This is our favorite!

My plan is constantly being modified and changed as dd approaches the "high school" years. She may decide to graduate a year early or she may do four years of high school. At this point I have no idea what will happen in the next year, let alone the next four years. The current plan is to go broader rather than faster toward graduation. Since she has some high school coursework already under her belt she has room to complete everything she needs in less than four years…maybe a gap year before starting college when she normally would? My dd does not have an interest in math higher than pre-calc or calculus, both of which she could have finished by 10th grade if she went straight through, and with her career ideas (music, writing, or interior design), will not need higher level math. Instead, I am planning courses in Counting & Probability and Statistics. She is interested in learning two languages and in anything to do with music, music theory and music history will continue. She is also finding courses on interior design online (someone on the general ed board suggested some and she bought some books to read). There are plenty of topics in history and science. There is a lot of great literature to keep her busy reading. She likes Teaching Company courses and I now get those in CD format so we can listen in the car while traveling. I am still trying to figure out where and how to fit dual enrollment and/or AP courses into our schedule. Most of dd's time right now goes toward her music. She travels and performs with different groups. She enjoys composing, arranging, and rehearsing with each different group. She is adding singing to her performances and recently began teaching herself a second instrument more regularly (rather than picking it up now and then). She is also working on a couple projects to raise money for different charities and has another project in the planning phase. She spends her free time crafting and decorating.

True, the people I mentioned are adults but I also know young people who play multiple musical instruments as well. All the adults I mentioned have in-depth mastered ability on the majority of their musical instruments…many are All Ireland (World Champions) on multiple instruments and also play professional folk and classical music. Among the young people I know are a 15 year old who when he was twelve won the All Ireland title (under 12 world championship) in piano, fiddle, and harp. His biggest love is classical music and he plays all three instruments classically at a very high standard. A 12 year old we know last year won the under 12 All Ireland title in fiddle, button accordion, melodeon, banjo, mandolin, and piano. He is absolutely amazing on every instrument he plays and I have no idea how he has time to practice all those instruments. He plays classical violin and piano as well…I do not know what level because I have never heard him play those or spoken to him or his mother about them. Editing to add: How many people who begin a musical instrument truly develop "indepth mastered ability," really? So many people begin an instrument in their childhood only to drop it for another or a sport or lack of interest. What if the instrument your child might really become passionate about is the one you never let him try to play? I think there are limits on instrument number based on any number of family reasons but the inability to develop in-depth mastered ability on every instrument would not be a reason for me. My dd has dabbled in a number of instruments and in the ones we own, her interest level (or limits on time based on more interest in other things) has been the limiting factor. For the ones we don't own, cost is the limiting factor and someday she might decide to purchase her own. There is no harm in dabbling and trying things out.

I did smartphone. They not only have the phone to talk and text but also have a camera, video camera, voice recorder, calendar, GPS, can play music with headphones, and have the ability to get on the internet. We have limits in place as far as when phones can be in use.

You already have lots of great suggestions but one thing that saved the day for us when dd was that age and a little older was a mini digital recorder. She could record her stories then either she or I could write them out later. This helped on a few fronts…she wasn't limited to the words she could spell or the slowness of her writing and she could do it at any time so if I was busy when she had a good idea it wasn't a problem. The computer I had uploaded all those recordings to crashed about four or five years ago. :sad: I hated losing all those stories in her little girl voice.

Female, 40's. I voted no. There is no way to define "school hours" for homeschoolers. If a child is old enough to be at home, then there is no reason a parent should be "required" to be there. Children are learning in many ways that do not require direct parent/tutor involvement…online classes, self-teaching units, reading, etc… Families should be free to decide on their own "school hours" and instruction hours.

Congratulations to your ds for making the squad!!

