Sprouting Bear

Bear has embarked on an exciting project. He is growing seedlings to sell to his adult friends. He's been expressing a desire to have more money to buy the things he wants and this seems like the perfect solution.

He's taken out a loan (from me) and has bought some seeds and seed raising mix. He's had a few generous donations of more seed raising mix and even more seeds. He's done almost all of the work himself , filling the pots, counting and planting the seeds, and writing the labels. He remembers to water them with the help of an alarm we've set to go off daily. Some very enthusiastic watering meant he had to start again with several pots, which was a great learning experience for him.

I've found that the labels have been great writing practise and mornings seem to be the best time of day for him to get stuck into it.

Long time...

SO much has happened in the world of my little Bear in the last 12 or so months. To begin with, he lost 4 teeth (and had another one extracted)! He got a laptop AND an iPod Touch. He discovered the Super Mario Bros (sigh). He learned to read. He pottered along with picture books for about 8 months or so and then he discovered Tashi. He read the Big big BIG Book of Tashi in less than a week and went on to discover the joys of Roald Dahl and The Twits. He is now reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets after very proudly finishing the first book all on his own. He reads to himself, to me and to his toy dog Thomas/Toby/Fang.
Very recently he started showing some enthusiasm for maths. It took me by surprise at first, but I decided to see if he could grasp a few concepts that would stretch him a bit. He got multiplication straight away and absolutely LOVED double digit addition. He's taken to getting enthusiastic for what we call "late night maths". We have a few workbooks around the place and I bought him a times tables chart and a spinner to play with and he was thrilled! Finally, I discovered the Khan Academy and wow! he is hooked. Personally I'm very impressed with the site myself, the concept of a free, self paced learning environment is pretty appealing. The founder, Salman Khan, has made 1600+ short videos for maths and science instruction. Bear has been enthralled for three days and has learned so much. He even taught me a method of subtracting double digit numbers that was new to me. I've never seen the kid so excited or focussed.
Bear is doing a 3 day circus workshop in a few weeks and will hopefully start lessons next term (he finished up his art class early this year). He is looking forward to learning some new tricks :)
I'm sure I've forgotten something... I'll just have to update when I remember!

Before I forget it all...

...I need to start documenting this wonderful little person's journey. Bear is 5 and growing and learning faster than I can keep up with. There was a time when I felt I witnessed every new discovery of his, I saw the cogs turn and joined him in his elation (or dismay) as he learned a new concept. Now I am lucky if I can keep up with the latest Lego creation he has made or who his "imaginarian" friends are at the moment. He is currently having a "reading explosion" similar to the "language explosion" he had at age two, and I have no idea what he can and can't read at this point. He is a sweet, loving boy, who is not afraid to be himself. I am so happy that I can give him a life free of School, and it brings me great joy to see him flourish learning naturally at home.

A recent science experiment demonstrating surface tension.

Bear has recently started going to a weekly art class. This is his work from the second week, A self portrait in bed with "imaginarian" cat Whiskers getting cosy and the Tooth Fairy flying overhead ready to collect the tooth in the glass jar. Bear is currently very proud to have his first wobbly tooth.