We are working on more of his writing skills, as his story telling skills are already superb. We have also had to go back into math a bit and re-establish some of the 3rd grade fundamentals as 4th grade math has posed a bit of a challenge. He is doing phenomenally in all other areas of study. We are also stepping up his language learning, as we are going to make more evident in paper work as opposed to just speaking and understanding.

I am listening to him read right now. There are some pretty interesting words in the book like Hellenistic, sophisticated, Macedonia, circumcision, Shabbat. He is doing a great job of sounding out words that are difficult. It’s also wonderful to hear him draw from his previous knowledge in other studies as he reads about different aspects of the history of Hanukkah which are relevant to the background and culture of the times.

*Edited to say that he found out that Greeks used to wrestle naked in the gymnasium and he exclaimed “I’m glad we’re not Greek!” HA !! Poor baby was a bit traumatized by that naked wrestling thing. He LOVES MMA and wrestling, so it made him feel weird.*

We also reviewed the commandments we have learned and learned the fifth:

Honor your father and your mother.

We went over a few of his math principles today. We worked through a few double digit problems with and without carrying, 3 number addition problems, and fractions. We also learned a new way to write fractions with the “th” and “ths” endings (i.e. one ninth, three tenths). He did great.

Right now he is watching a dvd I found called The American Dream that I found at the dollar store. It’s above his head mostly, but he did recognize a few things like New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.

As for Bible study, we went over his verses from Sunday school. We also read about Moses and the Amelekite army. He is still loving the unit study about Moses and wants to finish it out.

There are also maps of places, battles, skirmishes, and a whole geography of old world Japan. Lo and behold, the names I saw such as Tokugawa Ieyasu, were real people who existed and had power back in the 1600s. I read some of the history to my son as he played so he will know what he is fighting about.

They are still playing, but now he knows that he is in some way a part of the history of Japan, even if only on a tv screen.

I am in the process of locating a good history idea to teach him something about history. I will more than likely begin in New Jersey and expand his horizon from there. That way, he gets history and geography at the same time.