So how do they handle this? Do they give fractional number grades? I am just curious - because in our university, when we submit grade through the registrar, there are no other options besides giving A,B, C, D and F, or Incomplete. It is not possible to give + or - grades

Since there is likely a genetic component to a higher than average IQ, siblings of a gifted child often are gifted as well - but by no means always. My kids are both gifted with similar IQ. DH and his brother are too.

After Saxon 8/7, DD moved on into real algebra with Art of Problem Solving. She had absolutely no problems. DS has completed 8/7 last school year and has just started AoPS algebra.

Our gym requires under 16 year olds to attend a youth fitness orientation with their parents before they are allowed to use the equimpent, so they can be taught safe exercising. If yours has something like that, it would be an opportunity to ask.

Could you tell a little more about your family situation? Why are the kids in a German school? because you are in Germany right now? (If so, they will pick up the language and be fluent within a few months) I will get a better idea what to suggest if you tell a bit more about your circumstances.

I still don't get why it should be a POLITICAL ploy. Huh? A couple of kids learning Chinese is going to overthrow anything? Give me a break. As behind as this country is where language instruction is concerned, nothing can be worse than the status quo.

I do not think he should *skip* chemistry altogether but rather postpone it- but there is nothing wrong with doing physics first, if he has the necessary math skills. You do not need chemistry to understand physics. If anything, it helps for chem to have had physics before. My DD is starting her highschool science sequence with physics this year. She has completed algebra, some geometry and a crash course in trigonometry (which really is all she needs- you do not need a very in-depth understanding of trig if you do an algebra based physics course. The most important skill is finding sides in a right triangle). For electricity and magnetism, the student should know natural logarithms and exp- function. OTOH, if he loves physics, he might want to wait till he has calculus and then take a calculus based physics class- there are things in physics you get a much better understanding and appreciation of if you know calculus. (I teach physics at a university, both algebra and calc based courses)

I personally do not like Saxon, but the way it is structured it is very suitable for independent work.

You could estimate times. Or you could designate an amount of work (like working through the complete textbook) to count as a credit- no matter how long that takes. OTOH, I find it extremely easy to keep track of the time. My kids write down what they do in their planners every day and time their work. I made an Excel spreadsheet with a line for each day, columns for each subject, and just have to put in the minutes for each subject. Takes one minute. I have programmed it to add the time for each subject as well as the times for each day.

My grandmother most enjoyed photo books and recordings from my children. She did not want/need any stuff. You could also invite him to a special outing with you and your family. At that age, I think the most appreciated gift might be time together.

SOME foreign language should certainly be required (actually much earlier than Jr high). Since most schools can only offer a limited number of language courses, there will always be people whose language of choice is not taught and who will complain. I am from Germany and everybody learns English as first foreign language, it is required in 3rd grade (unless you live close to the French border, then it's French). For 2nd language in 6th grade there are usually 2-3 choices, but it is required to take one of those. If Chinese is the only one that is offered, so be it. I don't think it is ideal - but better than no foreign language. And there are LOTS of people who speak Chinese - so under this aspect it is certainly a very useful language.

Not sure I understand what apartment vs house has to do with the kids being bored. (I lived in apartments for a large part of my life, also with kids) What is different NOW for them as opposed to before that makes them suddenly more bored? During summer, we did one daily outing - museum, park, hike, anything. Then there is schoolwork, reading, writing stories, playing, books on tape/CD, helping to cook, meeting friends (do they have any or have you moved away from everybody?)

Who is watching your little one while you work? The older kids? DH? I would get everybody up in the morning, say 6:30. In our house, breakfast is at 7, school starts at 8, and we can do all school work before lunch, with a few afternoon assignments. (I work, too, about 25 hours, 10 of them at home. ) If you started school early, you'd be done by lunchtime and then you can work in the afternoon while the kids play/do their afternoon assignments.

My kids are both gifted but showed no interest in learning letters at that age. The early push for academics is a very American phenomenon; I am from Germany where people are perfectly fine with the idea that kids learn their abcs when they enter school at age 6 (although there are some kids who have somehow taught themselves to read at that age). There is no data showing that the early starting translates into any measurable advantage at, say age 8 or 10. At preschool age, we did a lot of the following with the kids: reading LOTS of books, singing, going on nature walks, drawing coloring, playdough, blocks playing ball, climbing at the playground - for several years we spent every afternoon at the park. I believe at that age kids need to focus on their communication skills, on fine and gross motor skills. I saw no need to drill my kids on the colors - by DD was able to name and identify most colors (including obscure ones like orange and olive green) at age 18 months just because those words happen to come up when you say "the red ball" or "the green crayon" many times or when you sort blocks by colors into their boxes.

