My eldest has a way with words. He says the funniest things…that seem so sophisticated for a five year old. He is an avid inquisitor and investigator of all things unexplainable, making him a studious but easily distracted homeschooler. The rule studied today in phonics was: “if there are two consonants preceding a suffix, the vowel is short; if there is one consonant preceding the suffix, the vowel is long.” It’s fascinating for me, as English is my second language and I really never learned any rules for English at all. Caleb is a good kid. He does what I ask, and for the most part, has a great attitude doing it. But phonics can be challenging–row upon row of words to practice reading followed by sentences to use them in. I’m the one that gets impatient at times: “rid-ding, not ri-ding.” It’s not enough for Caleb to just know […]