The reality is graphing calculators are here to stay. Engineers do most things on the computer now. You need to have a solid foundation and understand concepts however to be an engineer. If you demonstrate proficiency however on paper, it is just as important to learn the tools early on. A kid in college doesn't want to have to spend hours figuring out everything they need to know about a calculator in their upper level science and math classes. Teaching them early on how to use a calculator is important and how to program it. Can you do it all by hand? Yes. But I can walk to town to the store, but why do it when I can drive? Technology has changed and it is changing the way kids are learning whether we like it or not. Kids have to earn the graphing calculator, but with these tools kids are able to spend more time learning concepts rather than doing their 401st graph by hand.

We are just required to do Social Studies. You could do geography and integrate it with historical events and people from the areas you are studying. Also learning about the government of the areas you are studying and art/music history. Also learning the cultures and the important holidays and the historical context of those holidays. That would qualify as history for those lower grade. Just a suggestion.

Couple of things. First it was only one test. What does last year's teacher recommend? Every school and school system is different. As far as admissions. I talked with non-ivy level honors admissions person a couple weeks ago. Very few AP courses are as rigorous as a college level calculus class. Every school and teacher have a different class. If a kid needs it for a major even if they score a 5 it is highly recommended to repeat the calculus course. This is especially true at the ivy league level. Your local CC calculus is not an MIT calculus class. Also a lot of high schools including private have agreements with the local community colleges for calculus and advanced math. It doesn't appear in the high school course listing, it is just a known amongst the math teachers, counselors, and parents of kids in those programs. Also remember a lot of kids will take an AP course and never take the exam. Is it too early to make these decisions? Yes and no IMO. Yes, you want to make sure you are not closing doors on possibilities. You have no idea the wants and dreams of a kid in a few years. You also do not want to push a kid past their abilities and have them struggle unnecessarily. I would make sure your child is ready to flourish in the honors classes. Universities are looking for grades and strength of classes. They are also looking for unique kids that stand out from the group. If you have a kid who is focused on a passion, that is more important than if they took AP Calc BC in 11th grade. So if your student wants to do an extra-curricular thing and wait until next year to start algebra that is fine.

Here is my suggestion. Do geography. Learn the continents and oceans. Then pick a country or state to learn a week. For countries you learn where it is, you tube selections on tradition music, google art from the area, make tradition food one night for dinner, and learn a couple of phrases from the language. If you do states, create a book, one state a week. First day find it on the map and color a map of it. You can also write the state capital. Then the next day you can do the state flag and learn about its meaning. They can color that while you tell them about the flag. Then you can learn about the state bird, bug, song, etc... whatever floats your boats. Eat something one day that is grown in that state. You can look at pictures on-line of what it looks like. You can see who is famous from that state past and present. You get the idea. You could also do a study of your state. Take lots of field trips and do the historical places in your state. Parks are a great place to start. That way they are doing social studies, they will get those all important map skills, and it is cheaper than cheap. The world will not collapse around them if they aren't doing history because if you look at the public schools neither are they. They are learning about the people and places around them.

3 is not a huge jump from 2. As long as he is a strong reader and enjoys writing you should be fine. Reading level definitely changes, as well are how much writing there is. Shurley really begins grammar from the beginning in each book so people feel comfortable skipping levels. It is just a more rapid pace and more material is covered every year. You miss nothing if you skip a level.

My advise is with a self-taught reader and two who learned through phonics. My self-taught non-phonics kid is a far better speller and reader than the two who have gone through phonics. He is in the last section of Spelling Power at 11 and had perfect scores on his Explore at age 10 in English and Reading. English is a strange tough language to read. If your child isn't struggling and as time goes on is a strong speller, why fix what isn't broken. I wouldn't waste my money on buying a lot of different curricula if she isn't having an issue. I would waste my money on lots of fun things for her to read.:001_smile: I say this because looking back I tried to do phonics with him and so did his kindergarten and 1st grade teachers. He could do the phonics, but was so annoyed with us trying to change his system for learning language. Is phonics great? yes. Are all of those spelling programs great? yes. But each child is unique, and if you have a gifted child, what works for the majority may not work for you. Use your gut and have fun with it.

