Thank you for the invite. I love you dearly. I wish you the happiest life together. I hope you love the gift, which was chosen and sent with pleasure. I am sorry I won't be able to make it to (chose one: Aspen, NYC, Paris, your desert island refuge) on (chose one: Labor Day weekend, Christmas Eve (I am not kidding), the 4th of July or New Years Eve at midnight) (chose one: with or without my five children). Please don't take it personally. I barely attended my own wedding ("elopement" on the beach with strangers as witnesses and followed by a swim).

Ursine is lovely--it calls to mind a peaceful mother bear. It could also be a stealth insult lobbed at the right person in the right circumstance. Along with porcine. Both divine.

:bigear:

..or maybe you already know about this: Just under the numbers of pages on the upper right corner of your screen is a the word "ratings". If you click on that the posts are organized by ratings, which means that you get, starting with the most recent, all the posts with five-star ratings. 8fills the heart on writing? all right there. lewelma on science? check. Captain Uhura on creative problem solving? There! Nan in Mass on developing academic skills? Yep! Discussion of technology goals, outside the box teaching, outlining, finding balance are all there. The other sub forums don't seem to have a similar feature. Maybe people don't rate posts there. Anyway, I thought those of you who don't know about this might like to. As an aside, I have decided to have the kids do their writing tomorrow first thing. then we are jumping the in the car and driving the 1.25 hours to Ikea. I need a non-enriching break, and I also need bedside lamps for my big boys so the nightly lights out argument between them can end. We'll put a little SOTW and some Joan Baez on and just bust out. Hope it is as fun as I think it will be. I rarely go on shopping junkets, and certainly not with kids. Wish me luck!

All the money and intelligence in the world means nothing without good health. Wishing all the people who knew and loved him strength.....

I have renewed hope. My baby is rounding 2 years and I am feeling bereft. I am approaching 45. A girl can dream (which is about all I can do while DH is in Afghanistan).

Bumping a post that can't be read too often, or by too many people.... SaDonna, did you ever pull all Lewelma's gems together into a quick and easy file? I was about to do so, but if you already have and wouldn't mind posting or e-mailing I would be very grateful--to both of you.

Egypt. South Africa. Namibia, Tunisia, Libya (for five hours in 1990), Tanzania. Would love to go back.

That should read: photography. It's impossible to believe we've been there 10 years. A good read, but I am biased: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/tyler-hicks-a-decade-in-afghanistan/

Bumping for the evening crowd.

:iagree: There are three threads running now that have been really thought-provoking and absolutely relevant--one is one I started as I try to puzzle out what to do with my son, the second is about starting AOPS with younger kids, and this one. I have though much about the responses to all three of them, and feel like I need a good hour to pick up the conversations and ask follow-ups. I'm also thinking of moving to Richmond (for math), New Zealand (for science) or somewhere close to Capt. Urhura (for everything else).

I've been collecting spelling mistakes the children make, and vocabulary words form our science, history and literature reading and other sources. The idea is, of course, to incorporate the former into their spelling lessons ( we just use workbooks for those) and the latter into their daily work and later into vocabulary study (MTC--that portion of the program hasn't kicked in yet). So far I just have a lot of little notes on post its and notecards. I don't have a system. If you do this, how? I know I just need to develop a habit and a simple system but I'd like to hear how others have incorporated this rich source of relevant stuff into their programs. Thank you

They love to read, and they love all kinds of content. My 9 yo DS reads broadly and deeply and wants more challenging content. (My DD 7 is a determined student and avid reader, but much happier in the more traditional lanes of life, she likes to do well and work hard. I get her much more clearly, and feel like what we are doing is working wonderfully for her, though she wants more science too.) DS doesn't like to do work other than reading and sometimes talking. He'll do it to get the check mark but he doesn't like writing and is impatient with any kind of forms or lab reports or nature journaling. He'll spend hours moseying around our nearby lakeshore, examining what he finds and searching for animals. He loves to fish, and examines all creatures he finds with great passion and a kind of quiet wonder. (When he fishes on the ocean with his dad he will spend much of his time examining the catch, while everyone else on the boat casts for more). This is really part of the core of who he is, and when he is doing this kind of exploring in nature he is very calm and his whirring mind settles. Anyway, like many here we all read like crazy. We read in a pleasure-driven haphazard way. The kids know a lot but I never quite know what to DO with all of it, or how to help them make it more their own or more outward. I think it is important that they can communicate (write and talk) and produce (make cool books, posters, etc.). But they are greedy for knowledge and lazy about sharing. FWIW, My son's last ps teacher said the that his hunger for information and new material was like that of someone who was always after that next dopamine blast. After he got it, he was on to the next thing. I am rambling, but this is somewhat hard to put my finger on. I've pated recently about DS elsewhere. I'm busy pondering and observing. I like your other posts about science education, lewelma, and so would love to hear your thoughts, and anyone else who would like to comment. I don't mean to hijack, but I also think my problem is not unique among this crowd so maybe I'm contributing something to the conversation here.

My main concern is that the history and history of science program that I've been pulling together contains a lot of material he's very familiar with. In general, I'm finding it difficult to find a good balance between the content levels and the skill levels in the work we are doing. Obviously, I need to challenge him to expand his skill base, and learn to follow-through and focus on completing learning tasks (in short, he needs to work on his writing). But I fear the material I intend to use to do this is old hat. As for him hogging attention, I can see that my post would give that impression. He's actually painfully quiet and self-absorbed at times, and today he was really busting out. He's not a limelight guy.

