First Day of "School"

So the public schools went back in session today, which always puts me in the frame of mind to get our learning kicked back into gear as well. This doesn't really mean anything other than me being less on the computer and cleaning up the house and more available to say "yes" to board games and setting up projects and going places. I may also strew more learning toys about in strategic locations and invite more involvement into my own projects, although in truth I'm making it a personal goal to be more open to assistance in my "grown up responsibilities" at all times.

I was astounded today to see how much Noodle's reading has progressed! It all started when we were returning from MonkeyGirl's parent/child gymnastics class (she's SO excited to be back!!) and the boys asked if we could play Silly Sentences when we got home. Sure, we can do that! So we get home, set out the puzzle-style words designed to fit together in a limited number of ways (articles only attach to adjectives and nouns, and nouns to verbs on the other side, then prepositions, which feed back into articles), and off they go putting sentences together. We don't take turns, we just all do our best to make the silliest sentences we can. Stuff like "The furry, blue banana climbed on the sad, scary duck." Except the game doesn't include commas, which bothers me. They have periods, why don't they have commas for multiple adjectives?? Yes, I am a grammar nerd. Learn to love it.

Anyway, back to the Noodle, he was doing a great job reading almost all of the words in the game, and even with the pieces that had pictures on them (nouns and colors) I could see him moving his lips to sound out the accompanying words. Then after lunch we played another game, it's some pirate octopus treasure game with beginning and ending sound blends that you can mix up to form multiple words (sw- goes with -ing, -ap) and again Noodle worked to sound out his own words and mine. We played that game three times!

Tex played with us once and in contrast to last year when he was still working hard to read each blend, most of them come to him quite instantly now. He's still not ready to give up the security and speed of someone else reading to him, but I'm confident that he is making steady progress. He is certainly interested enough in storytelling! We're almost finished with the last of Nick Riordan's Percy Jackson books, and I'm curious to see where we'll be going after this. Tex definitely likes to have adventure in his stories, so I'll probably continue in my hunt to see what sort of series are out there that would appeal. My particular challenge is to find something that might be interesting to both the boys, as our books usually end up being bedtime material and it's easier if they're both engaged. The big hits over the last year were the Star Wars junior novelizations, the Narnia series (though we stalled out at Voyage of the Dawn Treader), and How to Train Your Dragon. I may try to talk them into The Tale of Desperaux next, since it's funny and adventurous (AND has illustrations, a big draw for Noodle). Or we may finish The Odyssey if they want to continue the Greek theme, or D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. So many options.

Tex and I also had a fraction discussion today. This kid loves fractions. He was telling me how much of his banana he had eaten, and he started with an estimate of 3/4, then said "no, it was a little more than 3/4, I think. Like two and a half thirds." I came back with "oh, ok, so that would be 5/6". He thought about that for a minute and said "thank you for making that a simpler fraction, but do you know what? Even though what you said makes more sense, it's actually much easier to say 'two and a half thirds' than it is to say five sixths." I couldn't even argue with that. The word "sixths" is a pain in the tokhes and should be avoided at all costs.

I Ain't Scared of Third Grade!

I have to admit, at first I was a bit apprehensive. We've just gone whole-hog on Unschooling, and here I am whipping out What Your Third Grader Needs to Know, worried beyond reason that there is going to be something life-changing in there, one thing that Tex NEEDS to know and cannot get without me sitting him down and telling him about it, and probably doing worksheets. Frankly, I wouldn't mind a bit, I love doing worksheets and seeing how many answers I can get right, 'cause I'm a smartypants like that. :-) But if there's one thing Tex can't stand it's being led down a path he's not independently interested in traveling, so it was with much trepidation that I opened up this "helpful" book.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about! Without further ado I present to you our third grade goals:

Language Arts
- continued reading of folk/morality tales, mythology, and fantasy (specifically mentioned are Tales of the Arabian Nights and Norse mythology)
- explore other genres of literature, particularly biographies
- grammar focus is on parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation

History
- World focus is from the Roman Empire through the European exploration of North & South America
- National focus is on the original colonies through the American Revolution

Art & Music
- continued experience with and discussion of art and music, particularly how they can convey emotion, a story, etc. I would also like to tie music and art to any historical periods in which he is interested.

