Short story: How much time, max, would you allow a two-and-a-half-year-old to spend in an organized sport per week? (Allowing that the child loves it, and begs constantly for it?) Long story (if anyone is interested): A month ago, upon moving to the northwest, I signed my daughter up for a kiddie gymnastics class to meet some new friends in this little retirement town and have a physical outlet during the rainy winter when we can't go to the park. She's two and a half. If it weren't for the recent move, I probably wouldn't have even considered signing her up for an actual sport at this age. I'm not all that big on littles in structured activities outside the home. But, 45min per week is not exactly a big deal, right? When I first talked to the coach, he suggested the toddler Mommy and Me class, but since I couldn't do that with the baby sister, he said we could try out the starting 3 to 5 year old class. Now, a month later, he keeps asking me to bring her at different times, and seems to be seriously considering asking to put her into two or three different classes, totaling three or four hours per week! Two of those hours would be with girls about two to five years older than her, in the class one step below pre-competition team! On the one hand, I am totally taken aback. I have never thought that filling up a little kid's days with structured activities was a good plan. And I never thought of any of my kids competing in anything before at least preteen age, which is obviously where this road leads. I know basically nothing about gymnastics, but have vague ideas from somewhere about agressive, pushy moms and little girls with too much pressure. And I don't want what was supposed to be a nice social and physical outlet to take over our lives. But, of course I am pleased to discover that she has a talent which she loves. She begs every day to go to the gym. I have been pretty impressed at some of the stuff she has already done in this month alone, and even more so with the difference in the past month in her following directions and the confidence and self discipline she exhibits in class. She is more focused in the class with the bigger girls, gets a little distracted in the other. If she is the one motivating it, and has a love for it, would it be wrong of me to hold her back from doing what she loves? And, after all, it might be nice to have an outlet for that boundless energy more than once a week during the long, wet winter Thanks. I haven't brought this up to any of my friends IRL for fear they would think I was just trying to brag.

Thank you all for the suggestions! I'll be looking these up at the library. She just seems drawn to that style right now. She went through a phase a few months ago where she wanted Horton, Lorax, Yertle, Sneetches, and Places You'll Go constantly, but now she's fascinated by long, realistic picture books.

Does anyone have suggestions for me for realistically illustrated, long picture books with more text per page? Along the lines of One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey? (She also enjoys his Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings, but lately just loves Morning in Maine which is more text-heavy, with a little more complicated plot.) Other recent hits include Monarch Butterfly of Aster Way (Smithsonian Backyard Series) and Hans Brinker. Thanks

Thanks, we're doing all of these things now. Plus, she will 'read' to me sometimes by reciting books she knows by heart--unfortunately she's not content with that, but I think I'd better wait until she figures out blending just the same. I remember seeing someone here saying that they used OPGTR as a reference for mom, and then did the lessons a little at a time in sidewalk chalk and fun things like that. I thought about trying that with her, but once the letter sounds are learned, the rest of the lessons would probably require comprehension of blending, right? I want to teach what she wants to learn, but at the same time I don't want to frustrate her if she's just not developmentally ready to get it, yet.

When my kids first started coloring, I just put the crayon in their hand the right way each time I gave it to them. Number 2 is taking longer to get the hang of it than Number 1 did.

Oh, sorry, I missed those threads.

Just found this linked on another website. A fascinating read. . . http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf I thought of Bill many times. But it leaves me asking the question, how could I possibly provide an understanding like that to my children when I don't understand it myself? I knew that I wanted a curriculum that taught the whys of math, which I never learned, but this goes so far beyond that.

Thanks. My daughter loves Hi-ho Cherry-o and Candyland and begs to play them all the time--but then halfway through the game her attention is spent and the gingerbread men go skipping across the board hand-in-hand, or she starts baking cherry pie.

I am LDS, too. I am 25 now, and have been married for five years. We actually waited until after my birthday, so my husband wouldn't be marrying a teenager--he was 25 at the time. We have a wonderful marriage. I have heard so many people express the opinion that marrying young is a bad idea and will likely end in divorce. (For that matter, I've frequently heard the same opinion about chastity and not living together before marriage.) And yet, I read a study where the researchers expected this outcome but were surprised to find that the opposite was true--while there was a very high rate of divorce among young people who married early and were unchaste before marriage (presumably many of these marriages might have been on the heels of a pregnancy), the couples who were married between 19 and 24 and were chaste before marriage actually had the lowest divorce rate of all groups. I wish I had that reference available. This has been borne out in my personal experience, as well. My parents taught my siblings and I to work around the house, and outside the house as we were old enough. We were taught the value of work and thrift, and regaled with stories from the lean times early on in their marriage. It is quite normal, in my family, to marry in college and complete undergraduate and graduate degrees while starting a family at the same time. My parents were the model of a good marriage. When they had a disagreement, they would go into their room and talk together to resolve it. My father always treated my mother with the utmost love and respect, and would allow no less from us. I can remember many times my mother saying to me, "Your father is such a wonderful man. You want to marry a man who ____ like him." When we were doing our family scripture study, I can recall my mom stopping us just before reading a passage describing some righteous and courageous young men (Alma 53:20-21), and saying, "Now listen carefully. Girls, this is who you want to marry. Boys, this is who you want to be." These discussions of what you wanted to ultimately become and who you wanted to spend forever with were a frequent part of life. I would have no qualms about my children marrying around 20, so long as they were being wise in their decision making. I would, however, be anxious about a child marrying without ever having lived on their own before--I think that one should experience living without a parent to lean on before they shoulder the shared weight of a marriage to uphold.

