I am looking for a bit of advice on how to help my DS with all the things he is wanting to learn. He is 4 in a couple of months.

About a month ago DS decided he could write his name. It obviously wasn't perfect but a good attempt. Now he will write anything I spell out for him (makes writing the shopping list p.a.i.n.f.u.l.l.y slow!). Because he has suddenly became interested in words, he is sounding out everything he hears, telling me what letters things start with etc. I got some phonic readers books which we started reading at bedtime about 2.5 weeks ago. So he has probably read each book 3-4 times. If I pick the rhyme/repeat words he can tell me what it says, as well as some of the little words like the, on etc. I wasn't sure if it was just from memory, so yesterday I wrote out about 12 of the heavily repeated words onto strips of paper and he can actually either read them straight away or sound them out easily. I only picked words from a few of the books, so I assume that he can now recognise around 40-50 words.

Maths-wise, he has always been good at word equations but now he has started adding and subtracting straight numbers using his fingers. He is also asking me what x lots of x are - basic times tables?! I have never done any maths beyond basic counting because I don't know what to do. Any suggestions for teaching basic maths?

Is this sort of stuff normal at this age? It seems like he is learning things very quickly, but then he always has. This is on top of the current obsession about space/volcanos (his one track dedication to his current topic of interest even impresses his kindy teachers!).

Is there anything I should be doing beyond reading with him and answering his questions? Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with him!