I'm kind of worried about where my first grader is, and I'm hoping some of you will be kind enough to share what level your kids are at. Like, what kind of math problems can they solve, how is their handwriting, what is their reading level, what do their narrations sound like? TIA.

Oh, I'm sorry, I misread. And it's ridiculous that they won't even consider putting her in K. I don't think that's appropriate for all 4yos who are gifted readers, either, though. I mean, I think maturity level is a more important factor than academic readiness, at that age. A kid who couldn't read but who could sit still would do MUCH better in K than my own 4yo.

Oh, and it is very easy for me to imagine reasons why a 4yo reading at a 2nd-grade level shouldn't be in a 2nd-grade classroom. I have a 4yo who is reading at probably an 8th-grade level, who just gave up his pacifier last week and who has had no success at all in potty training. He still throws tantrums and shrieks at the top of his lungs if another kid makes him mad, and he BITES. He won't sit still for a lesson if he'd rather play, either. Now, if you have a 4yo who is fully potty trained, and can handle sitting still, and shares nicely with other kids, and no longer needs naps or to carry a blankie or stuffed animal around, and can stand in line and follow instructions, AND who is ready for history and science and math lessons at a 2nd-grade level, then absolutely, she should be in 2nd grade. Otherwise, no.

I think it's simplistic and not really accurate, but it IS good to remember that early reading isn't the be-all and end-all of giftedness. I have a 6.5yo who can explain what infinity is and do math with negative numbers, who can narrate back to me his SOTW chapter or a science lesson with great comprehension, but who still struggles with sounding out words like "did" and "had." And I have a hyperlexic, probably autistic 4yo who taught himself to read at 2, who could easily read this post over my shoulder if he were standing here (he might stumble a bit over "hyperlexic" and "comprehension"), but who doesn't really understand what time is, or how his relatives are related to him, or the difference between girls and boys. He certainly doesn't get the idea of history. It's not as simple as "early reading = gifted." Sometimes early reading comes at a deficit of other skills. Sometimes really bright kids struggle with reading. I used to be a big promoter of the idea that all kids were ready to read at 3 if you just taught them, and then I had a kid who *wasn't*. And he wasn't at 4, either, or at 5 (and yes, I was trying to teach him!). Now at 6 he's finally starting to get it, and I'm OK with that. I don't think it means he's not gifted or that I've done something wrong.

So, we started school last week, and I planned to do the WTM-recommended "one animal a week" plan using the Kingfisher encyclopedia. We read about one animal, I forget which one, and did a narration, and he drew a picture, and then he was like, "OK! Let's do the next animal!" and raced on to another one. I just went with it and he's done two different animals a day, just about every day, so far. I'm just wondering if anyone out there really does manage to do just one animal a week, and if so, how do you keep their interest? What do you do? How do you fill more than 15 minutes talking about tarantulas?

We went to the library and checked out a few books including this one. Holy cow! This book is amazing. We are buying one immediately. If I could go back in time I'd have started history with the dinosaurs and gone forward to people, but oh well. We're doing Egypt in history this week and dinosaurs in science, and we talk about the overall timeline a lot. Thanks to everyone for the recommendations!

We just started SOTW 1 with my 6yo this week, and I realized that it doesn't really cover the prehistoric era as much as I would like. Does anyone have any suggestions for supplemental resources to discuss the Ice Age, Neanderthals, cave paintings, etc.? My son is interested in this stuff and I think we could take a couple weeks to cover it instead of going straight to ancient Egypt. We are secular homeschoolers, just fyi.

I should also mention he has severe ADHD. But I guess I covered that with short attention span. :) I had heard a lot about Singapore but not much about Miquon. Looking into it, Miquon seems right up his alley. Do you think it needs to be combined with something like Singapore, or can it stand alone? I'm trying not to spend extra time drilling on math skills that come easily to him, because it's reading he's really struggling with and I want to focus on that.

I haven't done any formal math with my son this year for kindergarten, because he really hasn't needed it. Just from playing math games on the computer, watching his video game scores (heh) and talking about it, he is pretty comfortable with numbers up to a million or so, basic addition and subtraction, the concept of fractions, negative numbers, and other stuff that's not coming to mind. What he doesn't have is the patience to sit through something he finds boring. :glare: I know a lot of math textbooks are geared toward kids who find math hard, which is totally understandable! But I don't know if those books would work well for him. My mom, who is an elementary math teacher, loves teaching with Saxon Math, but doesn't think it is a good fit for kids like my son. Any suggestions?