Mathematics
- using correct mathematical notation. Lately I've begun writing down equations as Tex and I have solved real-life "word problems", since it's what I do if I'm solving one on my own, too, and I imagine continuing that will spark him to do the same eventually.
- practice, practice, practice all the math he can, including the maths of time, money, geometry, and graphs

Science
- Life Sciences - keeping ecosystems in balance (may include applied experiments such as a terrarium, or discussions of food chain interruptions, or following of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill); also the nervous system of the human body
- Physical Sciences - beginning to gather an understanding of: electricity, forms of matter and how to measure them, molecular vocabulary, astronomy
- biographies of scientists in any field of interest

So, that's it. Granted, I winnowed it down to the key focuses without worrying too much about the details, because I don't think it matters whether we read Pollyanna or The Tale of Desperaux if either way we get the same message of working hard and sticking to your principles in the face of adversity. But by and large these topics seem to be ones either A) lend themselves to being learned at any point in life, such that we could cover the Renaissance this year if that is where Tex's interests lie, and save the Middle Ages for another year when he is more engaged, or B) are so vital to being a functioning member of society that he can't help but learn them as a part of his daily life, such as grammar and the mathematics of time, area, or money. So I'm not really worried. If Tex wants to delve into WWII this year instead of the Roman Empire, I'm going to be okay with that. If Egyptian mythology catches his fancy instead of Norse, I think that's workable, too. Most of all I have faith that there's nothing Tex can't learn if he is motivated to do so, and that therefor anything he doesn't learn must be something he doesn't need badly enough at this time. That doesn't mean I'm going to take down our poster about punctuation until he asks for it, or that I'm going to avoid putting the electronics kit on the kitchen table too see if it catches his eye, it just means that I'm going to help him explore his interests to whatever depth he chooses without judging their worth according to the needs of my own life.

In other news, we've seen a recent surge in Tex's reading confidence lately. Just a few weeks ago he was still insisting on us reading everything, but lately he's started to take the initiative and read things for himself, only needing to spell out to us the occasional word. It's actually astounded both myself and Daddy-O some of the words he does NOT need help on. Tex would probably still tell anyone who asks how much he dislikes reading, but hopefully those days will be numbered as his confidence continues to grow.

I'll be back soon to post a little about some processes and projects I'm thinking of trying this year, to help make our learning time rich and memorable!

Radical Unschooling

Ha! Scared you, didn't I? I know, I know, Unschooling has gotten quite the poor treatment from the media lately, and any of you who have seen said treatments are probably thinking "Oh Lord, what is Brownie trying to do to those kids NOW?" But I'm convinced, y'all. I'm all in.

First, what IS Radical Unschooling? Well, basically, it's letting my children spend their days however (within the boundaries of safety and reality) they want to, trusting that they will learn what they need to learn in order to get by and even succeed in the world. It's me backing off on controlling the details and instead worrying only about controlling the environment so that it can be safe and stimulating. It's living our home life by the principles we find most important rather than a list of rules that can be challenged and broken by kids as well as adults. Speaking of which, I could use some help on the basic principles. Try as I might, the only one I ever come up with is "Be considerate of others"; it seems to cover a multitude of conflicts we usually have (not cleaning up dishes/wrappers, sibling arguments, yelling at a child to come do it NOW without any regard for the activity in which they were engaged, etc.) without being too wordy or sounding too hard.

Now, I must admit to a little bit of subterfuge. I was reading Sandra Dodd's Big Book of Unschooling right as the last "school year" was ending, so I decided to test the ideas by implementing them as temporary, Summertime rules. We told Tex and Noodle that they no longer had to clean up a room to play videogames, there were no restrictions on their tv time, and over the course of a few weeks we loosened up on meal times and food suggestions. We did all this with the idea that, if it didn't work, we could always go back to living by the rules when the "school year" started up again in August. But I don't think we're going to. The kids have responded so well, and our house is so much happier, I think that, as Alice Cooper said, "School's out forever". :-)

But relax, that doesn't mean we don't have responsibilities. In fact on the parents' part this is going to mean a lot of very conscious choices. If we're not going to dictate our children's food choices then we'd better only have food in the house we're okay with them choosing, possibly over and over again. If we're going to let them make their own learning choices then we can't guilt or shame them for not being interested in reading, writing, or science, any more than we'd do if they weren't interested in art, sports, or musical theory. Basically, if we're going to create an environment where they get to make their own choices, then we need to do what we can to make sure the limited choices they have are safe, largely healthy, and supported. Soon enough they'll be out in The World where there are millions of choices, a great many of them unsafe, unhealthy, and insupportable. I want them to have some practice before they get there.

