My 8 year old second grader did the sequential number problem and wood problem easily and without any help from me. He was completely stumped on the clock problem. He understands that there are 360 degrees in a circle but forgot what an analog clock looked like so could not set up the starting position. Whoops, guess we need to do some clock work! In September we enrolled him in a local public magnet program where the kids are a full two years accelerated in every subject - so using Singapore Math 2 years ahead and differentiating within the class room as well. It was his first time in school. In late February we withdrew him. It sounded really great on paper, but the thing that I didn't count on is that most of the kids are coming from regular public school and simply did not have the academic preparation to do the program without an awful lot of catch up. Students could enter the program at any age but second grade is most typical, and most of the class time was spent working on xtramath and basic computation. The topics were advanced (fractions, division, etc.) but there was no problem solving, word problems, or multi-step problems and my son was writing "duh" on the top of his papers because it was so easy. This program is for kids in the top 2% of cognitive ability and top 5% of achievement so its not a matter of a brain power, just background. This was not just in math. They started the kids on Handwriting Without Tears at the beginning of the year because many of them had never learned to form letters properly. And yet at the same time they expected them to write journal essays on abstract topics like the "Nature of Kindness" which just did not seem developmentally appropriate for even an advanced second grader (and at least my son had great handwriting and knew how to punctuate, many did not!) When I asked other parents in the program how long this catch up period lasts, they said that things finally started to have some depth around 4th grade. So two years of catch up to their ability level for most of these kids because of a poor K and 1st background. That just didn't work for us. My son loved the social aspect of school and I would have loved for this to work out for that reason, but his academic boredom was leading to behavior problems in the classroom and just was not a good fit. He was a model student in his after school math circle and was often praised as the only participant on task, so we knew it was the boredom in the class (along with lack of recess time, overcrowding, etc.). So he's back at home. I know this is a pretty select group and nobody is going to cry for these kids and they are going to just fine academically and go on to great colleges, but it just highlighted to me just how early the poor education starts. I would not have expected their regular K and 1st experience to be advanced but if they had grounded the kids in a real number sense with C-rods and some basic problem solving, and how to form letters properly they would probably be flying in this program and catch up would be a breeze.

I agree that the "tricks" are just about exploration and learning to think about things in a different way. We're in 4B and I have seen no need to review with Beast Academy so far. The only supplement we use aside from fun stuff is Singapore Challenging Word problems because I think there is a lot of value in learning to translate and set up complex word problems and it gives us a break from BA when we need it. My son sometimes likes to read different guidebooks for fun so I guess that's one form of review, and one of the advantages of presenting material in an engaging comic book format.

I'm not familiar with CLE, but one of the reasons we left Singapore after trying it briefly after finishing RightStart C was too many simple problems. My son was bored. Now we do a combination of Beast Academy 4, Challenging Word Problems 4, and fun supplements like Jacobs Math: A Human Endeavor and its just right. Depending on the material some days we get through 2 problems or 5 pages, it just depends. I have not noticed any deterioration in basic skills or computational ability, in fact mostly the opposite, he slows down and focuses on the few problems he has to do instead of rushing to complete pages of identical problems.

Glad you're so supportive of her personal expression, but yeah... ugh... on the timing. Is there something you can bribe her with to wait on the hair color and piercing? I bet years from now she'll wish she had nicer photos that were more representative of how she looked in high school. I'm not a photo person at all, and we didn't have a lot of money, but really thankful my mom shelled out for some portraits during seniors year. They are very sweet to look at now.

Great advice! A few years ago we went to Disney a week after Thanksgiving for two whole weeks. Only at the tail end of that when the Christmas visitors started to trickle in did we have to wait in any serious lines or worry about fast passes.

1) There have been quite a few articles about how handwriting, and particularly cursive, is good for the brain. Not sure if they are true, but since it only takes 10 minutes of our day, and its not a struggle, I decided to err on the side of it being a good thing to teach. 2) Supposedly its easier to remember things that you have written by hand vs. typed. If true, it seems like being able to write efficiently would be a benefit in note taking. 3) Aesthetics. Just this past week my husband received a handwritten note from someone in a very senior position. It was printed, and legible, but frankly looked very childish. For better, or worse, it made them seem less mature and competent. If I wasn't going to teach cursive I would at least work on developing a good looking style of printing.

