I remember making note cards that had new vocabulary words written with fancy letters and included pictures drawn into the words (like the "v" of avion was turned into an airplane).

I just saw a Great Courses series on organic chemistry in the catalogue with "special sale issue for new customers" on the cover. It's a 36 lecture series on sale for $54. (Sale ends 2/11/16). I don't know if it's any good but I thought of you when I saw it.

Genetics was my first thought too.

I have found it very valuable to discuss literature at this age. Finding the protagonist, antagonist, the subtext and symbolism of children's lit is pretty easy because the authors have written it for children, and this gives great practice for when they read more complex literature later. We have followed the suggestions from Deconstructing Penguins and How to Read Literature like a Professor for Kids. Books that have gone well included: the Phantom Tollbooth, Hans Brinker, Peter Pan, Secret Garden, Cricket in Times Square, the Hobbit. My DS hates reading aloud, so we have reading time together-but we read separately from the same chapter of a book and discuss afterward. I like it this way because I can gauge my son's reading speed and compare that to his comprehension. Some books have completely flopped and had to be shelved. But most of the time, a good snack and company on the couch has been enough to keep him pushing through genres that he would not usually choose to read on his own.

Sounds awesome. Would this be a good place to pull in more alcumus or has she already mastered all of that?

I watched the U.S. first season and enjoyed it myself, but I used a TiVO to record it and I watched it later. On a couple of occasions I saw value in showing my son a few clips of children working hard and succeeding or kids answering fun questions that I thought he'd enjoy trying himself--but it is definitely too dramatic for my intense DS to watch without some filtering.

My first thought: time for some AoPS prealgebra. But I found it to be parent intensive for my 7 y.o. So, my second thought: have you tried the FAN math Process Skills books? They can be purchased from the Singapore math website and the level on the book cover corresponds well with the Singapore math level. They teach how to work problems with drawing pictures, but it is really algebra that they are teaching. Instead of "x", you use a box. These books could be worked through fairly independently. I thought they were pretty cool, and my son gets a kick at looking back at these books (now that he has some algebra under his belt) and trying the same problems with algebraic methods.

Thank you for finding this for us, Ruth! That looks exactly like what I'm looking for!

That Don Killgallon book looks really promising. Please tell me more about MCT. A long time ago I purchased the Island set of books and found them mostly unhelpful. I must be missing something because almost everyone else seems to like them. Which MCT book gives such writing advice?

I don't "know" that he writes on a 6th grade level. I've had several people look at his writing and compare it to other children, and I'm making a guess based on what they've said. I probably should have said that I'm looking for something that would challenge most 6th graders. :-)

I'm looking for a different writing curriculum for my ds8, who writes on about a 6th grade level. We've done IEW and I loved the basic principles taught there, but my son became tired of rewriting someone else's ideas. So I tried writing strands, which I also liked in that it gave some guidance while allowing my son more creativity. But here's what I'm dreaming of: a curriculum that presents a passage of literature that represents wonderful writing techniques and then challenges the student to mimic the technique in their own creative way. Thank you in advance for your help!

I guess it depends on the program. I've looked at Curtis and dreamed for my son (but he's only 8). They provide mentors for the younger students and access to mental health professionals (I don't know how to interpret that). And I beleive that the younger students take class together as they are expected to be in grade school in the morning. Here are my two cents on the matter: I would jump at the chance just to help him find peers as devoted to music as he is. But I fear that it would define his future at too young of an age.

Imposter syndrome is something that many of my friends and I battled as we pursued higher education in sciences. Perhaps it was because we were young women? I even remember being asked in med school interviews how I expected to be a doctor when I was bound to have children that I would need to care for! The old men's club made us all feel out of place. But we were at a disadvantage from the beginning in that we were perfectionists in an unhealthy sense and had always defined ourselves by our past successes. It didn't take much for us to feel that these successes had been accidental or given to us because we were "cute ". Much later I realized that the old men's club did not define themselves by their success stories, but simply by the fact that they had done enough work to get them into their position of leadership. Focusing on the work put in and not on the success that comes out can really help the imposter syndrome. I felt greatly helped by a book by Carol Dweck called Mindset. i initially read the book to help my DS who showed perfectionistic tendencies like myself. Perhaps it could help your DD? Or it might just help to show her how much work she has done-- not how many awards she has won, but how many pieces of paper she has scribbled her ideas on and how many hours she has put into her ideas. That is what makes her great and deserving of opportunities.

Good for you, letting your boy take a class that you thought wouldn't go well! Way to be brave and wow! did it pay off! Congrats to you both!

My son loves to write music as well. The best thing we did to feed the passion was to purchase a program called Notion for IPad. You enter notes either by handwriting on the tablet (better with the new iPad pro) or by tapping on the piano keyboard. You can select note weights, tempo markings, dynamics, etc and then it will play it back for you. You can also write for many instruments at once. My son's all string orchestra will be playing one of his pieces written with Notion this spring!

Along with knitting: Cross-stitching, crochet There's the ever popular rainbow loom (if you don't mind a gazillion little rubber bands around the house) More intellectually stimulating: flexi Puzzle by Brainwright, or Ivan's hinge by Fat Brain Toy Co.

What about computer programming? Has he tried Scratch?

Agreed. BTDT. One day you will turn around and she won't be able to put the book down. You will have to remind her that she "hates reading". Until then, make sure she sees you reading for fun. And consider putting books on an electronic device. Then you can make the font look really large, and the thickness of the book is not intimidating.

I was thinking that earlier this week, and these lists helped: http://bookreviews.me.uk/childrens-classics/ http://www.mensaforkids.org/MFK2/assets/File/Achieve/Excellence_in_Reading_4-6.pdf http://www.mensaforkids.org/MFK2/assets/File/Achieve/Excellence_in_Reading_7-8.pdf

DS7 is doing Hewitts conceptual physics and loving it. First, when my son asked in algebra, why do I need three variable equations, I said, it's time for physics 😄. This book and AoPs Intro to algebra go well together. Secondly, the practicing physics book that goes with it provides some nice worksheets for each chapter that basically teach the concepts in a Socratic way. Finally, the laboratory manual has some great experiments that are easily done with stuff around the house. We spend one hour on Tuesday doing selected readings from the text and worksheets, and one hour on Thursday doing lab. There's 35 chapters so we try to hit one each week. Love it!

I must second "Magic function", known as the function game in our home. We also like to play 24, but we don't have the actual card set. We just take turns coming up with 4 numbers that can be put together some way to make 24 and let the other person figure it out. For example, I might say 5,5,1,1, and he might come up with ( 5x5-1)X1. I don't suggest trying to play these games while figuring out which paper towel brand is the best buy for the money.

Thank you for sharing! Now we can be proud of him too!

Thank you for the heads-up!

We always presented in dress pants and blouse. I never saw our grad student girls present in a blazer. But the snake print tunic dress sounds perfect.

So you may have already done these; but with SOTW 3, we did these: Caddie Woodlawn Mr Revere and I Ben and Me Sign of the beaver Witch of blackbird pond Others that we particularly enjoyed and I haven't seen mentioned yet: Voyages of Dr Dolittle Phantom Tollbooth HTH!! Janet