I don't think this is true in every situation. I know a number of people who play multiple, non-related instruments extremely well…professionally. For example, one guy I knows plays fiddle (and classical violin), uilleann pipes, tin whistle, guitar, and concertina. Another guy plays tin whistle, flute, and uilleann pipes (all those are related…similar fingerings), but also bouzouki, guitar, and recently learned accordion in a few weeks because he had an injury that caused pain with his other instruments. Another guy plays harp, bouzouki, tin whistle, and concertina. I know a woman who plays classical cello (has her doctorate in that) and violin, and plays/teaches Irish fiddle, harp, and concertina. The young guy in my son's new trio plays flute, accordion, and bouzouki…plus has a great voice.

Price of instruments is the limiting factor here. Dd's primary instrument is violin but she can pick out simple tunes by ear on tin whistle, harp, concertina, mandolin, banjo, uilleann pipes, and accordion (other peoples' except tin whistle, banjo, and mandolin…we have cheap ones of those or were given them by others). Some instruments are easier for her than others. Our mandolin and banjo are strung the same as her fiddle so the thing slowing her down is lack of practice with a pick. She plays accompaniment for pop songs on piano by ear (while she sings along). She recently bought herself an inexpensive carbon fiber (unkeyed) flute and began teaching herself because she loves the flute instructor at the music camp we attend every summer and wants to take his class (crazy what motivates one to learn something)…she says his expensive flute is much easier to play than her own inexpensive one and by the sound of her playing both, she's probably right. Flute is the only other instrument she practices nearly every day. At different times, she has wanted to learn harp, accordion, and concertina but we just could not afford quality instruments so now she "borrows" other people's when we visit. My ds plays any instrument with strings and a pick….guitar, banjo, bouzouki, and mandolin. He had guitar lessons but is self taught on the other instruments. With poor intonation, he picks out tunes on dd's fiddle or messes with her flute. It seems kids with a good ear can figure out the sound structure (not sure if that's the right way to explain it) of pretty much any instrument in a short time then pick out known tunes. Most of dd's friends enjoy exchanging instruments and messing around though dd's fiddle frustrates her friend who plays uilleann pipes, tin whistles in multiple keys, and flute…that darn bow and the lack of frets. LOL.

You are making me hungry! :drool5:

Some days at work I have patients scheduled one right after another with barely enough time to drive between them. That is "busy" to me. Also, we times when my kids have gigs and lessons with travel in between so we have no time for anything else for a whole week and I feel like I am never home except to sleep. That is busy. If I am home and doing things when I feel like doing them, I am not "busy" even if I get a lot done that day. If someone asks me to do something but I have something else scheduled at that same time or I can't possibly drive to another place this week, I am "busy."

Dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds.

In an ideal world with unlimited resources for all, college would be about learning new things and becoming a well rounded, well educated person. The unfortunately we do not have the luxury of unlimited resources so college is more a means to an end...finding employment in a job that will not make you miserable for the majority of your life while taking on as little debt as possible. If one or more of my kids decides they don't need a four year degree to get the job they want, I don't have a problem with that.

I don't think drive necessarily equals competitive. Maybe in some areas like sports you have to be driven to compete but in something like music, I do not think one has to be driven by competition. My dd does compete but like I mentioned before, the competitions are an excuse to travel and the actual competition takes up a few hours in an entire week or longer trip. She would not change her style to a more "competition" friendly style to place and though she practices so she can perform her best, she does the same for her lessons or any non-competitive performance as well. My ds is equally as driven on his instrument but hates to compete. He did it twice when he was younger and that was enough for him. He still practices daily on his three instruments, listens to other musicians/genres to try to improve his playing, and enjoys composing, arranging, and performing with different people. He is my most laid back kid and is of the opinion that anyone can like him or not just the way he is.

