Bump

Has anyone used the William and Mary GT History? A friend of mine is selling it and I wanted to hear any reviews prior to purchasing. I know it is probably a long shot since it isn't a popular program for homeschooling ( I think it might even be for the classroom). Thank you!!

Thank you so much for the replies! I think we will test out the Pre-Algebra book but I will also order AOPS. She is only in 2nd grade technically so I think we have time to maybe do LOF first and then we can do AOPS afterwards. I try to limit LOF to 2 chapters a day as well. She could just fly right through them. I am just happy that I have found something that she doesn't deem boring.

I feel like I have been through so many different math programs that ODD has deemed boring. We have done Horizons, Math Mammoth, Saxon, Singapore and LOF. She loves LOF and will do it willingly and will do a few chapters at a time bc she loves it. She gets the practice problems right but it makes me nervous since there are so few practice problems. She is ready for Per Algebra now and I was thinking AOPS since so many of you love it, but since she loves LOF maybe I should stick with that? Ever since she started Fractions I have been having her do Khan Academy for whatever topic was in Fred. Any advice? Math is really important to us so I want to make sure I get it right!!

Thank you both so much! Both of you were very helpful. I also can relate to your DDs project. Last summer she was obsessed with making worm habitats. It kept her pretty busy. I guess I will just have to keep finding her little projects to become totally invested in. Right now she wants to make a vegetable garden so maybe I can focus her there for a little while. My DD absolutely loves contests. She did both the Noetic Math Competition and Math Kangaroo and had an amazing time. I would love to find more contests out there for her but I am not sure where to find them. It looks like I will be doing some googling tonight!

My ODD is PG and I am looking for ways to supplement her schooling with fun activities that keep her engaged without feeling like school. I have 4 kids 8 and under so I need her to be doing something creative or using her brain without my help and without it feeling too much like school (if this makes sense!) . I feel like if she isn't doing school then she is either reading or wants to watch tv. Even though she loves to read, I would like for her to have other activities as well. For example, my husband gave her a project to build a sky scraper out of legos. He gave her the measurements that he wanted for the top and bottom and she went to town. She did a really great job and enjoyed it. I am looking for more things of this nature but I am having trouble coming up with things. What do you do to keep your kids challenged/engaged? TIA! (Sorry if this sounds all mixed up, I was having trouble articulating my thoughts!)

Wow, what great info! My kids all seem to be in the Level 2 or Level 3 category on the Ruf scale. Bakpak- this whole conversation has me thinking about the same thing! I always felt like I wasn't totally "normal" as a kid. I think if I would have had different schooling I would have shown more gifted behaviors. I thought school was completely easy (all the way through Grad school) but I just thought that it was really that easy. It is interesting to realize that our normal is not the average normal. I have a feeling that I will be doing a lot more research in the future to become more educated on giftedness. DD is taking a class about DNA and Mendelian Genetics next month so this might be a good time to learn about it together!

Wow, thank you all so much! I am glad that there are others that hang out on the gifted forums without knowing from a test :) When reading the forums I see way more things I can relate to on this board. (Lol about the reading materials for the 7 year old!). She can definitely be challenging with school work if she is not totally into it. However, once she gets involved with something she likes, she could easily sit there for hours and work on one thing. The statistics are very helpful, it is really good to know that there is a pretty wide range of what is considered gifted. Based on the link provided about SAT scores, I would have been considered mildly gifted (which I guess I can see, I had just never really thought about it), so that is good to know that they should be within 15 IQ points. We had always just thought ODD was gifted and but didn't really think much about the genetic part of it, now that I am seeing signs in my other two children it is really making me interested to learn more. Not to mention, the rate at which we are flying through advanced material for her age. We live in MD and we are very close to the Johns Hopkins GATE program but most of my friends who have gifted kids do not recommmend it. They said it was more a waste of money then anything....I think I will wait on getting her tested but I feel so much better knowing that others haven't done testing as well. Thank you all so much!

Thanks so much for the responses! DH and I were always smart growing up. We were both very bored in public school and kind of went the wrong way in high school due to boredom. I always excelled in school and did very little work to get straight A's, I could never understand how other kids would have trouble with the material. I haven't done much reading on giftedness because every time I do, I convince myself that my kids aren't gifted because the examples in the books are about kids at 7 doing calculus! It is interesting to know that it is hereditary. My aunts IQ level is insanely high and the rest of my family is pretty intelligent. The only reason for getting her tested would be for my own knowledge. I am not planning on putting her in any programs at the moment. I also am not worried about any issues, I am almost positive she has ADD ( I have it as do most poeple in my family) but I just help her with little tools to help stay focused. I have finally found curriculum for all of our subjects that has her adequately challenged but it is also fun for her. I had the hardest time for a while but I realized that while she is intellectually ready for higher level materials, she enjoys doing the projects/crafts of the second grade level materials (if this makes any sense!). So I have had to do a bit of hodge podging but I think we finally have a good. I think it is more a fact of saying/hanging out on the gifted forums and saying she is gifted without proof!

We have thought that my daughter was midly gifted for a while but now I am beginning to think maybe she is just bright/ahead of the curve. The reason for thinking this is because DD2 recently turned 4 and I see many of the same qualities/traits in her that DD1 has. Also, my DS is only 1 and a half and people are always shocked at the directions he can follow and the fact that he can understand everything I am saying to him. It seems normal because all my kids have been that way, but is it possible to have 3 gifted kids? DD1 is about 2/3 years ahead in every subject and she completely understands all her work. We are doing Saxon (which I know isn't recommended for gifted kids) and she just gets the lesson after one demonstration. We are doing 3/4 lessons a day and minimal amounts of the review problems and she gets every question right on the tests. She is super emotional/sensitive and pretty introverted. She reads on a 7th grade level and taking her book away is a huge punishment. She just retains everything, she is constantly spouting off knowledge that I am not even sure where she learned it! I wanted to get her IQ tested but the Dr. said it would be $500+ and that seemed like too much money for my own information. If she were in school, I would feel like it was more of a neccesity. Anyways, I was just wondering if you guys had any advice!

I am brand new here but I just wanted to let you know that I can totally relate! I have a 7 year old (doing 4th grade), 4 year old (doing K) and an 18 month old (destroying everything in his path :tongue_smilie:). It seems to take us all day to get school in for both girls. I completely understand with the starting and stopping. I recently made an excel spreadsheet to help everyone to know what they were supposed to be doing each day. On the top I have each persons name and then going down the side I have the time in 30 minute incriments. This way I have myself "scheduled" for certain tasks for each time frame. I also have the girls scheduled to make breakfast one day a week, do laundry, chores, extra curriculars, getting ready for extra curriculars, etc. It also lets the kids know when they have free time and when they need to resume school. It has helped so they don't feel like they are constantly in limbo of being called back for school. It helps me because I know everything will get done because I have the time scheduled. It also allows me to make sure the kids are doing what they are supposed to do. An example would be: 7:00 Me- Make Breakfast DD1- Laundry DD2- Clean Room 11:00 Me- Phonics DD1- LA book DD2- Phonics 11:30 Me- Math w/DD1 DD1- Math DD2- Math Workbook 5:30 Me-Make Dinner DD1- Guitar DD2- Typing Instructor For my 18 month old I have a ton of activities on pinterest for toddlers, I need to start setting up more busy bags/tot trays to keep him busy. I too try to do the majority of instruction when he is sleeping.