough challenge or support, he gets bored.  When he gets bored he teases and makes mischief.

Garden work is good for a physically active boy . . .

 . . . and hand work is good for focusing his attention and challenging his mind.

In the late winter/early spring of this year I purchased some Lifepac grade 2 Science worktexts.  Mister Man loved them!  Doing the reading and writing and experimenting gave him a real thrill.  For sure, I'll be offering him lots of science in the coming years.

Building things helps, too.  He's a creator.

 He's less coordinated than his adopted siblings when it comes to climbing, balancing, ball-throwing, catching, jumping, and bike-riding.  He's tall and a big gangly, and sometimes he just doesn't know what to do with his arms and legs.  But he's growing and developing at a reasonable pace. 

He got very sick in the late fall of last year.  He threw up for 7 straight weeks, and it took a lot of research and many months of following the GAPS diet to the best of our ability to help him feel consistently well.  We're not following that diet now, and he had a relapse on our vacation.  Since coming home, I was blessed to find some enzyme and pro-biotic supplements that are making a difference.  

He still had little boy sweet cheeks, but I can remember how thin he got when I look at the lines of his neck in this picture.

He loves puzzles, putting them together, taking them apart, and putting them together again over and over.  100 piece puzzles are just the right level of challenge right now.

He's discovering the power of teasing, and he wants to be boyishly physically aggressive.  Because he's bigger than all of the other boys in the house, this can cause problems, and the girls simply won't have it.  I'm looking for a good physical outlet for him, and I think some sort of martial art will be the right answer.

He gets distracted from his chores by reading.  If there's a book nearby, it takes a lot of energy to keep him on task, but cares about being a helper, and he empties the dishwasher, cleans his room, and clears the dinner table each day.  In addition, he volunteers regularly to take the compost out.

He's the happiest, most excited about life kid I know.  People who meet him are constantly delighted by his delight.

If Mister Man were in school, this would have been his Kindergarten year.  I don't really know how to level him, and I know we don't need to, but when strangers ask him what grade he is, I want him to have a ready answer, so we called him a Kindergartener this year.

It was a pretty good Kindergarten year. :)