My oldest ds wrestled his whole life. He worked hard, sacrificed a lot of free time, and was passionate about wrestling. It was all he wanted to do. He was a big fish in the small pond of our region. Ds achieved a lot but he never placed at a national competition or even the state level. There are a number of things I attribute that to. During high school, he dealt with a number of unfortunate injuries from a broken ankle to ligament tears to even an elbow in the face during gym the day before his final regional competition which left half his face swollen beyond recognition due to a break in his sinuses and air filling parts of his face it shouldn't have so he was required to wear an eye-sight limiting face mask throughout the competition. He also did not have some of the athletic traits required to be a "top in the nation"/D1 college scholarship winning kid...such as great flexibility, above average speed, or an innate sense of body position some great wrestlers seem to exhibit. Hard work helped some but there were others with more innate "talent." I've also seen some of those with seemingly all the innate talent in the world, including a couple top high school recruits, end up dropping out or doing nothing in college for a number of reasons and others who simply worked harder or smarter rise to the top. We provided ds with as much support as he needed to achieve his personal best...sometimes he did win against better natural wrestlers. He could probably have wrestled at a D3 school fairly successfully but he wanted to try a D1 so he did then ended up coming home to go to community college and stopped wrestling...two broken kneecaps from a skateboarding injury contributed. He has considered wrestling again but the desire to work two jobs may prevent that. Either way, he learned a lot from his time wrestling and those things will be beneficial his whole life.

I was in a bit of a hurry this morning heading off to work but have been thinking about a couple things while driving this morning. I think your high expectations and difficulty in viewing your dd this way have helping her have such a good attitude and as normal a life as possible. I think it is wonderful because it allows you to take a step back when certain opportunities are offered and consider what your dd wants and the pros and cons of taking those opportunities. I can imagine how (I honestly don't know the right word to encompass everything I am thinking...scary, exciting, heady, whatever) it must be to have a similar offer made and go along with it because a teacher suggests it without taking a moment to think. My other thought was...is there a specific set of traits required to be at the very top? Granted we have a small sample size here but it seems all of our kids have some similar characteristics/traits but also some very different traits have been brought up and the extent to which we as parents attribute their skills/talent to certain traits is very different. One child might be more self motivated or motivated by some internal idea of ideal, another is more motivated by high achieving peers, and another might be motivated more by parental pressure. One might need to work for hours to get something where another seems to learn via osmosis. Perfectionism and/or failure might motivate or paralyze. One might need rest or downtime where another works best if under more pressure or when busier. I could probably go on and on. It seems much easier in hindsight to look back and think about what traits a child had and use them to explain achievement. The brain and how it works is fascinating to me. I work with kids who, at least while I am seeing them, are often at the opposite end of the bell curve when looking at early development. I often wish I maintained contact with more families to observe how certain traits seen in the kids as babies and toddlers affect their later development

I think I have a broader idea of "someone" than I expressed…I didn't mean "someone" as in "one" person in particular but meant there must be someone (in the group of people) at the top of their craft. It might be easier to narrow down the "top" to come up with a "best of the best" in sports like swimming or track & field but areas like music or art or writing are subjective so one person's thoughts about what constitutes "the best" might be different than another person's but there are certainly "bell curves" of "talent" (whatever that word means) or skill even in subjective areas. I see all the things my own dd works on improving and I see her as the 13 yo girl she is with her good qualities and challenges. When she competed this past fall, nearly every competitor in her age group were kids we knew had placed in the huge summer competition over the past few years…those kids at the "top" of their age group in the genre (this competition had different age ranges than the summer competition so dd's age group included kids a few years older than her and a couple kids a year or so younger). I listened to all of them play and heard the good qualities in all their playing. I couldn't possibly figure out how the adjudicators could pick a winner. I can usually pick the ones I think are the better players (the ones with better good intonation, lift, nice variations, playing more challenging tunes,etc…the important things in Irish music) but there are so many different regional styles that there is no way for me to choose just one winner or one "best of the best"…another group of adjudicators might have chosen a different winner. In the end it didn't really matter who was the winner, the kids made friends and some played in sessions together afterward, getting to know each other and exchanging tunes and email addresses. With the opportunities being offered your dd, I imagine she must be at the top of her age group on her chosen instrument in that genre at least where she is right now which is arguably one of the most challenging environments for both her instrument and genre around. Are there other 13 year olds playing the same instrument at a similar level around the world? Does it even matter? She is still the 13 year old she is with her own set of good qualities and challenges.

