2021-22 End of Year Assessment--Baymax

 Baymax is just shy of being 7 1/2 years old.

He's more grown-up by the day.

He became a fluent reader this year . . . after starting the year needing to sound out every word.

His habit is to kind of mumble over words that are too hard for him at the moment, but he's reading full-length novels regularly, and he's understanding most of what he reads.  I know the harder words will come with time and experience.

He completed a lot of leveled reading books and a variety of spelling and phonics workbooks.  In addition, he has read all of the stories in the Old Testament portion of The Beginner's Bible, writing and illustrating his own narrations for a good portion of that.  He started the New Testament portion, but we ended our formal school year before he could finish.  He loves the stories, and he plans to finish reading and narrating it eventually.  

He prefers writing his narrations without illustrating them, and when he asked if he could skip drawing, I said yes.

He likes drawing on his own when he's free to draw what pleases him.  He says he doesn't really like the lessons on ArtHub for Kids, but he likes the summer art days we're having each week now.

He completed his entire first-grade math curriculum (The Good and the Beautiful), and he's got a good start in the second-grade set.  He passed all of the assessments with flying colors.  He seems to enjoy manipulating numbers and shapes and understanding patterns.  What he does NOT love is telling time to the quarter hour on an analog clock.

But he does love telling time to the minute. :)

He writes sentences--with occasional reminders to capitalize and punctuate.

He narrates stories and lessons with insight that seems beyond his years (I do have a set for comparison in that I teach his primary class at church), and he loves interesting facts.  He is also adept at finding connections between subject areas, books, and experiences.

He's been riding a bike since he was 4, and this year he added in-line skating to his repertoire of wheeled activities.  We realized he needs more time with sports that require ball-handling, but we don't know how to make that happen right now.  He does love to shoot baskets in the church gym. 

Baymax helps with our babies by playing with them as well as occasionally feeding them, helping them at the toilet, and retrieving them from their cribs when naps are done.  He's learned how to carry a baby safely, and he's learned about his limits in handling babies.  He definitely is not able to contain a fussing 1-year-old, but he can walk a crying infant if needed.

He's self-conscious (a trait sadly inherited from both his father and me).  His performances with American Rhythm, and the opportunities he has to present a scripture, talk, or prayer in church are helping grow his confidence in front of an audience.  

His siblings are his favorite friends.  I do not see him chatting in a friendly way with his church peers, but he does play well with the other children at American Rhythm and with neighborhood children.  There is a handful of boys at church with birthdays quite near his that I hope will become his friends when they age into the children's activity nights. 

In his own words, "I'm not very good at making friends."

I think that comes with not very much opportunity to practice.  As with the sports issue, I'm not sure how to remedy that right now because of the strong needs of other family members.  I am glad that there are enough people in our own home with enough different needs and personalities that he gets lots of practice learning how to get along with others as well as practice resolving differences.

His love language must be physical touch.  He gets close as often as he can!  Being the youngest, his bucket is easy for me to fill. :)

He's highly opinionated.  He hates new things, and he loves what he loves fiercely.  He is usually upset about each new book I pull out, but over time, he becomes deeply involved in the characters and plot, asking questions, reading further, participating in discussions, and sorrowing when the books end.

He learned about dinosaurs, early American history, ancient world history, some geography, and Greek and Roman mythology in our family studies.

Things he learned by reading on his own are too numerous and varied to count.

A few of his favorite things are Legos, superheroes, Greek mythology, taking pictures or filming videos, playing games on his big sisters' phones, reading, and playing in the creek after a big rain.

He's learning and growing beautifully.