He finished the first reader and has moved into the second. His latest favorite books have been Charlotte's Web and James and the Giant Peach. He is also working his way through our entire science-related non-fiction collection. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when he finishes all those. He loves math and science and usually participates in both his and Katie's weekly science experiments. It's fun to listen to him as he thinks through problems or asks a question and then begins to work out the answer himself.
A recent math project: Joseph made a graph showing the number of children in families we know.
He starts soccer practice this week, and his first game is on Saturday. He played soccer last spring, too, and is looking forward to it, although not as much as the baseball season in May and June. He was tired of gymnastics--it's tough to be the only boy in the class--so the beginning of soccer season is a blessing in that regard.
He is rapidly working his way through all the left hand parts of the songs in Suzuki Book 1. He is almost finished with the 100 perfect times of French Children's Song. Even though our piano teacher here had not heard of this activity, Katie found it so valuable that we decided to do it with Joseph, too, and the teacher is very supportive of our endeavor.
We have started to play piano recitals at a local nursing home. Every month, the Catholic women's group takes small gifts and cupcakes or cake to the nursing home. At one home, the patients are bedridden, so a recital is not practical, but at the other, there is a piano in the main room where we go to visit. So Joseph, along with Katie and a few other children from the parish, has the chance for a small piano recital and to "visit the sick and imprisoned" every couple of months. The residents and nursing home staff are very supportive and appreciative of the children's playing, even when the songs are very simple. Last month, one resident teared up, she was so moved by hearing the "Ode to Joy" played by one of the children.
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