Abstraction in The Slamdunk Homeschool

My wonderful 3-year-old is beginning to scare me. No, he's not a sociopath or psychopath. He's freaking smart! He's making connections that I don't expect from 9-year olds, much less 3-year-olds!

Definitions first.

Abstraction:

     The quality of dealing with ideas rather than events.

Abstract thinking:

     Abstract thinking is a level of thinking about things that is removed from the facts of the “here        and now”, and from specific examples of the things or concepts being thought about.

Here is an example of an abstract connection:

My father and I were discussing to possibility of water at the center the moon. I immediately jumped to: "That would explain why it's lopsided."

We were not discussing size or shape, but the abstract thought of size and shape came up under the theoretical discussion.

The reason why middle schoolers are so much fun is because they are just beginning the journey into abstract thought. I love seeing the connections happen for middle-schoolers. They become infinitely more interesting with this development in their ability to cogitate.

What does this have to do with a 3-year-old?

Me, zipping up my son's coat There you are, Leif. Ready to go.

Leif: I am Leif, and I am Bubby.

What I can't show you and what I am going to feebly attempt to explain was the light that went off in his head just after I said his name. It was just a split second and I would have missed it if I didn't have a habit of making eye contact with my children when I talk to them. It wasn't a recognition of name versus nickname, it was a statement of being. I am this and I am that and they are the same but they are different. I've worked through this so many times and I just can't explain it correctly except to say, trust me, this was an abstract thought.

This is just a single small example of an abstract connection my son is making. He's doing it more often now. Nearly everyday, sometimes more than once, he has a thought that he shares that is a bit beyond his developmental stage. It's a little scary, and recently he told me that he wanted me to teach him how to spell. He's doing it too, with his mouth, with his hands (ASL), and writing (with help, he isn't that developed in his fine motor skills).

He's going to be reading soon, I have a feeling he will be a reader before he is a kindergartner.

And honestly, I am scared. How am I going to keep up with him? How will I keep him interested in school when he learns so freaking fast. And how am I going to make sure Coral doesn't develop a complex about the competition that will inevitably form between her and her brother.

I'll be doing a lot of reading to prepare for Leif, and to help Coral be who she is without feel deficient because she isn't like her brother. Suggestions, anyone?

The face of my love and my fear.

Slam Dunk Theory of Chaos: Why I am thankful for forks

I grew up in a house full of messies. I have two brothers and a sister and she was the only exception in our family of six. She is a clean freak sometimes, but at least she doesn't take out her obsession on the rest of us. When we go visit, she stays out of the guest rooms and spends her visiting time wiping down the countertops or vacuuming. 

On my own, I'm relatively neat, easily keeping up with the housework of one. That's why I know I am capable of living in a clean house. Keeping up with the cleanliness of the house with two is more difficult, but a task I could manage. I don't like cleaning up after other people, but I can do it as long as the other person reciprocates. After Coral was born, my ability to keep up with the chores began to decline. Thus my theory of chaos began to evolve:

One child is capable of a single child's amount of chaos. I'll denote that with X, so 1= X. Two children together are capable of X and their combined X as well, 2= 3X + 3X = 6X. Three children together are capable of their own X, the combined X of a pair of children twice and the combined X of all three of them twice, 3= 12X + 12X + 12X = 36X. Four children is the level of chaos I grew up in: 4 = 156X. 

Here's a pictograph of it:

Or, if you like,

That's after two days of being sick. 

I'll get the floor swept and mopped and all back to clean, but it never ends with kids. Two days of sick and I'm looking at two days of clean up! 

In an effort to keep my sanity, I've decided that my house does not need to be super clean like my sister's, just clean enough that my husband can get around in his wheelchair. My shelving is cluttered, but I know where everything is, my drawers aren't full of neatly folded clothes, but they're in there, and my sink often has dirty dishes in it, but I try to keep that under control too. My problem with dishes is that my dishwasher has to take sick days (like the last two) and can't wash dishes while I'm teaching or showering or sleeping or basically anything I do that isn't dishes. The other thing about that is I despise washing the dishes. It's another never ending job that has to be done at least three times a day if I am to keep up. In an effort to fix my attitude about dishes, I've begun to meditate on thankfulness while washing. For every lousy fork and skinny glass I need a special tool to clean, I thank God. I make it a point to say in my head, "I'm thankful for this fork. I've gotten many good years of use out of it and without it and others like it, I'd be eating with my hands."

It's a useful tool for me because it fosters thankfulness in myself and helps me to teach my children to be thankful too. Basically, my chaos leads to my thankfulness and hopefully a lifetime of thankfulness in my children too.