Oh good! It sounds like the student guide would be great. I'll also check out anything our library has from DK or Usborne that might apply. Thanks!

It looks like the supplement books for US Edition is Intensive Practice and the supplement for Standards is Extra Practice? I'm wanting something more intense for ds and we're using Standards Edition. Should I get the "Intensive Practice" or "Extra Practice"? (I'm not wanting more problem similar to what is already in the workbook. I'd like something with more challenge. Maybe the words "extra practice" is throwing me off. Is it more of the same or does it increase the difficulty?)

I don't have the WWE IG, just the WWE Workbook1. The workbook contains the scripted lessons in the front and student pages in the back. We're doing one lesson of WWE and one of FLL every day. We sometimes do the copy work in FLL and sometimes not. (Writing can be a real chore for ds.) Sometimes we skip a lesson in FLL or gloss over it if it's something ds has already mastered. I think the books are planned for a slower pace because we are going through them very quickly. We'll be slowing down in August as we settle into a new schedule and add subjects, so I think we'll alternate FLL one day and WWE the next. I love how beautifully the two work together. They reinforce lessons in the other without repeating the same material. For example, when the WWE points out that a word is capitalized because it's a proper noun (something already covered in detail in FLL), ds felt such a sense of accomplishment that he already knew that--and it cemented the concept in his mind.:)

I'm planning an electricity unit later this year and want to use snap circuits. My understanding is that they come with an instruction manual for directions to creating various projects. (If that's not accurate, please correct me!) What did you use to go along with these? Living books? I'm looking for some kind of spine to give a basic knowledge of electricity. My own knowledge is seriously lacking. (Around 4th grade level seems to be right for him with science and reading.) Any suggestions??

I'm wanting to give a book to a friend just as a gift for no particular reason. She's a homeschooling mother and a Christian, and I thought it would be nice to send her something encouraging along those lines. Any book suggestions??

:bigear: I'm trying to decide between FLL3 or GWG after we finish FLL1/2. I'm interested in how others would compare these too. :bigear:

We've been doing 2 lessons per day and skipping lessons when the repetition is just too much for ds to bear. If you think of it as a flexible program, it should work just fine.

I wanted to share my experience with my ds. He hated listening to audio books which I used to try to play while he was doing art projects. Recently we started listening to them in the car, and he loves it. I guess it helps having nothing else to do, but he consistently asks me to start the audio book as soon as the car is turned on. If you haven't tried it in the car, it might be worth trying some fun chapter books in the car. My ds particularly likes E.B. White, Winnie the Pooh, and Boxcar Children.

I have my eye on Christian Heros Then & Now. It might be a nice fit for you.

What about her brother's studies are tantalizing her? Is it writing? You could do some handwriting pages. (I'm not sure what is in LOTW so maybe this would be a repeat of what you've already done.)

It's not really an experiment, but here's a neat activity. We're doing the human body right now and are using My Body by Patty Carratello. We traced ds's body on posterboard, and the book has reproducibles that are colored, cut out, and pasted on the body. Ds LOVES it, and he gets to see how everything fits together in the body cavity. It's a nice little activity that doesn't really take teacher time.

We had a very early reader too, and I understand how difficult it can be to find something that is both academically and developmentally appropriate. My son absolutely adores non-fiction, such as science encyclopedias. Some of My Best Friends Are Books is a book written exactly for parents of children like this, and it has great suggestions for fiction. You might want to see whether your local library has it.

The tester we plan to use is $1500. For us, this will include a thorough assessment, not just test results. It includes interviews with family members, achievement test, IQ test, and any psychiatric diagnosis that might apply. If you just want achievement testing, I would think you might be able to find someone competent who would do it for less.

Thank you both! I think I'll probably skip the Bible supplement. We already have some great Bible materials, and I don't want to crowd them out with other things or replace them. I had been thinking about replacing them, but I really am pleased with what we are doing now. I appreciate the feedback!

I've been reading the thread about FIAR, and I've decided to try this program for my youngest when he's ready for it. When I went to the FIAR website, I couldn't see any samples of the Bible Supplement. Can anyone give a review on it? TIA!