In our family, 90% is an A, period. In college there is no A-. Even if the student makes the 90% by a tenth of a point, it's an A.

They have online classes too, but we just used the textbook as our math course.

we used Saxon 8/7 for fractions and prealgebra and then switched to Art of Problem Solving, Intro to Algebra, which we are very happy with.

We used Art of Problem Solving - Intro to Algebra for DD, now for DS. We LOVE it. We did not need any supplements besides the textbook.

Yes, I would not want to read Homer in a foreign language either - it's hard enough in one's native one. What helped me most to develop vocabulary and language skills when I learned English was to read a lot of FUN stuff. It helped immensely if those were books that were so interesting that I did not want to put them down. (Don't laugh: Agatha Christie was a huge contributor to my vocabulary) So if you just want her to improve her language skills (rather than impressing somebody with your course description), you could find a lot of fun books in German. You could also tie German to the Ancient curriculum by, for instance, reading about Heinrich Schliemann in German - since he was German after all.

I would just get her German literature in the original. You can even make a course out of it. If she is that advanced, she should have no problem reading literature. The German states (Laender) have their curricula online, go search. German language class would typically use a textbook anthology, a couple of original texts, in 10th grade hardly any grammar. Literature read would be a mixture of German and World, different genres and different centuries. There will be no equivalent to 10th grade biology or so, because in Germany the sciences are taught not in one-year blocks, but concurrently. In 10th grade, they might have 2-3 hours of biology, 2-3 hours of chemistry and 2-3 hours of physics. I would just get a bunch of German books by German authors and put together my own course (actually, that is what I will do with my DD in a few years). Edit: Just wanted to add: if you study ancients, you read their works in a translation anyway unless you are fluent in ancient Greek. So you could simply have her read some of the Greeks and Romans in German translations rather than in English.

I would like to address two different aspects: 1. I would not consider it hypocrisy that a child completes the outside assignments first- I find that rather normal. I work outside the home, too, and for me certainly any work deadline takes precedence over housework (beyond keeping us fed and clothed and healthy). I think it has to do with who is having expectations of you, how many people, how well they know you. It is well known that kids who attend school very often behave better at school than at home (if it is vice versa, it is a sign for problems in the family), and the reason seems to be that they feel SAFE with their parents. So I would see it more under the aspect that your kids have good work ethics and try to please their outside teachers because those are strangers and they need to gain their approval - whereas they know you are their parent and you love them unconditionally. 2. In order to instill academic discipline in your kids, you have different avenues. You can be strict about deadlines at home and impose consequences if work is not completed as assigned. You need to decide how tough you want to be. Alternatively, you can use a more laid back approach at home and supplement with outside activities so that the kids can hone their time management skills there. I choose a rather relaxed approach in the home, but DD will be auditing a college class and will be required to complete all the work on a strict schedule. I think for my 13 y/o one such commitment is enough and will serve as a teaching tool; so the work at home will have more freedom and no strict deadlines. Over the next years I plan to increase deadlines and scheduling to prepare them for college.

Don't see any reason to memorize the whole periodic table- but if I was trying to, I would not go by numerical order, but by group.

You could call it Horsemanship. That would convey that it is more than just the riding. you could call it Horseback riding and count for PE. Or you could just count is as extracurricular activity and later as community service.

At age 4, my kids would not have been able to attend that late a party - they would have been asleep by 7. Not because I forced them to - but because they were up at the crack of dawn and utterly exhausted.

It's not quite this simple because many universities require four years of mathematics (algebra and higher) for admission. So with just algebra and geometry you would not even have the option to go to a good four year school and take those simpler classes. THAT is what I mean by limit: if my kids wants to go to a selective school, I do not want my curriculum decisions to stand in the way of that chance. Yes I know there is always community college. And yes, I know you can take whatever time you want - but I, personally, am rather happy that I completed my education* before I had children (this being something a woman can not put off forever). edit:* I know education is never finished. I was referring to the formal part of education that I am required to have for the job I do (which took ten years after high school).