I don't know if this applies - but this article was helpful to me a few years' back. I had DD (then 4) tested for Autism with Chidren's Hospital Los Angeles - and her results came back as not autistic - which didn't give me many answers at the time... I stumbled across this article about Hyperlexia and Einstein Syndrome - and for my daughter, Hyperlexia type 3 definitely applies. It was actually a huge lightbulb for me when I discovered Hyperlexia Type III because it fit her so perfectly - it was pretty much an AHA moment (to use that over-used phrase - haha) My friend's son most likely has einstein syndrome - and again, she initially thought he had autism...but he doesn't quite fit the parameters for it. This is the article - there are more, but this is what started me down the path of researching hyperlexia (and for my friend, researching einstein syndrome...) http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/2013/07/08/oops-when-autism-isnt-autistic-disorder-hyperlexia-and-einstein-syndrome/ This may not apply to you - but it's worth a read... (Edited to add: the article also talks about Savant Syndrome and Darold Treffort's book - Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired and Sudden Savant (2010))

It's just knowing how many objects are in a group without counting... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing

I have not read all the replies - but wanted to chime in with my experience... What you describe sounds like the world where I had my kids in public school - we were in the 3rd best performing district in California and our school's educational foundation raised about $7million/year from the parents alone for our very small district's enrichment activities, low class sizes, educational specialists, etc. These kids are very wealthy kids with educated parents who give them every opportunity they can (including, I would say 85% of kids are redshirted) - pretty much every parent was volunteering in kinder (and if they weren't volunteering, their nanny was volunteering)...it was basically a private school experience in a public school setting. and yet... it did not work out for us! LOL. We spent a lot of our resources trying to stay in that district because it was "so good" - and it is good, but when you have a child SO outside the norm academically, it was just not a good fit for us. My first DD was in kinder and was reading at 6th grade level, and doing algebra at home... then we decided to homeschool (and move to a less expensive school district, and lower performing district - bc since we were homeschooling, it didn't matter)... and now DD#2 (who just turned 5) is reading at 6th grade level and excelling at chess, and math, and all these other subjects... And while it's great - it's just really isolating, as well - because if I bring up their struggles to anyone (and they do have them) - then it makes me sound like a braggart - and people either don't believe me or want to compete with me. So I just shut up about it to everyone I know IRL. I didn't really want to homeschool - mind you, I moved to that other district specifically FOR the schools - and I have a career I would love to go back to - and I wish that would have worked out for us...but it didn't... I don't know what to say except my kids do exist in a bubble. My DD (now 8) is doing highschool science, reading, and thinks she is an average kid (she doesn't believe she is "smart" or not smart - she believes that her level of achievement is quite normal) - and same for my 5 year old. My 5 year old assumes everyone can read like she can...and honestly, it doesn't come up much bc they don't interact with other kids academically anymore...all their activities are other things like gymnastics, piano, theatre, swim team, etc. It is a really odd situation to be in - and one I feel like is really alienating bc there is a lot of ego involved in other parents, some kids, and just society in general surrounding giftedness and acceleration. In a way, I think it would be AWESOME if my kids were at grade level in a regular school environment with typical peers. But what I found is that my child was always sort of singled out - like at the beginning of kindergarten, you were supposed to have a parent come read the book for you on your special day - and my daughter wanted to take in Little House on the Prairie (the book she was reading at home) and read a chapter herself - and it just made her seem freaky...so I felt like she always had to downplay/hide her gifts - and now that she's at home, she is "normal" for herself...

I just ordered the practice workbooks so no worries - LOL. I just didn't realize how important they would be, especially since this will all be review. I guess my intent is to get her excited about math - and trust me, that is an uphill battle for my literature/art girl. Haha.

Well, that's an endorsement if I ever heard one!!!! very cool! :-)

crazyforlatin - i figure i'll just show her the book first. she likes to make up her own practice problems (highly creative, self-directed) - so I'll see what she comes up with and then if she needs practice, i will order the book. fingers crossed she likes the textbook enough to read it!!!!

Kiana - Thank you so much! I went ahead and bought just the Beast Academy 3A book (not the practice, just the regular) used on amazon so I can see how she responds to it - if she likes it or not. If she does, then I think I'll explore the other levels and books... I am interested in the jousting armadillos - will look more into that! you're right - after looking at it more closely - she's probably not ready for aops.