Second Grade Goals Analyzed

At the beginning of the year I wrote a post that included the basic national goals for second grade year. I would like to go back now and make note of what Tex covered in relation to those.

Language Arts

• continuing to read fables and folktales to illustrate good character and principles

This year we read a number of Bible stories, 4 of the Chronicles of Narnia books, stories from The Children's Book of Virtues, and a number of Greek/Roman myths (esp. in relation to the Percy Jackson books)

• label basic parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and learn about abbreviations/contractions as well as antonyms/synonyms

Tex has a basic understanding of what contractions are and can usually figure them out in a sentence (tense-related ones like "it has" vs. "it is" can still be confusing). We played a lot of the board game Silly Sentences to learn parts of speech.

Geography/History

• be able to identify continents, some large countries and major cities, a few oceans, rivers, or other bodies of water, and some major mountain ranges

Can identify: North Am, South Am, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, doesn't know where Europe ends and Asia begins; the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Madagascar, prob. Brazil, New Zealand, maybe Japan; knows Pacific/Atlantic coasts.

• have some understanding of ancient world history and the discoveries of important civilizations (Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, China, Africa...)

Mostly got into Greek/Roman mythology and the society surrounding

• early American history - basically any and everything -- from the natives to the first explorers, colonists, Western pioneers, and up to the Revolutionary War -- in which they are interested

Casual discussions of pioneer life and Westward expansion; some understanding of Revolutionary War as fight for freedom from England

Fine Arts

• as much hands-on experience as possible -- take kids to see performances or put on some ourselves, listen to poetry read aloud, see and discuss artwork and architecture

We enjoyed some Shel Silverstein poetry this year and discussed artwork when we saw it. Tex also has a love of drawing and concentrated this year on dinosaurs, robots, and spaceships.

• introduction to different instruments and how they are classified into groups
• anything about the parts of a song, how plays are written, mediums of visual arts, etc.

Tex did a LOT of independent listening to music this year and can identify verses/chorus; pays close attention to how different instruments are used in songs; starting to learn about rhythm, syncopation. Also understands how songs can tell a story, even those without words, a la Disney's Fantasia. Has discussed jazz, opera, rap, rock, and other forms of music. This year he also received a sound mixing toy with which he can create his own electronic music, and he spent lots of time designing sets, costumes, and scenes which he then filmed with our digital camera.

Mathematics

• practice, practice, practice, in fun and useful ways

Tex does math problems in his mind for fun, not to mention our practice with cooking, money, couponing, music, time, etc.

• memorization of basic addition and subtraction tables, skip counting, evens/odds, Roman numeral introduction, adding and subtracting time on an analog clock, learn HOW to +/- 3-digit numbers, and begin memorizing multiplication tables
• always practicing geometry, money, measurements, fractions, and word problems

Skilled in addition/subtraction, skip counting, understands evens/odds, analog clocks, is working on adding multi-digit numbers (ones, then tens, then hundreds), knows lots of small-number multiplication (2x2, 2x10, 5x3, etc.), can work small number division (9/3, 10/2, etc.), knows basic fractions

Life Sciences

• human body - cells into tissue into organs into systems

Can name several bones of the body: tibia/fibula, femur, mandible, humerus, radius/ulna, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis

• life cycles of animals/plants and how they relate to the seasons

We hatched butterflies this year and also cared for our garden. Tex knows some plants come back every year in our garden while others must be planted anew. Understands insect pollination.

• lots of hands-on experience with animals, plants, and nature
• biographies of important zoologists, animal activists, doctors, etc.

Tex has a few favorite animal scientists: Nigel Marvin, Steve and Bindi Irwin, Jungle Jack Hanna

Physical Sciences

• the products of chemistry such as plastics, hands-on simple chem experiments

We worked on acids/bases as well as a number of other basic kid-friendly experiments.