My son just finished Algebra I and he is 11. Do not fear we had same issues at beginning of the year. I agree with the previous posters. Highlight or different colors for the negatives. Slowing down to verify transcription errors have not occurred. (Don't know how many times his answer was wrong, and he check and re-checked his work without verifying he wrote the problem correctly from the book.:glare:) Make sure he understand the concepts and can explain them. Most algebra programs are going to have a good review of those later pre-algebra concepts. Make sure you devote enough time to homework and study. I had a checklist on my son's desk for those mistakes he makes regularly. Before he asks for help, he has to have gone through his list of his "issues" to see if it was a silly mistake and not a concept issue. Make a list for yourself to see where the errors are occurring, you will see a trend and those are the areas to concentrate on. Algebra I is a time when they will learn a lot of maturity. I am amazed how much growth occurred. So do not panic and talk regularly with your son's teacher. I know those on-line academies are a lot of work and time intensive. Good luck and remember he is only in 6th grade and doing the work of a 8/9th grader. Although he has the intelligence for advanced math; he may still have only the physical capabilities of a typical 11/12 year old. So if he is slow it may be because of that, and he is totally normal. I find if my son is slow and sluggish, getting a snack and taking a quick break can be very helpful. Also finding the time of day his brain is functioning the best can reduce some of those silly mistakes.

We were required to have one starting with Alg 2/Trig. My son is using my ancient TI from college. They looked at it and although it is not on ACT/SAT list they OK'ed it last year since it is so old.:glare: I find that it helps out in the upper level math. Once they can do it by hand and prove that, it does speed up calculations and lets you concentrate on other new concepts. Also it let's you go back and see easily where you made a calculation mistake. I agree for functions they are wonderful for. As far as for stats I have a business calculator that is much better for that. Calculators really are specialized these days. If your child has proven that he/she knows how to derive and concept behind, it is a useful tool to speed up work. It should not however be used to overcome deficiencies in basic math and algebra skills.

:iagree:

Talking to the local schools is important. I would also continue with the assumption of no athletic scholarship. The number of athletic scholarships is small. Not all players recruited are going to get one and there are no guarantees with them. It is not unheard of for an athlete to get their scholarship taken away to recruit another player. Those academic scholarships are much harder to lose. NCAA rules and the rules of the conferences are numerous so keep up-to-date with the coaches of your son and those at the schools he wants to attend. Also remember to talk to the admissions people. If you take too many college credits before enrolling full-time, you can lose out on a lot of scholarships because you are seen as a transfer student not a freshman.

Here are my thoughts. My kids and I love MCT. If you plan on doing MCT in successive year, be forewarned, once you get to the Magic Lens level books these are very challenging books. My son has been very successful with them (scored perfect in English on his Explore Test in 5th grade after doing ML #1). You may want to map out the next few years. My 7 year old is going to do Shurley English 2 before we jump into MCT completely with her so she can just start and continue through 8th grade. I just got my package from RFWP today, and am excited to start another year with my oldest two. I am not saying don't do Island Level, I am just saying what are your future plans in English?

First of all eligibility is based on four years to play while enrolled in college. If you don't start until you are in a master's program the NCAA doesn't care. That being said, your child's physical development is important in baseball. If he graduates early and starts university then where is he playing baseball until he turns 18? The scouts are at the high school games. It is highly competitive to get these spots. Scouts will also love that he is gifted academically. As a parent of an accelerated child both in academics and athletics I understand your difficulty. The great thing is he has time to concentrate on baseball. Practice, strengthening, and everything else is a huge time consuming thing. So you maybe able to adjust course load when high school baseball takes over his life. Remember that academics will always be there, but the athletic opportunities will not. So if you do some of your math and science now this will enable your child to do the AP level classes and still do his sports. My other piece of advise is to talk to the university your child wants to attend. If your child does a baseball camp through the university, talk to those people. They will tell you the ins and outs right now. The NCAA has very tight guidelines about recruiting and talking with potential recruits, but talking hypothetically now with a coach may give you the insight you need. I hope this helps.

Here in SC. You are required 180 days, and of those 10 can be sick days. But I do allow for sick days, and I give each child two mental health days for the school year. This way if they aren't truly sick, but just mentally out of it, I am not wasting my time. Plus there are always those days you didn't plan on you being under the weather or at your wits end.

Call the Ivy league admissions people. They are great help and will guide you. Each college/university is unique; they can help guide you in what is best for your child's entrance into the dream school. Some prefer AP, some CC, but just know Ivy league will make them start at the bottom level no matter how high the score or if they take CC courses.

