Yes, Seattle is a great place for gifted kids. Because of the concentration of high tech workers (Boeing + Microsoft + Amazon), there are tons of smart kids clustered here. There are lots of private schools for the gifted in the greater metro area, the Robinson Center at UW is one of the best early college programs in the country, and I have found several math circles, of which these are three. Last year the state made gifted education a mandatory part of a basic education, which means public school gifted services are skyrocketing right now. Two of the best suburban school districts (Bellevue and Lake Washington) both expanded their gifted magnet program (from 2 schools each, to 4 and 6 schools respectively). Many people live in the rural areas on the outskirts and commute in, as this is much more affordable.

My 5yo DS has been very interested in fractions lately. The other day he was reading the nutrition label on the applesauce jar and figured out that 11 1/2 cup servings meant that the jar contained 5 1/2 cups. I asked him how many baby-sized 1/4 cup servings were in the bottle, and he got 22. Yay! Today, he was trying to figure out what a fourth of a fourth would be, and with a little coaching got to 1/16. So he's definitely interested in fractions, and I'm looking to unschool this interest by strewing some materials around for him. Any favorite fraction books/manipulatives/curriculums/ideas that I could throw his way?

Yes, Son is very good, although better for a mother than a child. It fits more literarily with the Giver than the other two. Gathering Blue feels like a toned down version of the Giver, and Messenger is just plain odd. Unfortunately, the ending to Son is wrapped up in those books, so you have to kind of read them all to get it, although most of the book is completely unrelated.

I first read the Giver in a fourth grade class in a gifted magnet program. I adored it. The open ending bugged the heck out of me as a kid, but after a while, I loved it. Still one of my favorite books that I reread and re-listened to many times over the years, along with A Wrinkle in Time. Both are definitely great. However, I was not a kid super sensitive to death (as in, not afraid of it). I was interested in thinking about death, the structure of society (wrote a system of laws with a friend in first grade), and risk versus safety at a very young age, and this book played into that.

Thanks for all the friendly advice! I'm definitely right on the cusp of going either way, so I'll continue to consider it. It was good to hear perspectives from both directions.

Oh, forgot to mention one other thing which is probably relevant. He took the WPPSI-IV and scored much higher (124) in the verbal and reasoning areas and much lower in the processing speed and working memory areas (90 and 70). I think the lower scores on the latter may have been due somewhat to tiredness and be being annoyed at being at a long test on what is usually his "video game day" (ie Saturday), but they are at least somewhat valid. And the vision therapy is supposed to help with the processing speed issues.

So I just need to talk through this situation with some people who have been through this (possible) 2E thing. We have just finished a round of 12 weeks of vision therapy at the recommendation of my son's optometrist. She said that his vision is definitely improving. However, she said between things we had talked about before and things she noticed about his behavior during exams, she's concerned he might be in need of OT to help his vision therapy be more effective (ie to help him be able to concentrate and work harder). I'm not so sure about this recommendation. What she's basing it on is: a. very poor handwriting skills. I'm not sure this constitutes a delay so much as a mismatch in interest (more interested in learning multiplication and playing video games than in drawing, coloring, and writing). And from what I've read, it's extremely normal for bright children to be a little delayed in fine motor skills. His handwriting has been improving by leaps and bounds at school this year, and I think it will probably just get better with practice. b. weird attention patterns, as in the ability to tune everything else out and focus on what he wants to do or things he finds interesting. I find myself having to actually touch him in order to get his attention, and he gets frequently distracted. But then again, what 5 year old boy doesn't? And gifted 5 year olds, more so. I'm of the persuasion that thinks ADD is over diagnosed, so I am inclined to resist sending my son in for "attention issues" so young. c. slight social awkwardness. He tends to be pretty quiet and then pop out at random points with seemingly unrelated information. But I am like this myself, and I can usually follow how he got from point a to point b. There's also that matter of using noises rather than words to express frustration, but again, that seems developmentally appropriate to me. His teachers at school have said that he has a hard time sitting at circle time and keeping his hands to himself. His teacher identified it with "flapping" type behaviors, but to me, it doesn't look that compulsive. It just looks like a little kids who's excited and likes rough, physical play. None of these behaviors are so severe as to interfere with our lives at all. Sure, we have discipline methods to deal with them, but they are getting better, not staying the same or worse. But then again, I have always felt like my child was a little different, but is that just because he's gifted or because he has (other) actual issues? So my questions are: 1) Given this information, would you go in for an OT eval just to see? 2) Is there any harm in an OT eval? Like diagnoses that could follow him around, making me more paranoid. 3) Is there any harm in delaying an OT eval until he's older and we can establish if the issues really are issues or just being a 5yo gifted boy? I'm not one to ignore a doctor's advice normally, but I feel like young kids are over diagnosed, and that this is totally jumping the gun. I'm not completely convinced about the need for vision therapy either; I don't see any tangible changes from it, though two separate eye doctors has both said that his tests are better after this 12 weeks. Another reason I'm hesitant is because this kind of therapy eats up so much time. Doing 1 hour of vision therapy a week, plus 15 mins practice daily nearly threw me over the edge. I don't know what kind of mess we could get into.