• how meteorologists gather data, how weather systems form

Tex understands how weather fronts move, how tornadoes form, what you can learn from looking at a weather radar

• the history of astronomy and how stars can be used to find direction, and how/why the sky changes with the seasons
  
• the behavior of light and sound, other physics basics

Experiments with grandfather on friction, resistance, etc.

• simple machines, introduction to basic engineering and technology

Built hydraulics machines, watched several of The Way Things Work series on simple machines (inclined planes, levers, wheels/axles, pulleys)

• more awareness of the Scientific Method in everyday play

One of Tex's favorite things! During play he loves to make predictions from the available information and then adjust his behavior to see how it changes the result

• biographies of important scientists

Clearly there are areas in which Tex excels and areas in which he could use more focus. I feel very blessed that homeschooling allows him to develop at his own speed and in the areas towards which he feels most drawn. My own basic goals for this year were for him to be reading well (he is on grade level even though his confidence is still lacking) and for him to continue his learning and comprehension of math and science topics (in these his understanding far exceeds my expectations). I look forward to seeing what kind of learning continues this summer since our Unschooling "schedule" will not change appreciably, and I'll spend several hours this summer collecting information on the basics of Third Grade.

Spring fever!

I love winter, and this year's was a spectacular specimen. Thanks to El Nino we had multiple snows that stuck, when in the last four years we've had none that did so for more than a few hours, so the kids really got some wonderful snow playtime. Unfortunately the main thing we discovered is that if you're going to go play in the snow, it really does pay to have all that "snow gear" that we never see in stores down here in Alabama. After a few good days of playing in the snow, freezing feet (no snow boots) and wet legs (no ski pants) were enough to get my kids over this snow business and ready for Spring. (Secretly, it's left me with a desire to plan a skiing trip in the next few years, complete with enough gear to keep us warm for hours of playing, but I'll tuck that away for now and get on with the point)

We have SO enjoyed the nice weather we've had the last couple of weeks. We've been out playing at parks, playgrounds, our own backyard, the Botanical Gardens with their new "tree house" exhibit, anywhere we can think of. The tree houses in particular have been a great source of learning, from their structure to the features of each, and even the physical skills needed to make use of them. One house even led to a discussion of pioneer living. We're also talking about the life cycles of different plants, why some we have to plant anew each year while others (like our beloved tulips!) come back on their own. And thank goodness, I remembered the butterfly hatching house I snagged on clearance at Target last fall and will soon have Painted Lady caterpillars for the kids to study and raise, AND I remembered the butterfly life cycle poster I bought online on clearance (do you hear an echo?) which I can display while the butterflies are shacking up at our place to help the kids keep up with the process. We also have a friend whose family is trying to hatch praying mantises (manti?), so with any luck our garden will be bursting with beneficial insects this summer!

Further academic news? Today while waiting for me to be free to read to him, Tex decided to just give it a whirl himself. I found this great Star Wars Clone Wars graphic novel at the library the other day when Monkeygirl and I dropped by while the boys were in P.E. at the Y, and it's really the perfect thing for Tex. Lots of picture cues, the words aren't too hard (he stumbled over "circuit" today, but who wouldn't? That word is crazy!), and lots of frames with stuff like guns going "zzzack!" and beasts saying "grrrr" and R2D2 saying "bwooooop". He can have read enough words to increase his confidence, but also get enough of the storyline from the pictures to enjoy it even when he can't read the words perfectly. I always thought comic books would be a good fit for him, I just hadn't found the right ones yet. We'll see where this leads. I can tell Tex's reading confidence is growing, which to my mind is the final hurdle to him being a mostly independent reader. Oh please, please, tell me that light at the end of the tunnel is NOT a train about to spoil my party! LOL

Also, good results with the book I mentioned in my last post. Every issue isn't solved yet, but there is MUCH less violence and much MORE willingness to talk to find solutions that are acceptable to all. It is hard as a parent to make that switch in my brain to acknowledging that having a five-minute discussion at an inconvenient time is still a better choice than having a full-fledged meltdown at a normal time, but more than anything it cements in my mind that Tex is a child who can not be parented in the "old school" fashion. This is a child who sees how Daddy-O and I treat each other, with good humor and flexibility, and his rigid mind sees no reason whatsoever than the rules should be different for his interactions with us. On one hand it's nice to know that this sort of experience will benefit him no end as he grows and forms relationships with many different people in different roles, so that he'll expect and give respect in equal measure, but it does make it necessary for us to give up that image of our family working like a well-oiled machine with Daddy-O and I at the head and our three wee ones following lovingly and dutifully behind as they trust us to know best. On second thought, though, that sounds kind of creepy... I think I like our way better. ;-)