I've been reading and reading threads about Spanish programs, and I thought we would give this a try. (The price is right!:D) I'm having some problems though. I clicked here and did a search for "Salsa Spanish". I see some episodes showing up. I think the earliest number that comes up is episode 103. Are there earlier episodes? Secondly, when I click the play button, I get a message that the internet is searching for updates for Real Player. After the search, there's a pop-up message saying something about there not being any update that will support the content. I'm very techology-challenged! What am I doing wrong?:confused:

Are you looking for something they can do independently? I chose Explorer Bible Study for this year because everything else I have is teacher intensive. I also have Apologia's Who Is God, which I absolutely love, but I think ds will get more out of it when he's older so we're waiting on that. I also have Bible Study Guide for All Ages and like it, but it's also teacher-intensive (at least it would be the way I would implement it). The nice thing about BSGFAA is that it really can work for a variety of ages.

I do hear the words in my head, but I've always considered this a liability. My sister always loved to read and read incredibly quickly. It still takes me forever to plod my way through a book. I could read more quickly if I didn't need to "say" the words in my head, but I've never figured out how to read like that.

You can do it! Really, you can! Just take it one day at a time. :grouphug: Your post reminded me a lot of my oldest whose internal motivation to learn is extreme. I've finally learned that his behavior is soooo much better when he's being challenged intellectually. I think he needs intellectual stimulation like he needs food and water. One of my gauges for his level of challenge is how crazy his behavior is. When things get out of hand and I make changes to give him more challenge, he settles down again. I know you are re-arranging your life to do what is best for your child, and I applaud you for that! Once you get in a "groove" with homeschooling, you may be surprised to find that things actually get easier rather than more exasperating.

I've been reading and reading threads about Spanish programs and finally decided to start my own. :D Ds is definitely a visual learner. If he sees something written down, he learns very quickly. When he only hears something, it takes about 10 times as many repetitions to learn and he often mis-hears (or just mispronounces) new vocabulary. He hates anything with a lot of writing, so we'll be learning orally but would like to have some written materials for him to look at. He's in first grade and highly motivated to learn Spanish (I had planned to start Latin but he's been asking for Spanish, so I think plans are changing.;)) I'm looking for something fun. I took Spanish in high school eons ago but am interested in learning with him so we can practice together. So, after my long-winded description, what suggestions do you have for us?

I suppose the academic skills might be similar. While every gifted child is unique, there are definite trends in terms of personality and other issues they face--level of sensitivity, social fit, perfectionism, INTENSITY of amazing proportions, etc. There are issues we face with ds that really parallel issues of children with special needs.

There is a definite difference between a child being academically advanced because of "enrichment" or being gifted. Highly gifted children sometimes achieve incredible things academically with no instruction at all. When the public school tested my ds, they told me that they had never encountered a child with an IQ that high. They had no idea what to do with him and were surprisingly candid about it. The gifted program at the school would not have come close to meeting his needs. If he was not highly gifted, we would not be a homeschooling family. Faced with the choices of a school for highly gifted with a tuition of $11K/year and 2 hrs commuting every day or having a totally inappropriate setting for him (the gifted program at pub school) or homeschooling, there really wasn't much of a choice to be made. A few years ago, I would have laughed if someone had told me that I would decide to homeschool, but it's amazing what paths we can find ourselves on as parents trying to do what's best for our kids.

Yes! I'm planning to make this an official homeschool subject in the fall. (But then I adore structure, so this approach may not be for everyone.) I got this book from the library and ended up buying it. It gives practical and fun ideas for things your kids needs to learn from household chores, budgeting, safety, communication skills, etc. I made a list of things to teach both the boys this coming year and we'll take them one at a time. It won't take more than a few minutes/day and will be so valuable. I can't wait to get started with it!

We have a couple of them that we use as an art supplement. (Our main program right now is "How to Teach Art to Children" by Evan Moor.) Ds really enjoys having a completed drawing that is what he considers to be a success. (He is fairly frustrated with his fine motor skills.) We don't use the handwriting portion because he does WWE, and I don't want to overload him with writing.

Kristine, what you are describing sounds similar to what I've had happen. It acts like it's an anti-virus software, but it's a scam. The problem is that I can't even cancel it without it starting to download infected junk on my machine. It's not a simple scan-and-clean thing like other viruses I've had. It takes dh considerable time to track down all the codes and delete them. Such a pain! Thanks for mentioning edhelper! I am going there now to check it out . . .