Very Interesting

I was killing time on youtube last week and happened upon these videos.  It's about how education (or the lack of) is handled in Sweden during the early years.  Basically it's all play with no emphasis on formal learning (like reading) until they begin school at age 7.  And within a few years the Swedish have higher reading skills than other countries.

There's quite a few in the homeschooling world that agree with this stance and I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it before.  I do believe too much is pushed too early, but the thought of doing nothing before age 7 just feels so odd to those raised with preschool and such starting at age 3 or 4.

When we began kindergarten John was not ready to learn to read, that was very apparent when I began working with him (at age 5.)  I decided not to push it and did absolutely no phonics work with him throughout kindergarten.  When we started 1st grade I pulled out the kindergarten box and he progressed through it wonderfully.  Bella did the kindergarten level all through last year.  Now halfway through 1st grade John has almost completely caught up with Bella.  He is a year younger than her but has done a year and a half worth of work in half a year.  And honestly Bella's a faster learner than him. 

I'm definitely rethinking how I want to do things with Phoebe and Hazel.