Do whatever a 3 year old wants! Little guys are such sponges, and they crave your attention more than anything else! Teach very simple addition & subtraction up to 10 using M&Ms, and then make some M&M cookies (if there are any pieces left!). Help with reading simple words in the recipe (like cup or bake, and if you teach the oo sound, spoon & cookie). A bright child (gifted or not doesn't matter) who loves to learn will end up hating to learn if constantly told no and never allowed any challenges. A child who is never challenged will have a meltdown when finally presented with something new for the first time down the road. It doesn't matter how far ahead of the norm you get with a 3 year old, because they're all vastly different at that age. A truly gifted child learns very quickly and will continue to be ahead throughout school. One who is simply bright or above average will eventually slow down a bit and be challenged at a normal level.

You'll have plenty of opportunities to go deeper (like word and reasoning problems that make a kid figure out both the question and the answer rather than just the answer). There are some things that just need to be glanced over a bit and moved on. When something is mastered, either re-think the whole thing to turn it on its head, or move on. Don't dwell on it. With math, especially, things will constantly be reviewed. You don't simply stop adding after 1st grade. You'll still have plenty of addition practice when you get to calculus, too. (Which is why I don't like the idea of fact practice ad nauseum for a child who is conceptually great at math. They'll pick up the facts eventually.)

I remember seeing her on one of those health channels a couple of years ago. Very disturbing.

When putting the focus on handwriting, try not to make it all pencil work. Let him build muscles with play-doh, and build dexterity by treasure hunting (hiding craft jewels in a ball of play-doh) or lego building. Have writing exercises done with crayons, markers, paints, foods (whipped cream), and things like that.

Yes, you should reteach yourself first. With someone that young, it's fun to teach handwriting with something other than pencils or crayons. Use shaving cream on the shower wall, sidewalk chalk outside, a plate full of chocolate pudding, craft/wrapping/butcher paper with finger paint, a cookie sheet full of rice/beans/sprinkles/M&Ms, etc. Use your imagination, but let the primary instrument be a finger or something bulky like chalk.

Are you talking about burning out from too many outside activities and errands, or from the actual academic stuff?

Leapfrog & Starfall! All you need to teach is how to operate the computer and TV... let the reading be self-taught at this age.

As someone else touched on, if you think there's an issue with speech, the first things you need to test are the ears. Go to a pediatric ENT for a thourough test, not to the regular ped for a screening or quick otoscopic peek.

Here's a chart that shows normal language development (including consonant, vowel, and blend sounds) through early elementary. For now, I wouldn't worry a whole lot. Those are sounds that should be mastered by age 6-7, not 2. http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development.shtml

The lack of confidence in your writing is very apparent. It's hard to know what to do when you're afraid of messing up your child for life or wondering if the grammar police will come banging on your door telling you what a horrible mom you are for neglecting your child. Don't worry!!! Seriously!! Some kids really DO learn the basics of math and LA on their own (which is easiest to do in the grammar stage, of course). When they get the basics crammed into their heads (at lightning speed, no less), then you'll be able to hold their hands into the next level of learning. WTM doesn't work on a step by step basis with accelerated learners. If you have a 7 year old who has devoured the grammar information and is begging for logic, go for it. WTM is a suggested guideline, not a rulebook.

(I think the responses so far have been just a tiny bit off topic rather than simply answering the question the original asked.) To the op, my advice is to compromise. Come to an agreement that certain things must be taught and done together, but other things may be done alone. Choose a stack of books, resources, learning aids, websites, etc. that the child can do as much or as little as they want anytime they want, but only after the assignments are done that must be done with you. Children can acquire knowledge very quickly on their own if they're motivated to do so, but it's up to you to teach them how to apply the knowledge they've gained independently.

(Odd to see such an old post bumped back up again...) The "junk" part is that it's not a solid curriculum at all, and there's absolutely nothing "genius" about it. I would expect 9 & 12 year olds to do that using any old curriculum out there (or perhaps no curriculum at all). If it were for geniuses, they wouldn't sell enough to stay in business, and if it could create geniuses (as if that were possible), government-run schools would be buying it so they could compete with the world's nations who are kicking U.S. butt.