I just talked with an admissions person about my son. When they talked about admissions, there were three criteria that they said they really looked at. Grades, course load/difficulty of classes, and extracurricular areas. I really agree with looking to see what courses are recommended bythe colleges your child is interested in. I have a dear friend whose daughter didn't get into the schools she wanted because of lack of a rigorous schedule and classes taken. If you have a plan freshman year and examine it yearly you can make adjustments. If you are concerned about difficulty, talk with the teachers. To go to an advanced level class later, especially in math, is incredibly hard. But the best thing to do is talk with those admissions people, they love to talk about their universities and will help set you on the right path. Make sure you talk to a couple because every university is unique and has varying requirements.

That is the path we are planning. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and then AP level sciences. In my opinion the AP biology book should have enough review in it that time will not be an issue. You could also do AP Biology after Chemistry if you are concerned about forgetting material. My two cents if your child is science bound, just as an FYI I have been told by some reliable sources that even if a child get a 5 on the AP test, the student should still take entry bio/chem/physics. Because this is a core class, not all AP/college classes are equal, and it doesn't mean they have everything they need to succeed in an upper level science class. I am not trying to dissuade you in any way, just don't panic if you don't get to AP level things.

You might try getting the teacher editions from Pearson. I have recently gotten the Macaw version and that is where I purchase my teacher's editions from. (Pearson's homeschool site.) As far as the student edition I believe it is another copy of the textbook. I would also make use of biology.com. Wish I was more help.

It depends on what your priorities are...if you aren't going to be spending time at the resort and you don't mind lots of kids running eveywhere the value resorts will work for you. They are clean and very kid friendly. The rooms are a bit smaller, but it is not that big of difference. The moderate resorts are fantastic if you plan on spending time there. The pools are better, they are much prettier. That being said Coronado Springs and Carribean are sprawling resorts. Bus stops are close to rooms, but dining options may be more than 10 minute walk. So if you want to be close to dining you need to make sure that is part of your reservation. These tend to be quieter resorts, but still have lots of school groups and kids. Coronado does have a conference center on property and tends to be a little quieter. This is my favorite pool area (including the deluxe resorts). POR is smaller and just as pretty. I have found that Disney transportation is the fastest. Although it may feel like forever, if you actually clock it usually you end up at the park the quickest. One of my tricks is be flexible. My kids favorite game was park roulette, whatever bus showed up first was were we went for the morning. Have a great time, no matter where you end up you will love it!!!

I have some very close friends that tell stories from public/private schools that will make your head spin. They will tell you sex amongst middle schoolers is not uncommon. It also happens in the elementary schools. Kids are having sex in the bathrooms at school. Just because you have a rule of no dating, doesn't mean your child doesn't have means and opportunity. Make sure your child is educated on sex. If you ask a lot of tween/teens things like oral sex and other such acts are OK because you can't get pregnant, and they aren't really sex. I am just saying this because there are a lot of parents who end up grandparents even when dating hasn't entered the picture. Don't lull yourself into false security because you can't always monitor everything your child does. Boyfriend/girlfriend means a lot of different things to kids, but it is a great time to start a discussion and communicate to your child.

I wouldn't skip on paper until at least middle school. As you get to high school level courses is when it starts to matter. If your child can be in grade 5, but working on 8th grade materials they will test off the charts. If your child is 10, but listed in 8th grade then they may test as average. I only had my son skip when we hit high school level courses in 5th grade. We moved him to 6th grade and it makes more sense to have Algebra I and high school sciences listed on his transcripts. Just remember for every grade skipped that is one less year of social maturing before college. I hope this helps.

I second contacting the local universities. My daughter has been attending two hour long sessions a week. Each session is $5. They need students for their students to work with. There is a speech pathologist who oversees the work. The college student is motivated because they are getting graded and they are young and cool in the eyes of a kid. I have two friends who are speech pathologists at the local public schools and this is the route they recommended.

I let my DS in his Algebra I this year. For the most part it isn't used however. Knowing the fundamentals is important. We used the graphing portion the most so that he knows how to properly use the graphing calculator.

I am sorry too that you are feeling so frustrated. I hope as you continue to homeschool you will meet like-minded people IRL. I find it difficult IRL to talk about my son because my frustrations of meeting his needs can be seen as me bragging about how smart my child is. It is not my intent, I am just frustrated that the resources don't exist for the highly gifted here in small town SC. You are so right about having this community for support and guidance.

For Ballet- the Ballet book series is a series of workbooks. You can see it at http://www.theballetbook.com It has terminology, history, composers, famous dancers, positions, etc...

I completely understand. My grandfather was an educational psychologist with a PhD, and he always told me that people tend towards the norm. He said two highly gifted people will have a bright child, but the chances of a child smarter than both are not statistically higher. In fact he said that for genius you are better off with one average parent and one gifted. I know is data may be old, but just my two cents.