How to Keep Your Child from Exploding

This entry is going to revolve around some struggles that Tex has had for most of his life, which are a large part of the reason why we chose homeschooling for him in the first place. Along with a diagnosis of mild Sensory Perception Disorder which makes certain activities and concepts more challenging for Tex, he also has a certain, shall we say, lack of social graces which can make interacting with others a little awkward and confusing. Tex is not at his ease when dealing with new social situations, he struggles with wanting to be funny and "cool" and it just not coming naturally to him, and he is often unsure of what people expect from him and how to convey his own very rigid expectations to others. We have a lot of fits and arguments at home due to these issues, and it is exhausting for the whole family. Not that Tex isn't a fabulous and wonderful child, he IS, he just also happens to be very emotionally challenging. I've gone back and forth lately over whether he actually needs to see some kind of therapist to help him with his anxiety and frustration, but eventually (with the help of the less-inclined-to-tinker Daddy-O) decided that what he needs is time and closer guidance. Which is all well and good considering that intra-and interpersonal relationships are kind of my bag (degree in Social Work), but still, it's different when it's my own child I'm trying to walk through these delicate situations, which usually involve (you guessed it) ME! And I challenge any therapist out there to be calm and constructive when their client is whacking them with a lightsaber.

After a particularly hurtful battle last week I went to the bookstore seeking comfort and assistance. I browsed the Parenting section thinking "they haven't written the book yet for the kind of hell I'm in, knowing I have the skills to help my child and having no idea how to put them into practice", when voila! I came across The Explosive Child by Ross W. Greene. "Explosive, yes, that fits," I thought, flipping through the book. I saw enough that first night to warrant bringing the book home, and it is just exactly what I needed. I've long felt that having children should be much more like learning to live with a roommate than it should be like training a pet, so Greene's Collaborative Problem Solving routine is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for to help us find a mutually satisfying solution to the big issues we face in our home. No "I'm the parent and I pay the bills so we do it my way" because A) frankly, making that stick is more trouble than it's worth and B) it doesn't really teach my kids the kind of life lessons I'd want them to retain, anyway. I want my kids to believe that they CAN change their situation in life, in ways that are effective and considerate of others, and I realize that in order for them to have that belief they need to see it in motion and even practice it themselves. So I'm excited to have a new resource helping us help Tex as he navigates the social minefields coming his way.

I had a fun moment watching Tex play and show off his understanding of math concepts. The kids were playing restaurant and Tex asked me for my order, I gave it, and he was ringing up my total when I said "wait, wait, I have a coupon!" Without even batting an eye (because he knows his Mommy and her love of coupons) he said "okay, ma'am, your coupon is for 50% off, your total was 4 dollars, and 50% is half, so half of four is two. You owe me two dollars, ma'am." I mean, come ON!! I know it's basic, but the kid goes from percentages, to fractions, to division with perfect understanding of what those concepts are! And he's not even 8 years old!

Oh, one other thing we've been enjoying lately is that I'm reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief to the boys and Tex is now all interested in Greek mythology. He even told me the other day that he'd like to learn Greek so that he could read the myths, but was pretty stoked when I told him the libraries will have books of Greek/Roman mythology written just for kids his age, instead. He really enjoyed looking at the Greek section of a giant encyclopedia of mythology he found on our shelves, but it was more an index of characters and creatures than a collection of the stories. It will be nice to have my memory refreshed, since I keep confusing Ariadne with Arachne, and Perseus with Theseus, and can never remember which names are Greek and which are Roman! Plus I have a comic book of The Odyssey I'd love to whip out. ;-P

Design Central

Oh, Tex and his grandiose plans. He's had them since he was born, I think, and reality never does quite live up to his expectations, but he keeps plugging away. I've been fascinated to watch the evolution of several projects this week.