:grouphug:

This is one of the reasons I think it will be interesting to see what direction dd decides to go in her life in the next few years. She has always maintained a full course load of school work and completed most of her classes at a high school level the last two years though I still call her an 8th grader because she has no interest in graduating early at this point. I always think it's important to have a back-up plan in music or sports because anything can happen. About half of the professional Irish musicians we know have a "real" job (anything from carpenter to assistant district attorney) and perform music on the side…it is their way of ensuring they can stay true to the traditional music rather than going more mainstream to increase their fan base and make enough money to live off. There are pros and cons to merging different genres and each musician makes their own choices. Dd has a lot of other interests and the past few months regularly throws around which would be most beneficial to study in college…thinking any of the others she could do without college study or study as a minor. Her goal right now (as of today) is an Irish music program in Ireland (only program of its kind) and she decided to focus on learning Irish (Gaelic) and is learning flute because she knows she will need to know Irish and a second instrument once there. She is interested in writing. She goes to a writing tutor, keeps a blog, has ideas for a novel, and does interviews with Irish musicians hoping to preserve their history and stories. She loves interior design, is taking online classes, and spends hours researching and creating design ideas. Every season her room looks completely different. She makes other crafts which she sells to raise money for charities. My dh has set her up with a ride-along with an interior designer he knows. She also has an interest in Irish studies and takes course online for those topics as well…though that kind of goes along with her interest in the music. She doesn't sleep much but that is her own fault because she is reading when we are home and playing music late into the night when we are not. The times when sacrifices are made seem to be when she cannot be in two places at once…higher level orchestra on Sundays or Irish music gigs? Intense classical music program all day Saturday or Irish music gigs? Or when there is not enough money to go around…next level classical teacher or travel for Irish music? At those times we make lists of pros and cons of each choice (she and I both add our thoughts) then she decides for herself.

There is always someone there at the top. Why would it be so crazy to have it be your own dd with all her wonderful traits, personality, passion, drive, instructors, and opportunity? Aren't those the things that make up the best of the best? Scary for it to be your own daughter, possibly, but not so crazy to believe.

I have found so much useful advice and recommendations about homeschooling and curriculum on these boards over the years. I rarely read blogs though I do keep my own...more as a scrapbook than to give advice though I do keep a list of what works for us now and then. There are certain names I see on the boards whose advice I weigh more heavily than others I don't know or who I see have much younger children than mine. I find it helpful to read what works for someone and why they think it works best but get turned off when someone comments like their recommendation is the only thing that works. I generally read the advice here then do my own research. All my 15+ years of homeschooling have taught me is that no one curriculum works best for everyone.

I have heard it used to explain a child who is mature beyond their years, not with positive or negative connotations but as a descriptor like being tall or brunette.

I voted usually not. We have a general routine…certain lesson times, days I go to work, etc…but I enjoy doing different things, seeing different people, and doing things on the fly. I have not always been this way. I used to like routine but enjoyed when my routine changed like going from summer to school starting or changing classes at the end of semesters.

I get to travel a lot with my kids for their music, at least once a month or so. It is always an adventure whether we are going overnight into NYC to see a show, a long weekend to a festival in another state, or traveling to Ireland for a couple weeks. I like to work in sightseeing and visiting wherever we go.

I also agree Luck= Preparation + Opportunity. I think it's that Opportunity part that seems more like "Luck" or "Good Fortune" (whatever you might want to call it). So many times my kids have gone somewhere, someone happened to be there who heard them play, and that someone became a part of our lives by becoming a friend and/or providing an opportunity. As someone who knew (still knows) very little about the music "business," I view nearly everything that has occurred in our lives besides my kids' love and desire to work hard as luck. True, they would not have had the same people helping them if they weren't working hard but there might be people out there working hard who haven't happened upon the same opportunities as well.