Are the games in Happy Phonics pretty short, and do they involve moving around? She loves to play games.

Thanks, everyone. I always planned on teaching my kids to read whenever they wanted to learn; I just didn't expect it this soon. I hate to refuse to teach her when she's wanting to learn, but maybe we can just continue to do starfall together and talk about letters and words when she asks me until she gets blending.

Do you mean an exercise from Phonics Pathways, or did you just write something down and ask her if she could sound it out?

I didn't want to hijack the other thread, but I have a related question. My daughter is two, and she desperately wants to read. She knows all her letter sounds, and she's okay at identifying starting letters from a word she hears. The problem is that she has a two-year-old's attention span, and she is very high energy. I have been considering getting something to work through with her, but I am hesitating because she is so little. Should I just wait until she's older, or at least until she gets blending on her own? Do you have any suggestions for something to teach a little one in very small bites? Some writing is actually okay, as she has unusually good fine motor skills--I was surprised to catch her writing letters all over my bills the other day.

Definitely FIAR, for a four year old. I've done some of Before FIAR with my two-year-old, and most of it was right at her level.

I don't have any experience, but a lot of this sounds familiar to some other threads I have read on here. You might try looking up twice exceptional (often shortened to 2E) and overexcitabilities (OEs) on the accelerated board and see if this sounds like your son.

Thank you, all.

I clean mine after every time I use it. It is a hassle, which is why I try to do several batches worth of flour each time, and then I measure it into freezer bags and freeze it, so I only have to grind once every month or so. The flour will not spoil if it isn't frozen, but it will maintain it's nutrients better if it is. ETA: I didn't clean it every time when I first started, but then one time I found there were bugs inside my machine when I went to use it.

Thank you for your advice, 8FillTheHeart. I appreciate your more experienced perspective. I suppose I should just try not to worry about crossing that bridge until we actually come to it.

We are doing similar things, lots of reading and playing and coloring, plus talking about beginning phonics and numbers when she asks me. I didn't mean that we are accelerating now, just that I see the likelihood once we do start formal academics later on, and I like to plan ahead. Not at all, my first daughter doesn't look like being nearly as advanced as lots of kids here, and the second is too young to know. It is all theory at this point, and wanting to get onto the same page together in our goals and intentions for their education. Maybe I should just let it lie for now . . . I was thinking in terms of, 'Well it took me a year to convince him we should try homeschooling. If it takes that long to settle on something like this, I would want that resolved before we start.' But, honestly, this isn't such a black-and-white decision as enrolling a kid in school or not, so I guess it doesn't need to be decided in advance. That goes against my tendency to plan out everything in advance, but I guess I should just try to let go.

I wasn't planning on definitely accelerating them, but rather I have considering it as a possibility based on our family history. I was talking about educational philosophies with my husband and was surprised to find that he is against acceleration in general, and not based on the individual student.

Wow, that article was fascinating! Thank you.

The daily work of their education will fall mostly to me, and I plan to allow my kids to work at whatever level and pace is the best fit for them individually. But I was surprised to hear how strongly he argued against it, and am concerned he would oppose my accelerating their education. I am a major planner, and would rather try to convince him now than wait until it becomes an issue. This is it exactly. One of my two primary reasons for homeschooling is that school was so frustratingly boring for me, while it could have been so wonderful. I want better for my kids.

Hm, I should make sure he didn't think I meant more work, just more challenging. Thanks, boscopup. Thanks for the quote, wapiti. I'm going to have to look at that website in more detail.

Does anyone have suggestions for how I can convince my husband that challenging the kids academically is important? Any books, or examples, or different ways to explain the need for them to experience that? We had a very long talk the other night about my plans for their education, and he and I have very different views on what to do with a quick learner. He insists that they should just have the same work, and if they get it done very quickly because it is very easy for them, well then that's their reward for being smart. He insists that making them do something harder than an average kid would be doing at the same age would be like punishing them for their intelligence. I personally think that making a kid waste time doing work that is below their level would be more of a punishment. I can see our differences in attitude reflected in our own school experiences--I hated being held back to the slower pace and think it was a huge waste of my time, whereas he loved never having to put forth any effort in school. You would think his rude awakening in law school would have shown him the error of that way.

I'm so jealous. . . I guess I'll just have to wait another couple of years for my turn.