I agree with Pen. There are so many OTHER great books out there. Neither of my kids have read HP yet. The older watched part of the first movie, but wow... he's sensitive. That was too much for him. (Seriously... the kid is THAT sensitive.) My younger is really interested, and I know he'd love the first 3, but I just don't want to get him hooked and then tell him the other books are off limits for a while. I'd rather have him read the whole series later.

My 7 y/o is officially in 2nd, but unofficially in 5th. I allow him to take middle ground on the amount of time and effort necessary to stay on task, and I allow him lots of age-appropriate breaks. I even allow him to use xBox Kinect as a P.E. break. Mostly, he spends around 2.5 to 3 hours a day on "school work" ... more at the beginning of the week, and less as we inch toward Friday. He spends way more than that on extra stuff and independent reading.

I have two boys, three years apart. A 5 year old day for the older looked COMPLETELY different than a 5 year old day for the younger. My older is a very driven kid who (usually) loves school work. He'd work all day long and beg for more. My younger is just as accelerated (or perhaps slightly less so), but he's the type who leap frogs everything. They're quite literally the Tortoise & the Hare! The younger likes to play, play, play, and then he'll decide to "play school" by learning several chapters at once in all subjects over the course of a few hours. After that, he'll play for a couple of more days before doing the same thing again. He's extremely (over the top!) creative and constantly on the go. Both of my boys have a love/hate relationship with IXL. We use it as a tool, but not as our entire curriculum. Sometimes they'll sit in front of it all day doing one skill or ten skills, but usually the focus on other things (like Life of Fred... which they both love!).

1 hour - Math 1 hour - History 1 hour - Language Arts 30 min - Science 30 min - Piano 15/30 min - Bible 30-60 min - Reading 0 to 2342534523434 min - messing around and procrastinating (taking a year off Latin)

That takes a lot of work! They should be proud of their accomplishments! :coolgleamA:

She did our testing, and I've also been to one of her presentations. Both were extremely informative! She's a good speaker (funny, not dry), and while some of what she said was what I'd heard in other speakers' presentations (because I've seen several), some of it was new to me. She knows a lot about giftedness, and although she understands that 2E kids have issues that often mask giftedness, she isn't as familiar with many of the specific 2E issues as I'd hoped during our evaluation process. For giftedness, especially in the highest ranges, she's wonderful, though. I definitely recommend going to listen to her. If you have any specific issues with a 2E situation, look for another type of psychologist/doctor/whatever who deals with that issue. Oh, and for testing, she uses primarily the WISC/WPPSI (depending on age) with the SB as an optional test for those who want additional testing after getting very high scores on WISC. She uses WJ for achievement.

:iagree: Video: Lorax - Let It Die Seriously. Please? :lol:

Definitely spelling! Also work on similar words (homophones, homonyms...) to show that phonics is important, but context and spelling are also important. I teach vocab, spelling, and word roots all at the same time. They're separate subjects, but I just can't help myself. ANYtime we come to a new word that they mispronounce (phonetically correct, actually wrong), or that they don't know, we break it down, learn what it means, and learn how to spell it, right there on the spot. Who says spelling or vocab have to be an arbitrary list of words from a book?

Practice them in a progressively more difficult way. As a simple example, it doesn't make any sense to keep teaching 2+2, but if you're teaching long multiplication, you'll have 2+2 periodically within the problem, so in essence, you're still reviewing 2+2.

Don't worry about gaps. It's easy to go back and pick up a skill here and there if necessary, but continually teaching known concepts is boring and frustrating. I realize not all curricula has this option, but when possible, try pre-testing a section using the final test from that section (or even make up your own test that covers it). Missing a couple of problems is fine, and explaining something simple is fine, but when a child reaches a point where several questions are missed or a lot of explanation is necessary, that's the point where you'll need to go back and teach. That's the challenge level.

We also do a ton of stuff in a prioritized way. Some weeks, we get around to everything, and some weeks, we only get the most important stuff. Either way, I'm happy because my "wants" are there, and they're happy because their "wants" are there (provided they're not screwing around and not getting enough finished to do their wants also).

My boys are like night & day. They're both PG (2E). The oldest slept through the night from 7 weeks, was always on a schedule (his choice) from the time he was born, and always slept about 2 hours less than other babies/toddlers his age. He learned to read just before 2 and gave up naps right around 3. Now that he's older, he does the "uuuugh! 5 more minutes, mom!" in the mornings, but he takes forever to fall asleep at night. We've built him a bookshelf with light to go over his bed so that he can sit and read at bedtime. The youngest didn't sleep through the night until he was nearly 2 years old, and he also gave up naps around 3-ish. He still occasionally naps, but it's a rarity, and usually only happens if he's sick or if he's been go-go-go all day (like summer camp). When they were little, I always insisted that the boys have quiet time in the afternoon ... for MY sake! They had to go to their rooms and read for an hour or so. That's when I got MY nap. LOL!

Well, that took only two seconds to find! :blink:

I'd never heard anything like that before. I'll have to google it to see if I can find news articles or something. Thanks!