Thanks for the recommendation on those. We read the Roman Numerals book from the library a while ago, and DS was talking about it for days and days. Unfortunately, it seems to be the only one from the series our library owns. I'll have to put them on our list to hunt down.

Oh, I'm almost certain that he will work quite a lot of the problems. This is the kid who adds up prices for me in the grocery store without being asked, just because he wants to know. I'm just not going to push him for any kind of completion, because a: it's summer, and b: he's five. But I just know he will love the BA format (he prefers graphic novels to chapter books, and math is his one true love right now) and I'm worried if I wait until next summer, he'll pass by a lot of the material. He's the kind of kid who seed an idea in, and six months later it pops out fully understood and applied.

My son attends a fantastic Montessori school during the school year, but I'm looking for summer supplements. Given that we will have about 8 weeks of summer break, how much of Beast Academy could we get through (or how much should I order)? He is just beginning to understand multiplication, does a lot of skip counting in school, and is fairly fluent with 3- and 4-digit addition and subtraction (90% accuracy). Hasn't done much with geometry. I'm not looking to do the curriculum for super thoroughness, but to just read a chapter and play with some problems. I will probably write 3-4 related exercises on our chalkboard every morning to draw his interest, but that's probably all we'll do in terms of formal work. He tends to pick up things quickly though. I was looking at the table of contents, and there seem to be only 3 chapters per book. However, the chapters seem like long chapters. If we're just goofing around for summer, could a chapter be "covered" in two weeks? A month? Or is a better unit to go by the sub-sections in each chapter? And if we're just doing it "for fun" should I bother with the practice books?

I've never seen what anyone sees in these books. I read the first one twice: once as a teen and again as an adult. Hated it both times. She breaks every rule of good storytelling. You never get to know any of the characters because all the action takes place off screen: she just tells you they are friends. Blech. Too much story for one book. If she had slowed it down, it could have been awesome.

Major upvotes to The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper (may want to preview for scary content), Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time quartet, and Patricia C Wrede's Dealing with Dragons. I have to put in a plug for my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson: his Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians is a hilarious book with lots of wordplay games, similar to the Phantom Tollbooth, which is also a classic fantasy. Diana Wynn Jones's books are also fantastically written. Start with her most famous, the Chrestomanci series. Also try the So You Want to Be a Wizard series by Diane Duane. The writing in this series gets better as it goes along (about a decade between the writing of the first book and the second, and the same between the next two, then they got more regular), and the topic of two gifted kids who develop magic which is very linguistic, scientific, and intellectual (and also extremely moral without being overly allegorical or religious) is absolutely worth it. Books 3-7 are the best. There's even one (A Wizard Alone) which is about an autistic boy who is becoming a wizard, which might be of special interest to some 2Es on this board.