There was the allosaurus we made last year, with the crushed-aluminum foil skeleton and heavy, baked-on polymer clay. The foil would crush closer together every time we squeezed more clay on, leaving air pockets and saggy clay that eventually drooped off the form. Tex tried again using a foil skeleton and a lighter plastic clay, this time making a velociraptor, but the air-dry clay shrunk where it wasn't well-smoothed and revealed gaps. Finally, two days ago we constructed a skeleton out of wire coat hangers. I did the grunt work, of course, bending and snipping the wires according to Tex's specifications and holding the frame steady while he worked clay onto it and shaped it into a velociraptor. He gave the velociraptor teeth, a pattern to his skin, a bumpy ridge on his tail, a curved second toe-claw, and three feathery plumes on his head. Even the positioning had to be precise, with the tail acting as a cantilever to the beast's head so that his whole spine was almost parallel to the ground. This kid knows what he is doing! And I am happy to report that after two days' drying time Tex's velociraptor is standing upright on his own power as well as having a flawless complexion with no gaps! Can't wait to see how this guy is going to be painted in the next couple of days.

Tex also has an abiding interest in costuming. No surprise given his backstage-crew parents, but it has taken forms I never would have suspected before having children. In the last few years we have made together: a dilophosaurus costume, complete with painted long-johns, sculpted foam head, and Jurassic Park-style neck frill; an oviraptor costume, using a balaclava as the basis for the head and adding a feathered back ridge and tail to the dilophosaurus long johns; and an unfinished R2D2 that sits in the corner of my room awaiting inspiration. We have now begun the long process of designing and creating next Halloween's costume!!! I suppose I should be happy that we've moved off dinosaurs but finding out my next challenge is going to be a robot by the name of General Grievous, from Star Wars Episode III, sort of made me long for a functioning pterodactyl costume order. But we must press on...

So Tex spent much of last week or so Googling "General Grievous" images to find the form he'd prefer and angles that allowed us to get a good look at how things really go together. Then he and I took a trip to the home improvement store yesterday. We investigated plumbing fixtures, tubes, wires, pipes, dowels, tried things on, speculated on form vs. function, and finally walked out with the makings of two matching lightsabers: two 9" turned table legs for the handles, to be painted in a pattern of silver and black, and a 1 1/2" dowel to be cut in half, painted green, and used for the blades. The costume itself is going to take a lot more work and trial-and-error. There were some great plumbing parts that we think we can use as the basis for the feet, then use copper tubing wrapped in black duct tape to form the metal toes. The arms and legs will be the biggest challenge, while the face we're confident can be made from pieces of PVC pipe cut into semi-circles and glued together before painting. A cloak will most certainly be used to great effect. At this point I'm just happy Tex decided to settle for two-armed mode instead of four-armed, but even there I don't want to hold my breath! One thing is for sure, we will probably use all 9 of the months he's allotted us.

In the meantime we have a smaller costuming goal: wings. Tex wanted to dress up as some Transformer from Beast Wars today, and this guy apparently has eagle wings. The closest thing we have in this house is Monkeygirl's pink fairy wings. Definitely not beast-ish. So again we bust out the wire coat hangers, the wire cutters, the last of our stash of brown pleather, and a boatload of craft glue. Tex designed the wings himself, explained it to his poor, old Mother's tired brain over and over until I got it (he finally had to get out the string, cut it, and have us both pretend to be wings connected by the string in the way he wanted before I understood), and consoled me when I completely mucked it up by forgetting to make the wings in mirror images so that the right side of the fabric would face out. He even found the solution: making the wings smaller so that I could cut the correct mirror from one and then trim the other to match.

And lest you think that we're all makeup and show tunes around here, I have more reading progress to report. Tonight at bedtime (historically Tex's worst time for trying to read, and who can blame him after a long day?) I was reading aloud from Watch Out for Jabba the Hutt when out of the blue Tex took over and read a few sentences, without hesitation and with perfect comprehension: "Anakin and R2-D2 fly together in a spaceship," "Yoda is one of the most powerful Jedi. He is small but very strong and wise," and "He is big, bad, and cruel, but his son, Rotta, loves him!" Whew, it's just nice for me as a mom to know that all those crazy letters on the page are starting to make easy sense to him now, and that he's gaining in confidence every time he reads successfully.