I'm not sure what you mean about "support BJU". :huh: Does a portion of the testing fee go to them? I don't know who they are (other than publishing Bible-based curriculum), so I don't have a reason not to support them. We're Christian. Thanks to all of you for the info! I'm still kinda wondering if the WJ would be the best option, given the drastic asynchronization, but it's such a pain to do that. I'll keep pondering the options you've given, though. Thank you!

Hmm.... I didn't know that. (I do have a degree.) Tell me about the tests - do you have to choose a grade level, or are there a range of levels? What about very asynchronous kids? I just registered for an account at BJU, but it won't let me see anything about becoming a test administrator for at least 1 business day. (Weird...) What's the process to becoming an administrator?

I like to test the kids annually around January or so just for my own personal record keeping (not required by the state). Can you recommend something a little better than the DORA/ADAM, but that is cheap, doesn't require any hoop-jumping (at home, without getting myself certified), and has instant or fairly quick results (less than a month)? Something for late elementary through high school that gives you a level or percentile rather than a pass/fail? We've used DORA/ADAM (or... DOMA as it used to be called), and we've used the WJ-III, but I'm looking for something that falls between those two. If I had the time and money, I'd just do the WJ every year. Scheduling it and paying for it are a big challenge, though. :(

I have a couple of gifted kiddos. We knew what to look for with the second child, so we sort of always knew. With the first one, we were always (as someone else mentioned) having to look at the wrong milestone charts... right from the start! We were intrigued when he was a few weeks old, but knew for certain when he taught himself to read before 2. We didn't have him tested until he was 6, but still, we always knew. As for finding the right grade level... picture yourself sitting at the top of a roller coaster. We didn't realize just how far ahead he was when we started out (started K material when he was 3). We flew through this and that and this and that so that he'd jumped a minimum of 2 grade levels in all subjects by the time he was 4. When he was legally able to start K at our local school, he was so far ahead that we continued homeschooling and never looked back. As our roller coaster started back up the next hill, we realized we'd found his challenge level, so that's where we slowed down and began the actual teaching. Like many gifted kids (including my younger son), his learning has always been asynchronous, so we've always met him at his level on each subject, making modifications where necessary (physical and emotional maturity don't match intellectual maturity).

My kids have always been accelerated 3 years in their weakest subjects and several years in their strongest subjects. We live in a state that has no reporting requirements at all (as far as the state is concerned, they don't exist), so I think it would be almost impossible to get caught taking a year off. Like someone stated, it wouldn't be for video games. It would be for independent study, travel, etc. Basically, unschooling. I was just curious if anyone has actually done it and what you thought about it now that you're able to look back. I know they won't be ready for college when they finish a typical 12th grade year (well, the younger might... too soon to tell ... but the older definitely won't), so I've told them we'll probably go to 13th or 14th grade and simply record the last 4 years on their transcripts when I decide I'm ready to let them go.

Has anyone done a gap year pre-high school rather than pre-college? (Possibly calling it "unschooling" if necessary?) Just curious. It's something I've considered, but so far, not seriously.

Do you know the author? Is there more coming? As someone said, it's not helpful, only informative ... offering information that gifted parents already know all too well. Looks like the site is brand-spankin' new and doesn't even have an about page yet.

I prefer Apologia. It's Christian, so I don't know if that's an issue for you. The astronomy book is by far my favorite from the elementary series.

We did Latin for Children from Classical Academic Press and loved it! The DVD does all of the teacher instruction like you'd get in a classroom setting, the primer book is the textbook, workbook, and quizzes combined, the answer key is just answers, the activity book is optional and contains additional practice if necessary (crosswords, etc.), the audio CDs (in the same box as the DVDs) reinforce the vocabulary, conjugations, etc., the history readers are supplemental to help expand vocabulary and knowledge of ancient Rome, and the free Headventureland site is a fun way to reinforce learning or go back to brush up on previous chapters. It has videos and games, as well as a few printables. There is something for all learning types, so you don't have to feel overwhelmed thinking you need every piece. Use what works for you.

I prefer IXL. Why? (1) It doesn't limit what level you're able to use (you can practice multiplication in 3rd and subtraction in 1st... the computer doesn't flag you or anything). (2) It gives kids cute little rewards for various achievements (I don't care, but my kids seem to love this). (3) It gives you parent reports to let you know what your kids are working on without you having to watch them to see what they're doing. (4) A lot of people complain that it's not a teaching too, but a drilling one ... however ... I like this, because rather than using a teach first, drill second method, it just starts drilling. If you're right, you can fly right through it and move on. If you're wrong, it'll pause between problems to explain why you're wrong. It helps kids self-teach and self-correct, which is a skill that most math programs severely lack. IXL isn’t meant to be a full curriculum, but it’s wonderful for working on skills that either need more attention or that were not included in a particular publisher’s scope & sequence. We don’t use IXL a whole lot, but it’s something we do during breaks or when we’re working through something and hit a wall.

Welcome!! We've been a part of the program for a while (year or so?), but only recently (past couple of weeks) have we starting finding kids in our area to get together with. I think the older my kids get, the more we'll get out of the program ... but then that's true for a lot of things, I suppose?