My gifted 5yo at a Montessori school loves the Math Card Games from Right Start Math. Buy the whole card game set and instruction book, and they'll be memorizing facts in no time with no pain. My son in particular loves playing "Money War" with the money cards and can now do better math with money than regular numbers.

Thanks everyone! Glad you enjoyed it!

Just wrote a post on my blog that I thought you guys might relate to: http://parentingtheory.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/monsters-university-as-a-parable-of-gifted-education/

We're actually in the exact opposite situation. (Well, not with the budgeting mess, since that's always a train wreck in our state.) Washington state recently passed a law declaring that gifted education is basic education, and that by law the state is required to provide it to those who need it in order to fulfill its state constitutional mandate to "fully fund" education. Yay for actual acknowledgement that gifted kids deserve funding! Theoretically this should lead to a rapid increase in the size and number of gifted options, but we'll see. I'm anxious to see what turns up.

Thank you! This is the kind of advice I'm looking for. Who to ask, when to ask, and how to ask to get real answers. I get that a lot of people on this board have experienced frustration with school systems promising one thing and giving another. (Obviously, it's a home school board for a reason.) And I'm certainly still considering homeschool as an option. But I just want to know how to get more truthful information from a school about what is done/has been done in the past so that we'll know what we'd be getting into. No horror stories about schools needed, thanks. Just let me know what questions you think would have revealed the problems beforehand.

This is a long shot, but does anyone know of children's books (up to mid-elementary) on copyright law? My 5 year old is OBSESSED with the little TM and C and R next to things. I've explained things the best I can, but I'd love more resources.

The Montessori school we're using actually goes straight up through elementary and junior high. Heck, they're opening a Montessori high school next year! They have great acceleration policies and I've talked to kids from the lower elementary classes who go to the upper el classes for reading and math plans. Basically, I'm doing my due dilligence investigating our local public school as well as a traditional private school across the street before we fork out the big tuition bucks for this dream school that we all love. I've got to justify the $$ to my hubby (who opposes homeschooling as well, so that cheap-ish option is out). I'm just trying to come prepared to Kindergarten night.

I do, but none in the situation of massive acceleration. Their view is that the school is great and my child will get great socialization there even if it doesn't meet his academic needs. So, not so helpful.

What questions would you ask to find out an elementary school's real policy on acceleration and differentiation? I am investigating schools (public and private) but I don't know exactly what to say to elicit real responses. Every school says they meet kids on their level, but I know that some definitely don't. How would you word your questions to get the best (ie most helpful in determining if the school will meet our needs) responses?

My 4.5 yo DS has had this problem since he was a toddler: he seems to just not hear us when he's concentrating on something. This is somewhat understandable, since he's a very driven, focused kid who get absorbed in what he's doing. However when it takes 10 times of saying his name (or actually having to come over and touch his face) to get his attention, it's really harming our ability to function as a family (and my ability to keep my temper). Also, it makes me wonder if he really can't hear me or if he's using it as an excuse to avoid what I'm asking him to do. It's so hard to tell! Any hints or tips? It seems like this might be a common problem with gifted kids . . . or is it just me?

I remember loving to watch this algebra series on our local edu tv station when I was in 3rd grade and home sick from school. A lot went over my head but some stuck and made algebra even more accessible later on. So I say sure!

Since I first heard of them here, I thought everyone would like to know that Amazon has Snap Circuits currently on sale for about 30-40% off depending on the kit: Snap Circuit Sale

My sister is an aspiring YA author as well. One good tip when looking for an editor: find some books that are similar in genre, subject matter, and audience to her book, and look at who the editors are. These editors would be good ones to look to submit to. Another good next step is to start attending writing conferences and networking with other authors, editors, and agents. Search for local writing conferences as well as larger national conferences in her genre. I also highly recommend the podcast "Writing Excuses." They give lots of good writing advice (some of it specific to the sci-fi/fantasy genre, and some generic), but they also have some really good advice about how to be an author for a living. Here's a link to all their podcasts about writing as a career: http://www.writingexcuses.com/category/career/