Our end of first grade plans are in my siggie. We take the entire summer off from school -- Memorial Day to Labor Day. It is glorious! Sacha loves going to camp during the summer -- he will be at sports camp for 4 weeks, theatre camp for 4 weeks, sailing, surf, and music camps for a week each, and then a family vacation to wine country. Our second grade plans: Math -- Beast Academy 4 with a little CWP 4, Moems, Borac, and Hands on Equations thrown in. Logic -- Mindbenders Book 4, Balance Benders Book 1, Visual Discrimination, Logic Countdown, Advancing Through Analogies Science -- Conceptual Physics through Athena's, How Things Work videos, perhaps Exploration Education Literature -- Athena's Intermediate Lit I and II, Mosdos Ruby, and working through the Mensa reading list Writing -- A combo of Treasured Conversations and WWE3, perhaps begin CAP Writing & Rhetoric Grammar, Vocab, Poetry -- MCT Town level, perhaps through Online G3 Spelling -- Switching from Rod & Staff 3 to Megawords 1 Cursive -- New American Cursive copywork with the Startwrite Software History -- Taking a break before starting SOTW4 to do a year of a Canadian (Modern History through Canadian Eyes), California (Beautiful Feet and Harcourt Reflections: California, A Changing State), and U.S. history (continue History of US) combo. Latin -- Getting Started With Latin and Minimus Secundus French -- Getting Started With French Hebrew -- Shalom Ivrit Books 2 and 3, Lashon Hatorah (grammar), Bright Beginnings (Torah), Aleph Bet Quest or Aleph Champ Script Writing Books Computer Science -- Youth Digital Mod Design 1 Extracurrics -- Guitar, soccer, tennis, Parkour, and theatre Weekly charter school classes -- still TBD, but likely art, music, Spanish, and engineering/Lego

For planning purposes, BA 2A isn't expected to be out until late 2017, with a release schedule of about one book every six months. So, the whole series isn't expect to be out until 2019. :svengo:

I was raised Catholic, but was never a believer (though I did go to church, CCD, etc. out of obligation). I assumed that I was just agnostic until my late 20s, when I converted to Judaism. My family has been very supportive. They were never the type, though, that really understood the tenets of their own faith all that well, IMO. So, my family doesn't believe, for example, that my kids and I won't be "saved" because we don't believe that JC is the messiah. (Wow, that was a triple negative -- hopefully that made some sense!) Anyway, they aren't uber religious -- mostly just Christmas/Easter Catholics. The biggest issue was my mom getting over not buying my kids Easter baskets and engraved Christmas stockings -- you know, the important stuff about Christianity. :lol: I think my family is just glad that I believe in "something" -- they feel that it is grounding for me. Having said that, I am not an Orthodox Jew, which would be more difficult (food restrictions, for example). I would also still go to a family funeral or wedding, even if it was held in a church (something the Orthodox won't do). I just don't take part in the actual service. So, if I was more observant in my own faith, it would likely be more alienating to my family members. ETA: Likewise, my family has participated in Jewish festival/holiday/ritual events in my family, without any issues. If you are super observant in your new-found faith, you might have more issues as well. But, I wish you well on your journey, and hope that your news is well received by your loved ones.

We have lived on our sailboat off and on for years, and spend a ton of time in and around the water. So, for us, learning to swim at a very young age is a necessity, not a luxury. Both of my kids have been able to swim across the pool by the time they were 2. (And, I take them in the locker room with me.)

Ooooh. :drool5:

This is a good deal. Probably going to snag this for my DS1. https://www.groupon.com/deals/youth-digital-us?utm_source=fac&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=US_DT_SOM_FAC_TIM_TTT_NF_CBP_CH1_NBR_x%2Afb6036194688781

Give me a break. This is ridiculous. This is one of those occasions when I'm glad that my 7 year old looks 4.

My husband is thin and healthy. So, I can give him the go ahead on that weird scat porn then? :drool5:

Release: Freeing yourself of the unnecessary so you can cherish the worthwhile

My husband's Quebecois accent still sounds like nails on the chalkboard to me. Kilo-mite instead of kilometre, peut-tite instead of peut etre. Drives me batty. Good luck. :)

Thank you for this discussion. How does the Lost Tools of Writing book fit into the WWS, LAoW, WWaT sequence, if at all? After WWaT, do you plan to do something like a WTMA Rhetoric I or Blue Tent Honors English class? I am still so confused about writing.

Can anyone recommend a script writing book to followup after HWT for more practice? Ideally, I would love to make my own Hebrew script copywork using software close to the HWT font. Does such a thing exist? Thanks so much.

It's his first year of preschool, so he has been sick more than in his first two years of life. But, that's pretty normal, in my experience. His cough doesn't sound barky. It's just a regular cough (I don't think there is any sputum). He's had a few ear infections, a couple of colds, a stomach flu, and Hand, Foot, and Mouth.

We are back from the ped. The doctor didn't hear wheezing, and Ronen's pulse ox was good, but the ped believed me enough to give me albuterol with a spacer. I don't think my son would sit still for a neb right now -- whatever he has is currently pretty mild. I only think I noticed it because of my own asthma issues. Hopefully, it is a one-time thing. But, if not, at least we have a way to deal with it and it noted in his medical records for the future. Thank you again for all the advice. Hoping we can all get more sleep tonight. :)

I honestly doubt that he got very much. As mentioned before, without a spacer (and with poor execution on my part) most of it just hits your mouth, but I will definitely mention it. Thank you all.

It's not a barking cough. Just coughing. I didn't put two and two together that the coughing could be reactive airway/asthma until the wheezing. I just made an appointment for this evening to get into the pediatrician after hours. I don't think it is currently serious, but I don't want to ignore it either. Like I said, I know it sucks to struggle to breathe.

I just gave him some albuterol. I will make an appointment to get some for him. Thank you for the advice.

I have albuterol, but don't have a spacer.

My youngest (2.5) has a cold. For the past two says, he has been wheezing and coughing quite a bit at night. I have asthma that gets worse when I am sick. It was awful as a child, was mostly controlled by meds as a young adult, and is mostly nonexistent in middle age (again, unless I am sick). I haven't noticed any wheezing at any other time with him yet (during exercise or from allergies), but this is definitely presenting as asthma to me. Do you think it is worth a trip to the ped, or would you take a wait-and-see approach? I am not sure what types of meds they can give two year olds, but I know that I hate struggling to breathe. Any experience or advice?

As far as I know, they do have the seminar program, but it is a part of GATE. I believe that you need to score higher on the Raven to qualify for seminar, and that not all schools have it. But, even that doesn't start until 3rd grade, and I haven't heard the greatest things about the program from parents of other gifted kids in SD. I would consider Bishop's or Parker for middle or high school, if we had sufficient aid and Sacha wanted to do it. But, I have friends with elementary kids at Warren Walker and they are already slammed with homework. I'm a burnout myself, and I'm just not sure I want that kind of stress for my kid.

This was my experience as well. Sacha went to three preschools to try to keep him busy -- immersion French and Spanish 2-4 times/week, and Hebrew school (non-immersion) on Sundays. It wasn't enough. I still found us afterschooling math, reading, and science, and he was regularly in the director's office at school. Gifted testing doesn't begin in SD Unified until the end of 2nd grade, with pullout gifted programs beginning in 3rd. After our preschool experience, there was no way that I was going to put him in an English language public school class for K-2. I cannot imagine the trouble he would have been in. We may apply to a few of the top private schools in our area for middle or high school, but we would need a ton of financial aid for it to be doable. Even if he got in, the amount of homework and pressure cooker environment at these schools may be too much for him. He is a pretty gentle soul. We will see. It is far down the road and my DS1 is still very young. So, for now, we are enjoying homeschooling the elementary years. If we get enough aid, I will probably let him make the decision about whether to go.

Bumping this because I have the same question.

DS1: Math -- Beast Academy 4 with a little CWP 4, Moems, Borac, and Hands on Equations thrown in. Logic -- Mindbenders Book 4, Balance Benders Book 1, Visual Discrimination, Logic Countdown, Advancing Through Analogies Science -- Conceptual Physics through Athena's, How Things Work videos, perhaps Exploration Education Literature -- Athena's Intermediate Lit I and II, Mosdos Ruby, and working through the Mensa reading list Writing -- A combo of Treasured Conversations and WWE3, perhaps begin CAP Writing & Rhetoric Grammar, Vocab, Poetry -- MCT Town level Spelling -- Switching from Rod & Staff 3 to Megawords 1 Cursive -- New American Cursive copywork with the Startwrite Software History -- Taking a break before starting SOTW4 to do a year of a Canadian (Modern History through Canadian Eyes), California (Beautiful Feet and Harcourt Reflections: California, A Changing State), and U.S. history (continue History of US) combo. Latin -- Getting Started With Latin and Minimus Secundus French -- Getting Started With French Hebrew -- Shalom Ivrit Books 2 and 3, Lashon Hatorah (grammar), Bright Beginnings (Torah), Aleph Bet Quest Script Writing Book Computer Science -- Youth Digital Mod Design 1 Extracurrics -- Guitar, soccer, tennis, Parkour, and theatre Weekly charter school classes -- still TBD, but likely art, music, Spanish, and engineering/Lego

I was thinking of getting Sacha some cryptography books, but I am wondering what level of math he would need to enjoy them. He is currently in BA 3C. I looked at the Cryptoclub book that CTY uses, and it is pricey. Is it worth it? Any other recommendations? http://www.amazon.com/Cryptoclub-Using-Mathematics-Break-Secret/dp/156881223X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453499509&sr=1-1&keywords=cryptoclub There are few other less expensive ones, but I am not sure if they are fun/appropriate? http://www.amazon.com/Break-Code-Cryptography-Beginners-Childrens/dp/0486291464/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1453499405&sr=8-4&keywords=cryptography http://www.amazon.com/Ciphers-Secret-Writing-Childrens-Activity/dp/0486247619/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51SRUr2VyKL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=0JSCHN7HGEZ71WXNAG0Q http://www.amazon.com/Top-Secret-Handbook-Ciphers-Writing/dp/0763629723/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=514PY6C4NCL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR127%2C160_&refRID=1ERH1KDFH57PSHB585WH

Quark, looking back through your journey, I too have been inspired by your unschooly approach. My problem with letting go is that I'm afraid Sacha will just play Minecraft, Splatoon, and watch Stampy videos all day, if left to his own devices. He gets his work done with me without any issues (usually), and seems to not be bothered by our schedule, but I so dream of having a child like yours. What to do...??