So very interesting. I tried the Ma Lipping book this summer. I didn't get too far. It's not really beach reading, but I'm going to haul it out and take another run at it. Recently I caught most of The Emperor's Club, a movie that featured a lot of boarding school teaching at its best. I've been feeling like I need to up my game since then. I know we have to be realistic, but I also know how awesome it is to walk thread along the Socratic edge both as a student and a teacher. I am not a natural teacher (I'm a bit too internal for that. I'm greedy for knowledge and understanding myself but only once I've had kids could I be bothered to try to share that), but I love when I can feel myself growing in that role. So thanks for engaging on this. And I am so flattered about the blog post, laughing lioness. That's a first for me!

Love this.

DS9, highly gifted in math, avid, compulsive reader (hours daily, with lots of breaks for age appropriate play and shenanigans and shirking of chores and piano). His non-math learning skills (in short writing, study skills, follow through, listening skills, work ethic) are decidedly grade-level. It seems that anytime we engage in something not skills-oriented he knows most of the material. Some examples form today: Starting Music of the Hemispheres with DD7. The opening section mentions that scientists from the middle ages believed the planets produce musical notes. DS pipes in that Pythagoras thought the same thing. He discusses that for a while. Then he says that in 1944 it was discovered that pulsar stars do in fact produce sound-like waves. More on that. The section goes on to discuss the two hemispheres of the human brain. This brings to his mind the differences in the structure of both Einstein's and Beethoven's brain. He discusses and grabs a book off a shelf to check something. For history we are doing a mix of Story of the World (my dd's speed) and Story of Science (ds's speed) and are off cycle a bit. We started the Romans today. We were reading a little fiction as an intro, and DD and I are treated to a nifty little chat about citizenry vs. slavery followed by a bit on Julius Caesar and whether he wanted to be king and then some about Hannibal and the elephants. Of course, a little bathroom humor best in there as we chat about Roman city planning and toilets. We haven't done this part of history yet. For the record, He's not interrupting. This is all part of our relaxed afternoon salon--cookies, books, Jim Wiess reading SOTW, map coloring, and Kapla blocks. But it made me wonder if I am doing the right thing with him. He already is conversational in many of the things I wanted to examine this year. We have similar issues in science discussions, which has made committing to an approach rather difficult. I'll repeat that his writing, and other important skill skills are not anywhere near his broad knowledge. And his attitude about nitty-gritty morning-at-the-table schoolwork is not terrific. What do you more experienced moms of gifted kids think? I hope I'm not coming off as braggy. (I think here I am safe to describe and not be interpreted as bragging.) I think he's pretty cool, but I am also perplexed. And concerned. And I feel out of my depth. I know skills

I just found this open file on my desktop. It's written by my 11 year old. He's a former reluctant (and now voracious) reader and long-time remedial writer. He's had an eclectic schooling history--Russian public schools, home schooled, PS. Now he's at a charter. We had a college student writing with him over the summer. This is the start of a story due Wednesday. I am knocked out. Good for you, buddy! Death by School Bus By XXXXX I’m standing in the cold, water dripping from the trees above me, a cold wind surrounds me. I’m waiting,waiting for the squeal of the bus.Then the wind picks up and the temperature plummets. One minute goes by, and then another but still no noise. Then I hear it, the squeal of the bus, I look over and see it. A yellow beast rounding the corner and heading towards me. It squeals to a stop and I cross the street , slowly, steadily, towards the other side.

Bring a friend or make one there. Are there other younger siblings? Otherwise I'd spread out a blanket and have a long picnic with snacks, books to read on his own, books to read to him, coloring books, crossword puzzles, Calvin and Hobbes, Asterix and Tin Tin. Music on an iPod. Audio books.

I think I might do that, Jean. Send them out back BEFORE the baby's nap, and sneak out to the front porch with my morning Joe and my New York Times Magazine from this week and last. I'll sip and breathe. And read. Can't hurt and it just might help.

That would be "real grouch". The five soccer games and the sleepless nights (I have a few things I'm fretting about. the kids have been sleeping fine) and the head cold and the I-haven't-worked-out-seriously-since-school-started blues have all combined to make a perfect storm of mean mommy. My kids even gave me several freebie do-overs but I kept blowing them. Barking, whining, complaining. Urgh. New day tomorrow, but that is what I said yesterday. Dh out of town so he can't help. Three weeks in and I need a sabbatical..... Thanks for listening

Thank you so much for posting this. I was just on Amazon about to order a purple cow laminator. I thought I'd check back here to see if anyone had anything to say about laminators in general or that brand. My search popped this thread. Great news! I ordered it, and since I have Prime I should get it by Thursday. Happiness!!!! I'm shopping around for pouches though. Looks like delivery time for the 9X11 is a month. I'm sure I won't be able to wait that long. I never would have found this deal without this post, so thanks again!

We've been using Spelling Workout (Monday and Tuesday) and Soaring with Spelling (W, TH, Fr) for my two good spellers. These are not teacher intensive programs at all. It's great to have an easy subject--as in "while I am working with X on this, you can get started on your spelling..."--so I can focus on things that are more challenging to both teach and learn. While I would never say I love them they do the trick and that is good enough for me. PS I used AAS with my oldest, a remedial speller. It worked when we worked but sometimes the complexity of all the doodads was too much for this busy mom. Better an imperfect program that gets done than a great one that doesn't.

Yes. This is exactly what I mean. BTW, I studied Russian as an adult.My teacher would sometimes laugh at my mistakes in handwriting. It was very humbling. At the time my two oldest were learning to read and write in English. I was a very sympathetic teacher!