Max is 6!

 He's still as cuddly as ever, so don't worry. I'm not sure he'll outgrow that. I think for his whole life he's going to be one of those people who will give you a hug when you need one.

He seems to have taught himself to read, the decoding part anyway. He still loves being read to, and we are continuing our daily routine of "Max reads 5 books" which means he hears books from each of us and reads to one of us each day. We bought him the new Cat Kid Comic Club for his birthday and also got him a gift card to the bookstore, which he can't wait to use. I'm not sure about his spelling and handwriting. He can write notes and add things to our to do list, but he really balks any sort of writing assignment. I didn't even submit paperwork on him because school is not compulsory until the school year after they turn 6. 

He is definitely the least schooled of any of the kids, so it's kind of interesting to see what skills and learning practices he develops on his own. He's very intuitive about numbers and computation, and works out a lot of problems in his head. He works on Khan Academy on his own sometimes. He is an enthusiastic participant in Poetry Teatime.... reading and sometimes even writing a poem, to share with everyone. He enjoyed his homeschool co-op classes in the fall, and was able to participate appropriately whether they were on zoom or in person.  I don't have any solid assessment data points to know that he is 'on the right track' but I also feel super confident that he's doing fine. Maybe that is just part of the homeschool journey, you start to trust your intuition more?

He loves playing Minecraft with the older kids, pretty much any board game with Marko, riding his bike, hiking and running around in the woods with friends, and cooking. 

His bedtime routine is to take a melatonin gummy, brush his teeth, and listen to a story or snuggle in his bed with either M or me. He's almost always awake by 6:30, and eats a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every day. He has not lost any teeth yet. 

I am such a different kind of parent to him at 6, than I was to Laurel when she was 6. I ponder this a lot, but I wonder how it will turn out in the end.