Doesn't sound weird to me! :D Welcome to the nut house! I bet probably everyone here has been told to slow down by someone.

You wouldn't need to spend hours a day schooling at age 5, anyway. One hour would be plenty, so doing a different activity each day shouldn't be a stretch at all. If you feel your schedule or your wallet being pushed to the limit, you'll need to scale back, but trying everything at a young age is a great learning experience. By 8-9 years old, you should have a much better idea which activities are the true favorites for everyone involved, and you can scale back to put more focus on academics.

Mine started with Dr. Seuss. They're still favorites for the whole family, actually! ;)

I ditto the GeoPuzzle that was mentioned. There's also a GeoDice game in the same series. For a 5 year old, you could use something like Galloping the Globe or any of those curricula that take you around the world learning about flags, food, cultures, etc. You could also use the Troxel Geography Songs curriculum supplement. My kids loved it... although I STILL have the British Isles song stuck in my head! :tongue_smilie: There are a lot of great online games that are fun, too ... learning about state/world capitals, etc. Keep it fun. There's way more to be learned than what can be done in one year, but a brief intro now will make history more meaningful later.

At 2.5, he should be using all fingers for a pencil grip (which may be a fist for something as small as a crayon). Pushing at this age would do more damage than good. Like anything else, it'll happen on its own. By age 4, he should be holding it more or less correctly, but with thumb + 3 fingers, and by age 6, he should be holding it correctly with thumb +2 fingers. You should begin teaching scissor work now (Kumon has great books for toddlers), but don't expect anything spectacular. He should be able to hold scissors alone by age 3, and be cutting straight lines and very basic shapes by age 4, but you may still need to help, especially with heavy types of paper.

Everyone develops differently, and everyone has their own personality, learning strengths, and so on. You know that, I'm sure. However, generally speaking, girls learn and develop (both physically and cognitively) faster than boys, and firstborns faster than later children. Two children may have exactly the same in-born potential, but they may reach their potentials at different rates. Go with the flow. Plan activities, but don't act on them unless he asks for them. Feeding a child information is sometimes necessary, but allowing a child to learn it on their own teaches many more skills that you simply can't teach TO someone... creativity, problem solving, follow-through, curiosity/drive to learn, etc.

This isn't a book, but you might find it helpful. It's a course that teaches those who don't know Latin, how to teach Latin. http://classicalacademicpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=18

Physical is my favorite, though. :lol:

GenSci definitely isn't necessary, no, but I think it's a great intro since she said she hasn't used textbooks to this point. GenSci reviews a lot of the things that would've been learned in the K-6th Young Explorer series.

Yes, an advanced 5th grader can certainly handle it, and besides, you don't HAVE to require all the writing. Use it however it works best for your situation. (I believe the 1st edition is the one we have... it was gifted to us, so I didn't care which one it was, but I know it's an older edition.)

Think how pretty and relaxing the pool looks as you drive past on a hot day. Then think back to when you were a kid, seeing everyone having so much fun, but knowing you were scared to take the plunge. Reading can be just as intimidating at first. Learning a little bit ... like CVC and a few vowel rules ... is a huge eye-opener to young children. Suddenly, they realize just how much they DON'T know, and especially if she is a perfectionist, she's not going to want to prove she knows something until she's confident within herself that she really does. (My kids used to "forget" things they knew if I was around, but when they thought I wasn't looking, they could read just fine.) Encourage her by giving her things she really WANTS to read, and that have a lot of words from Starfall in them. Push just a little bit, but not so much that she panicks and starts grasping for the side of the pool again.

I like Sequential Spelling, Vocabulary from Classical Roots, and Vocabulary Vine. By the way, you can do Worldly Wise free online, so she can skip around and learn only the words she doesn't already know. http://wordlywise3000.com/ You might also look into something like Vocabulary Cartoons. There's a good chance she doesn't know those words (especially the SAT prep books... perhaps not the younger book, which is for appx 6th grade).

:bigear: Also interested. I don't know of any book sites, but I can usually put a title in Wikipedia to get a pretty good idea of the plot. :confused: