Lovely! Just wanted to add that pursuing 'joyful work' need not be binary. If the goal is to be a multifaceted human being, I can follow one of my many joys to earn a living, and simultaneously pursue other joys as hobbies, iykwim. It does not have to be "either-or". I could be a violinist but I could earn my living through practicing accounting. Maybe it's the pragmatist in me? :tongue_smilie:

I might be the lone voice here, but I think it is important to discover one's calling, if you will. Yet, It's also important to keep in mind that everyone goes through life stages and interests might change. Discovering what I am good at, what my abilities are best suited for, and what are my employable skills is not a handicap. Specialising is good! It helps one to focus, gain rich experience in a field and understand nuances of that area. The biggest advantage to homeschooling is to help children to find a vocation that is fulfilling. And homeschooling moms have 16-18 years to watch their child blossom. A dear friend who homeschooled her sons through high school mentioned that the trap we moms( to younger ones) fall into is to assume that our child at 8 will not have changed much at 18. Her own children zeroed in on an interest in early high school and developed it by the end of high school. They focused on one major interest and developed it further. They are very happy with their choice. Having said that, my plan is to help my DD discover the sweet spot between -what her abilities are -and -what she enjoys doing. Right now, she's confused but she'll gain clarity as she gets older. ETA: fixed typos

"A girl in ten thousand" by L.T.Meade

I agree completely that sometimes (often?) children don't have the life experience to see the big picture. I was a compliant obedient child and a rebellious teen. This was not a reaction to parenting, but as a development of my own self. I needed to feel in control of almost all aspects of my life as a teen; sometimes leading to disastrous consequences. In hindsight, maybe I should have been a little more obedient. I now know that my parents had my best interests at heart. But, it took being a parent myself to understand my parents, iykwim. My daughter's innate nature is to circumvent, confuse and frustrate authority figures. :001_smile: I don't expect immediate obedience and/or compliance from my DD, but I do expect that she will cooperate if the rules are mutually beneficial and fair. I state my reasons for the very few non-negotiables in my house. If she agrees to them and can understand the need for those boundaries..well...great. If she disagrees, she is still expected to follow them. But she can argue her case or rant/vent. Renegotiating boundaries in every other aspect (except one or two) of her life is always encouraged. The only one thing I keep in mind is to reduce the power play between us to a minimum. An adult is, by default, more powerful than a child. She has to understand that not all adults in life will treat her with mutual respect, and she has to develop skills to deal with those adults.

http://teachersofindia.org/en/find/at%20right%20angles?f[0]=search_api_language%3Aen The link takes you to 'At Right Angles', which is a math/math related "free" periodical published by a research focused university in Bangalore. (I found this resource through a friend). ETA: DD usually sticks to the "problems for the middle school" and 'problems for the senior school' section. A recent problem she worked on was : Find the digits A and B if the product of 2AA times 3B5 is a multiple of 12. Find all the possibilities.

I absolutely love the works of Tolstoy. I prefer Anna Karenina over War and Peace, yet, would pick War and Peace over J.R.R.Tolkein. The characters in W/P are extremely well written. Most of them are very human, with shades of grey. Tolstoy was also a social critic, so his narratives tend to have a protagonist who is philosophical or critical about societal norms and the social practices (of that era) are described phenomenally. ETA: Wrt Q1 &2- I don't know if the book is that popular and can't speak for other people who have read and enjoyed it.

nm...

IME, children shy away from speaking their native language in public or consciously stop speaking their native tongue, if they've received messages that it (the language) is inferior. Do you think he has received any such subtle messages from his school environment? Maybe his teacher? Or his peers?

I'm no math wiz, but having a math loving DD, I've been surprised at the twists and turns her math journey has taken. I could not have predicted 2 years ago that she would like Gelfand's Algebra over AOPS intro to algebra. That she would prefer vintage math over singapore math. I second the suggestion of enrichment, through reading about mathematicians and by mathematicians. We have collected books written by Theono Pappas and Martin Gardner, and they're great to curl up with every once in a while. These children are still so young and their likes/dislikes are still developing, iykwim. If I had a child who flew through abstract math theory very fast, I would just take her/his lead and only plan a few weeks at a time.

I understand why you would worry about math facts as it is ideal if automaticity develops along with conceptual strength. To me, your DD seems to have the bandwidth, if you will, to comprehend concepts and the creativity to come up with her own methods. Which is a good thing! :001_smile: fwiw, my DD was in a similar situation at the same age as yours. I worried and worried some more about math facts and automaticity for almost 2 years. The worry didn't change the fact that my DD took her own time to gain automaticity in addition/subtraction and she did it with her own methods. But, her conceptual understand was/is always far, far, far ahead of her 'factual' recall to the extent that she was doing multiplication, addition, subtraction drills at the same time as solving linear equations. I wouldn't believe it if I had not experienced it myself. :D In short, let her run with the concepts and work on facts at the same time. Have you looked at free online math practice sites such as 'xtra math.org'? Or worksheets from math-drills.com?

