Progress, sort of

Well, it turns out that the math lessons that involve coloring (basic graphing, for example) slow him down because his fine motor skills are age-appropriate even if his mental skills are ahead. Once he gets used to manipulating the crayon neatly (as opposed to his usual scribbling), we'll probably be off an running again. No biggie, I've figured out how I'm going to handle that and all will be well.

Reading, on the other hand, is a struggle. We're working on blending, which is the hardest part, and he's such a little perfectionist (he got that from me, but I'm undecided yet whether this will be good or bad in the long run) that he hates "getting it wrong" and fusses, whines and cries to avoid having to do a reading lesson. I know once he "gets" blending he'll be fine (until we hit the next part that's hard), but until then every reading lesson leaves me wanting to throw myself head-first into a wall.

My own classes have both started. Once is online, and mostly review for me since I audited this class at Gordon, but the other is a post-calculus mathematics class I've never had before. I'm not too worried about either of them, even though the latter class has a programming course prerequisite (which I don't have - I got an over ride from the professor). Apparently he's unconcerned about my lack of modern programming experience and intended to just sit down with me and write the code for me according to the logic I laid out - in other words his concern was that I understand the concepts and the logic, not the coding. Geek that I am, I'm going to try to learn Java to write my own code, but it's nice to know that he's more than happy to help me if I get stuck. I really should take an actual programming class, since I have other reasons for wanting to learn Java, but I don't have the time right now.

Galen is currently down for his nap, but, as usual, he isn't actually taking a nap. I hate when he does this because that means I'll have a cranky boy by the time daddy gets home. He was, however, a very good boy during my dental appointment (periodic cleaning) - I was so pleased with his behavior I let him pick out a new matchbox car. The best part is he didn't know he would be getting that until afterwards (in part because I made the decision as we were leaving, but I wouldn't have told him ahead of time anyway).