Yes, but if you copy the activity, it will automatically fill it in for the days of the week you want, for as long as you want! You could schedule your dishes for a year in advance! :lol: Can you tell I like making plans better than actually doing things?

I hadn't thought of recipes, that sounds awesome. I was thinking I could use it as a general calendar, too. Like, put doctor's appointments and things on it.

My mom has a co-worker who had to stop taking Ambien because she was watching QVC and buying random things in the middle of the night. One time she bought a colon cleanse program. :lol: She left detailed notes to herself about what she ordered, too.

I just downloaded the free version of Homeschool Tracker and it just occurred to me that, with the way all the fields are customizable, I could use it to plan my own days too. Like: Subject: Housework Activity: Dishes Resource: Dishwasher Time Spent: 15 min. I like this idea. I might even give myself points. :lol:

I forgot to address this, this is a really good point. I try to stress to Corbin frequently that he is good at a lot of things (telling stories, understanding stories, drawing pictures, etc) and that Simon has a "special reading power" which makes reading extra-easy for him, but that he doesn't understand everything he can read. I like the idea of giving them different official grade levels, too. Simon may want to "practice" doing first-grade work for fun, but he is still a preschooler and he doesn't have to do the same work or understand the same things. (I can't imagine him understanding ancient history ... or even the IDEA of history .... for several years yet.) (Simon is currently holding up a Cheetos puff to me and examining it. "This an object with zero corners! That mean it has curves! How many sides it have? A round object have circles all over the place." My kids are weird, man.)

Well, this is the thing that makes him very ... Simon. :glare: We gave him his own laptop a year ago so he would stop trying to steal ours, and I set him up with some links to educational games and videos. He started surfing YouTube on his own, and I would walk by and notice him watching, like, a college-level math lecture video. Of course he doesn't really understand it, but this is what he chooses to do for entertainment. :lol: So, I'm expecting that next year if I try to sit down and do "lessons" with Corbin while distracting Simon with toys and games, Simon will insist on sitting at the table and doing "lessons" of his own. And I'm trying to figure out how to navigate that (maybe with workbooks for Simon that he will enjoy?). I mean, this is a kid who gets MAD if I ask his brother to write a word but tell him he doesn't have to. "I WRITE IT TOO! WHERE MY NOTEBOOK? I NEED A PENCIL!" :tongue_smilie:

I spent most of this year doing mostly unstructured kindergarten with the plan of doing WTM for first grade, for my oldest. He struggles a lot with reading and has only recently figured out how to sound out very simple words (he turned 6 in March). One of the difficulties we have is that his younger brother, who almost certainly has Asperger's, is hyperlexic and basically taught himself to read when he was 2. He was reading ahead of his talking skills, which is a typical autism-spectrum thing. (He hasn't been formally diagnosed, but has seen several experts through EI who said he probably could be if we choose to.) So, the 6yo is sitting here struggling with "The hat is red" while the nearly-4yo might wander by, glance over his shoulder, and read "Chapter 1. Beginning reading. Short letter sounds. The hat is red." The 6yo, who has been diagnosed with severe ADHD, already has a very hard time sitting still and concentrating on anything, understandably doesn't like this, and doesn't like having to struggle with reading when he could just ask his little brother for the answer. :001_huh: Meanwhile, the younger is socially immature for his age and struggles to grasp simple abstract concepts, and still throws tantrums like a 2-year-old. I read aloud the first chapter of SOTW today (because the 6yo saw me reading it and wanted to hear it) and his younger brother, who could have read it out loud himself if he chose to, decided he didn't like it and started screaming, hitting me, throwing things at me, and screaming "STOP READING! STOP READING!" :001_huh: I am not sure whether to try to integrate the two of them next year and do 1st grade for both of them, or treat the 4yo as a normal preschooler and try to distract him with coloring books and so on while we do real school. (Math is also hard: younger brother memorized the multiplication tables at one point, even though he doesn't understand what they mean, and will pop up with the answer to any given question I'm trying to direct at his brother.) Sorry for the long post. Any "been there" advice?

Hi, I'm new (I think I joined a long time ago and read a bit, but never posted) and thinking of using WTM with my homeschooled first-grader next year. We're in Bismarck ND. I searched the forum here for "Dakota" and got nothing past 2008, so I'm guessing we may be alone here. But I thought I'd throw this out there just in case. :) So, anyone else in the vicinity?