The bolded really resonated with me because it is so insightful!. The immense problem I have had while growing up was to be aware of my strengths and limitations, particularly my limitations so I could have made the most suitable choices. I'm hoping my DD is more self aware by the time she hits college age..

Its a fine piece of writing on deeply embedded racial beliefs and their effect on social dynamics. But, it's also gloomy and pessimistic. Surely change is possible?

I've hesitated to post whatever I'm about to...because its such a sensitive topic. But, the ferguson thread depresses me. And since it's going around in circles, I'll express myself here. For a long time, I lived as a brown skinned woman in a predominantly white skinned region.(not specific to the U.S.) Whatever follows is from my personal experience. Racism is sometimes so covert and hidden, that only a person of color would notice it. It is not surprising (to me) that a general white person could be in denial about institutional racism because unless one knows what to look for...its rather easy and rather simplistic to say that 'I have ___race friends, therefore I am not racist', or 'Police officers cannot be racist' or (insert the oft repeated statement). What are the different faces of racism? Racism is when the store clerk serves a customer standing in line behind you first because you are brown/black and the one behind is white. Racism is when you walk into an expensive store (for eg- Neiman Marcus) and the staff pointedly ignores you but attends to another person who walked in at the same time because you are brown/black/asian and the other is white. Racism is when a TKD instructor introduces the children in his class and mixes up the names of the asian children and then when corrected says: "Yeah....whatever..one of those." And the white parents in the crowd snicker. So, I'm hoping that the deniers on this board look carefully at the social dynamics in their neighborhoods, stores, parks, organisations, restaurants, corporates, friends groups etc etc.and learn to recognize the signs of racism.

I don't homeschool (anymore) and we don't celebrate thanksgiving, but I'm cheering you on from the other side of the world. :001_smile:

For the few universities that offer credit based graduate degree programs in India, it's calculated as: 1 credit = 36 hours of learning which is 12 hours of classroom learning + 24 hours of self directed work including assignments, reports, papers etc. About a 40 hour "work week" for each student for a 16 week credit course with 4 hours per week of classroom learning. This credit calculation probably differs in Europe/other parts of Asia/U.S/etc

:001_wub: You're the best!

Aaah..I understand. Thanks for explaining what you meant.

Not to pick on the quoted posters, but so I don't misunderstand the intention of the bolded sentences... There is a difference between the words 'Average' and 'Mediocre', yes? Average is a statistical and therefore measurable term and and 'mediocre' is a subjective term which is often regarded as a pejorative. Do we agree on this difference of meaning? Calling a child 'average' depending on the abilities/skills/aptitudes is plausible because it is measurable and objective, but I hope no one calls their children (or others) mediocre. That'll be unfortunate.

Very impressive! Way to go Alexandria :001_smile:

I second 'Secret Seven'. Loved them as a kid. In fact, almost any book by Enid Blyton should be ok for a 6 yr old The 'Adventure Series' by Enid Blyton? Along the same lines as secret seven and famous five.. or How about Encyclopaedia Brown written by Donald Sobol?

:grouphug: I would chalk it up as a failure of the community(family/school etc) if young adults think that working towards a purpose... which will not result in immediate gratification..... as 'not interesting'. The implications worry me.

:thumbup:

Your point being that an individual with old established money might not be as cognitively gifted as the self made person, yet they might marry each other? That's a stereotype, isn't it? :) Moreover, one cannot attribute success to high IQ (in a self made person) because such an individual is also very driven/passionate. Personality plays a big part in success.

I beg to differ.....Super smart and highly successful men or women usually tend to partner with each other. It is *very* rare to find a highly intelligent man/woman with a spouse or partner much lower in intelligence than them. I know very little about genetics and recessive genes for traits such as eye color and even height, but 'cognitive' ability is not driven solely by genes. (Although severe cognitive imparements such as mental retardation are chromosomal). There are just too many external factors that could influence intelligence which renders research on IQ so..tentative.

FWIW, IQ is most volatile during early-middle childhood and stabilizes after a certain age...the jury is still out on the exact age, but 20-21 yrs seems to be a popular opinion. Education, good nutrition contribute positively to general intelligence whereas poverty, neglect, abuse negatively impact it. IQ is inherited to the extent that it can predict a certain range based on parental IQs, yet, there is no evidence that IQ is static within that range through the lifetime of an individual. Lastly, a very high IQ is not necessarily an advantage and does not guarantee success, however one defines it.