Hmm, I don't know about my own DD - whether she will succeed in her current (five years & counting) passion, but I think it would pay to check which forum you are posting in. There are a higher than average number of outliers in the kids posted about on this board & of those mentioned in this thread I am quite certain a number *will* go on to pursue careers in those fields.

My nearly 8 year is similar, but since she has recently lost some of her reluctance to write as long as I answer a constant "how do you spell...?"; I've decided just to tell her the spelling for now. Even if I'm certain she could work it out phonetically or if she read it out loud three times in the last hour (just happened with a journal entry). I'm so happy that she is writing of her own accord finally. I'd rather work on spelling separately (which is in fact, fine for her age) than trigger her previous reluctance to write at all.

I love reading all the stories in this thread. I'm waiting to pick up DD 7 from the first day of an Easter ballet workshop in a major city 2 hours from us. She has come to a Summer intensive here twice now but this is the first year she's added something in the other holidays too. Of the ten weekdays of this holiday (all ballet studios follow school terms so by default so does our home school) she has five days of "extra" ballet, three here and two closer to home. I have no doubt that as she ages we will be adding more workshops and travelling further. I'm considering putting my younger (K age this year) who is much more ummm pliant into public school so that I can work more in order to facilitate ballet. We shall see what happens...

How old is he? I think a lot of "popular science" books on those topics are quite approachable for bright 11/12 year olds.

Wow. I would have been annoyed, but I guess I would have listened too. I can hear myself standing there thinking; "At least it's not sportsball..." The autism comment would have elicited a shocked WHAT?! from me. I wonder how she would have responded?

I would say unnecessary. My seven year old is doing these now as I'm going through some Montessori elementary material with her (in Monte they make these words with alphabet cards, different colours for the pre/suffix from 6ish but she prefers to write). Spelling isn't a strong point for her though & she has only done very basic Latin (SSL & Minimus). Given your daughters background I would think there were better uses of her time.

Hahaha. I can still sing "Yawa ni a regnam, on birc rof a deb..." thanks to one boring Xmas holiday at my grandparents :)

I would think of cartoons and teens who like to dress up. If you had children younger than teens I would assume you meant Miyazaki.

DD 7 quite enjoys them, the books and the DVDs (British). History is really not her thing, she is more of a science girl so I'm happy that she enjoys these. We all love the stupid deaths section of the show.

I grew up in the city so I lock. My country relatives didn't though & that seemed normal to me when I visited. I think it's more about population density than anything. I can't abide any vegemite substitute but I haven't eaten vegemite since I discovered miso paste. It is yummy spread on toast with lots of butter.

It looks somewhat like this here. Can explain things about gravity and black holes that I don't understand, likes to discuss existentialism, has no trouble working out the difference between two consecutive square numbers but needs a parent present to go to sleep & still ends up in our bed most nights.

My seven year old just started it as a supplement and is enjoying it so far. As a PP mentioned, the randomness of the mastery challenges catch her enthusiasm.

Sounds like she will love them. Start from the beginning :) DD started last year after finishing SM 2B & went through Apples - Edgewood very quickly, started to slow down around F and we are halfway through H now 10 months later which is mostly due to my lack of ordering anymore & trying to stretch out the ones we have...

I feel the same about choirs & rock music. Shudder.

I feel the same about choirs & rock music. Shudder.

You rock!

This very similar to a mindfulness meditation exercise. A bell rings and those who hear it are simply to note how focused they were on what they were doing & bring their full attention back to the task as fully as possible. I do think that for many kids recording whether or not they are focused at the sound of a bell or timer would help a lot. Must try this with my DD. I'm sorry I haven't got any other suggestions. Good luck.

Make sure she gets bright sunlight (or very bright artificial light if it's overcast) on waking each morning. Within ten minutes of waking. Do you have animals she can feed outside as a morning chore perhaps? No screens or bright lights after around 6pm. If she needs to write then she can make handwritten notes & type them up in the morning. Epsom salt baths in the evening as the magnesium helps with melantonin production (as does the light thing). Outside at dusk if possible (again,maybe you have a dog she can walk?). I have a hard core nightowl. She is seven. If I do the above she doesn't lay awake for hours & hours but is able to sleep when her body is tired. If I don't she does as your daughter described - she lies there but can't turn her brain off. Of course,you could also try giving her melatonin.

OhE, I assume she means the misconception that people with autism lack empathy. Many, especially hfa actually experience intense empathy. They do however have trouble communicating and/or processing it. On average asd children take longer to learn theory of mind (never for some) but that is different to empathy.

No, it would not bother me. ITA with Bill about the coffee though!

No, it would not bother me. ITA with Bill about the coffee though!

Oh dmmetler, your daughter might want to read a little further then. I think she would love arithmancy as much as Hermione does :)

I do agree about the cultural literacy, however I know quite a few kids age 6-9 who do have that cultural literacy already. This is,after all a board for accelerated learners. Interestingly, DD has shyed right away from the kind of bullying presented in Roald Dahl & similar books but that Harry Potter has been a good discussion opener for her. She absolutely can NOT handle Lemony Snickett. Somehow the scenario is more "real" and thus much more disturbing.

DD read the first three last year at six and then had a good six or seven month break & is now 3/4 through 4. I actually broke my own "read first" rule and let her watch the movie of four after just skimming the first page of each chapter and giving her a synopsis of the scariest parts. I personally find four to be the most disturbing book of the series. The scene - SPOILER ALERT - where Wormtail cuts off his own arm is quite horrific. However in the movie it is glossed over, as is Crouch senior's murder. So for once I felt better about letting her watch it first.

No, I can't...but my Mama can :)