I was told not to worry about it at all for a boy until age 7ish. We used a bedwetting alarm at 6.5 mostly because we were moving soon and thought it would be a convenient time to try. We tried it for two weeks and it didn't seem to work so gave it a break, but then DS miraculously started staying dry a few weeks later when we went to visit my mother. So it was probably a combination or alarm, motivation, and changing circumstances.

The easiest way would be to become an active duty military pilot in the Air Force, Navy, or Marines. Even applying from the military side an undergraduate science degree is required and preferably an advanced degree. I believe there is a list of approved majors. The advantage of this is that even if you don't make the astronaut program you still have a pretty cool job:) If you have the resources SCUBA diving is also looked on favorably as there are some similarities between working underwater and working in space.

I don't think there is anything wrong with math taking only 20 minutes most days, but I would also really look to see if he's being challenged. My second grader is doing Beast Academy 4B and spends about 60 minutes a day on it but its not a chore because the problems are so fun and puzzle like. One thing I learned from doing RightStart A-C in preschool-1st grade is that a bright wiggly kid with a short attention span can still do a lot of math if you cover more than one topic, keep it fun, and keep the worksheets to a minimum. People complain that RightStart jumps around a lot often doing 3-4 different activities in a single lesson (ex. mental math, main lesson, game, tangrams, etc.) but it was perfect for my son because it was hands on and the variety kept him interested and focused.

My son went straight from RightStart C into Beast Academy with no problems. I would at least give it a try because they can learn a lot from the comic book even if they aren't ready for the problems.

I haven't read all of the responses, but we roadschooled for about 8 months last year and I homeschooled out of a rolling catalog case. I wanted something nice enough to take into a Starbucks or hotel lobby and it was perfect. My son was doing first grade, which I know is pretty easy, but this is what I had: -Zipper pouch of basic school supplies (pencils, sharpeners, scissors, glue, colored pencils, etc.) -Beast Academy 3A -Right Start C books -Right Start manipulative and C-rods -Explode the Code 7&8 -A notebook for History (one of those journals where each page is half for writing and half for pictures). -Notebook for handwriting practice and Writing with Ease In electronic format I had Writing with Ease and Story of the World. We did reading on the Kindle and either bought books or checked them out through our home library Overdrive system. We studied science on the road by doing the National Park Service junior ranger program, doing tours and ranger talks, and visiting science museums in major cities. We live in the West but are fortunate enough to have friends in NYC, DC, and Philadelphia.

I'm a nerd so I attend a bi-weekly board gaming night at a local coffee house. Always learning something new or thinking through strategy. Love the mix of new and classic games as well as the variety of people. I also have gotten into costuming and have been working with other people on that learning new skills and coordinating some local events. My mother-in-law is 66 and she works, has a group she hikes with, is on the board of a local art museum, has dinner parties, and does pilates. This is all in a small town that she moved to less than 2 years ago where she didn't know anyone.

Awesome Bill! My son just started public school for the first time this year as a second grader because we discovered just two weeks before the start of the school year that our new city has a magnet school program that uses Singapore Math and acclerates two years ahead and differentiates within the classroom as well. We also have an after school math circle run by an amazing math graduate student. It's so great when you realize that all the work at home pays off in terms of being able to take advantage of opportunities.

They also understand the importance of recess and frequent breaks - 15 minutes of free play for every 45 minutes of instruction for over an hour of recess/day. At my son's school they get a combined lunch/recess of only 40 minutes which includes transition time, plus another 15 minutes at the end of the school day right before clean up. Fortunately the school day is on the shorter side (6 hrs) and we ride bikes to and from school, else he would be a basket case. http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/

Seven classes is a lot! When I was in HIgh school we had 6 periods and only math and English needed to be taken every year. Science, History, and Foreign language were taken only for 2-3 years depending on the student. Teachers have a tendency to forget that homework is cumulative and that they are getting assigned work for every class. Do they offer different levels for different subjects? If so I would try to choose lighter courses in his weak areas while sticking with stronger courses in his strengths. If there is only one study hall allowed per year are there other classes like PE, art, home ec, shop, etc. that would be light on homework or at least provide a mental break from the more challenging academic work?

My husband is retired USMC. He did 9 deployments total, and 5 of them in the first 6 years of my son's life. Self care should be your first priority. That's coming from experience as I really wished I had considered preschool or half day Kindergarten when my son was that age and I was dealing with deployments. My son is in school now and it really does lighten the load. Because he's getting his social needs met in school I don't feel any need to go anywhere once he gets home. We don't do after school activities, I don't volunteer, and the homework load is minimal so it does not eat into family time or feel in any way rushed. The warnings that school would be just as much work as homeschool were completely unfounded. Putting kids in school mid year might give me pause, but it can also be easier for them to enter into a classroom that is already smoothly running. Only you know how resilient your kids are. If they are excited about school it will probably help Just be aware that you might have the same issues you have now over the summer and that you might have to carve out some time to afterschool if education is a priority for you (I focus on math and quality read alouds).

