Learning: First Numbers & Now Letters!

He absorbed some basic math skills last summer (December through February), watching second grade videos with Elizabeth. We all loved the emphasis on working with manipulatives, visualizing the concepts! He surprised me one day, arguing with his sister over what he viewed as “math facts”; she was trying to tell him that 3+2=5, but he was insisting that 4+1=5. When I demonstrated with my fingers that both were true, he took it to another level and exclaimed: “There are two ways to say 10: 5 & 5 and 4 & 1 & 4 & 1!”

I captured the same idea on this video clip in early April.

He got lots more practice with numbers last June and July, by studying – and then memorizing – his favorite (Celeste!) soccer players’ jerseys during the World Cup. In mid-August he had moved on to double digits:

And he’s learning letters – by osmosis, it seems! He has his own very excited tutor, who incidentally loved letters herself at an even earlier age and is already quite an accomplished scholar. Just today we were recalling the events and activities of last year at this time. As we reminisced, it hit us! From early December 2013 to early December 2014, Elizabeth completed the requirements for two grades: second grade in English and third grade in Spanish!

She’s now unofficially teaching DJ the alphabet and its basic sounds in English. In late September he got excited when he saw this sign:

“Look! A ‘Letters NO’ sign!”

(I especially love his using Spanish word order.)

And here’s a fun little clip from November:

This past Monday night he gave us a glimpse of how much more he’s been learning.

He protested when the lights were turned off for the night: “I need more light!”

I countered: “You don’t need more light! You have lots of something else that begins with the letter L. Do you know what it is?”

He grinned: “Love!”

And before I could even congratulate him for remembering that, he rushed on: “And lady and lion and loco and lights off!”

Fun stuff! ♥