I would start at the beginning no matter what. The lessons are very fast paced and expect you to be completely fluent in previous material. If it's really too easy for him he could do two lessons a day and be through the first level in a few weeks.

Pimsleur is outstanding. When I studied in China I knew people who had just done Pimsleur with no other language training and they were completely fluent in getting around type of conversation skills (ordering in restaurants, booking a hotel room, etc.). The ability to hold a basic conversation with confidence and fluency allowed them to accelerate their learning extremely quickly in an immersive environment. The combination of repetition and thoughtful response required seems to lead to high retention as well.

Honestly, this is one of the reasons we are doing public school this year. In our previous state the public schools were bad so there were a lot of academic homeschoolers we could find and relate to. Here, just the opposite, and homeschool groups were very cliquey and insular. It became a part time job just to try and meet and arrange simple play dates and it was exhausting for me and really felt my son needed the experience of feeling part of a group. We are very fortunate to be in an excellent school with other bright, quirky kids though. I would not have made the leap if the academics hadn't been there, and will return to homeschooling in middle school, or if we move.

Not relevant, and a total tangent :) but just to satisfy my curiosity, wondering if someone who knows could specifically comment on Korean because it was my understanding that Hangul is an alphabet of 24 letters and is actually easier to read than most western languages, despite looking somewhat similar to Chinese characters.

Sure, but not nearly as systematic as Chinese which actually explains what the number means in how you say it: 12 shi er (literally "ten two") 21 er shi yi ("two ten one") The understanding of place value seems more built in. If you had to actually say "nine tens" every time you saw "90" it really sinks in what it means. In fact I think I remember RightStart did this a little bit in level A or B? Though again, I think this is a small advantage. Not sure I would say generically that Asian languages are pictorial. Most, including Korean, Hindi, and many others are definitely written phonetically. Even Chinese is not quite what most people think - each character encodes a morpheme instead of a phoneme, but not necessarily a word. But definitely does require much more memorization.

Not sure if this has been brought up, but I speak Mandarin and I've wondered if the way they say numbers gives a small advantage. Instead of having words for twenty, thirty, etc. you say "two ten" or "three ten." So 28 would be said as "two ten eight." This seems to give an inherent understanding of place value and regrouping that is linguistically lacking from English. Obviously this is a small part of mathematics but may confer an advantage in early grades that leads to confidence and talent recognition that snowballs from there. Not sure about other Asian languages.

In my experience, unless you know people very well, they are more likely to come if it's a cool birthday venue instead of a person's home. People are often looking for entertainment for their kids on the weekends so want something they know their kids will excited about. If it's a place they can drop off its even better - I think the neutral ground + professional staff of birthday venues makes people more comfortable dropping off if they don't know you well. I love the idea of the old fashioned simple home parties I used to have as a kid but I think that works better if you have a strong core group of friends you know very well.

A gaming group is a great idea! It is social but the focus on the game makes it great for introverts or depressed people who don't like small talk. If he is into any kind of sci-fi or anime, perhaps attending a local comic con. I know several people who have developed hobbies of prop building and costuming around a favorite TV or movie series and attend conventions. They have incredible skill and meet a lot of people because of their designs.

1) If eating out, use online menus to decide in advance what you will order and don't let the bad stuff come to the table. I eat low carb so ask for double veggies instead of potatoes. So much easier than having the potatoes in front of me and trying to resist. 2) Remind yourself that you will have plenty of chances to eat out in the future. Sometimes I get caught up in the idea that eating out is special and I should get whatever I want, but the truth is, most of the time it's a mediocre place or somewhere I could easily go again. 3) Having traveled a lot, I try to remind myself that unless something is the best in it's class, it's not worth eating something unhealthful. The Gelatto I had in Italy was amazing, the stuff from the soft serve machine at Hometown Buffet not so much. When I was tempted to eat some Little Ceasars pizza at a kids party, I reminded myself that blowing my diet for $5 pizza was not worth it. If I really want pizza I should go somewhere good and really appreciate it. Hope this helps. Visiting family is always a chore for us food wise.