I am at the end of my rope with DD8 and math. Seriously - the END! She absolutely hates math. She is SO lazy with it - she finds the concepts easy but boring and "not worth her time." She would rather be drawing, writing stories, doing science... Right now she is almost at the end of Teaching Textbooks 6 - we started with TT3 and have worked through all the lessons and grade levels- she usually gets most of the problems right (95% or so) - so I know that the difficulty of TT6 is not too much for her. We also do Life of Fred (mostly for her 5 year old sister) - it's not at her level, but she tolerates it. It's just not really as robust of a math curriculum as I'd like for her - she is NOT an auditory learner, so I don't know how much she is really benefiting from LOF. She is a highly visual learner - she really likes computer work and online classes and especially anything video-based or game-based or interactive. She also loves drawings, illustrations, comic books, pictures - and anything story-based. I am wondering if AoPS or Beast Academy is something that would work for her? I went to the website and I am feeling overwhelmed. I really need something FUN that she can do mostly on her own with a little help from me - I have two other young kids, my husband works all the time (often gone for weeks at a time) - and I am also 6 months pregnant...so I just don't have the energy to do anything above and beyond with math. If she loved it, it would be different - but every single day, it's tears, tantrums, sulking, pouting...and I just don't want to deal with that! I just would love any feedback you have about AoPS - if that's even appropriate for her - or the Beast Academy. Honestly, I just don't understand the curriculum - but if I could have some insight, then maybe it's something I could get for her and maybe it would work better for us than Teaching Textbooks is?

I live in Los Angeles - it is not a good fit for me - but I hope that in the future, it will be a better fit for my kids (they are quite young now). I think if the cost of living were not a factor, then a big city can be great. I have a hard time with the population density, the high cost of living, and the lack of accessible outdoor spaces (like forests). One of my kids has pretty big sensory issues (and I do, as well) - so that is a factor because we live on the Westside of LA, and it is always crowded everywhere. I grew up in Indiana - and long for the days of wide open spaces. There are so many great resources now available at most major research universities (I went to Indiana University Bloomington and could not have asked for a better undergraduate experience). If I could live anywhere, I would probably live there... I have also lived in the Bay Area (not a fan for the same reasons as Los Angeles)- and have just found I am a better fit in a more rural environment with a slower pace of life. I think that it depends on the child's disposition - my kids would LOVE to be able to ride horses and build forts and have space to explore - which I think is something that many gifted and accelerated kids crave... Just my 2 cents. :-)

I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this! We signed up last week and my daughter did the Earth Science class (videos/quizzes). She finished the course after a few days and has now moved on to Biology and Chemistry - she really loves it. I know it's not a full curriculum - but it's pretty amazing what she picked up in the Earth Science portion - and more than that - she really loves it and it motivated her to explore books at the library on various topics she'd learned about in the videos. I think if we did subscribe after the 6 months, I would do it on a month to month basis - one course at a time. She seemed pretty "done" with the class after a week (had watched all the videos and read the material) - so for me, buying a full year's access would not be as useful as just going month to month and seeing where the interest leads. Anyhoo- I just wanted to say thanks bc I had been looking for something like this for awhile and kept coming up short. Yay!

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that is awesome!!!

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Reflex Math was a favorite here...

thanks, guys - this is really helpful!

You definitely don't need to be LDS or Mormon - from their website: Nondiscrimination Policy We are committed to providing products and services free from unlawful discrimination. Unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, veteran status, and/or disability will not be tolerated.

I was wondering if you have tried the BYU Indpendent Study Courses. Experiences? Thoughts? Opinions? Ultimately, I would be more interested in whether the University courses transferring to other college programs, grading practices, etc. - but I am also interested in how the Middle School and High School classes play out. Thanks! https://is.byu.edu/site/index.cfm

the san diego quick assessment is always a good place to start for word recognition, etc. http://facstaff.bloomu.edu/dwalker/Documents/San%20Diego%20Quick%20Assessment.pdf for fluency and comprehension, I look up the lexile level of books and have them read the books to me, noting how fluently they read them - and we talk about their understanding afterwards. I also note if something makes them frustrated... Of course, different kids respond to frustration differently - one of mine has a very high threshold for frustration and another child has no tolerance for being challenged/frustrated. LOL https://lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/grade-equivalent-chart/

I had no idea this was a thing - I do a weekly wrap up blog post every Friday. :-) http://urthmama.com/adventures-in-homeschooling-volume-3/

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply! It actually really helps a lot. I think the idea of the "least worst option" is very fitting - it's actually why we are homeschooling at the moment. When we moved to our school district (very expensive and, honestly, out of our price range) - we had heard so many wonderful things about the district and the opportunities for gifted kids - and nothing was enough...really, that sounds ridiculous, but it was nowhere NEAR enough. So after two years of trying to make it work, we left the district, moved to somewhere less expensive (yay!) - and now we're homeschooling. Prior to having my daughter, I never thought I'd be homeschooling her! She is pretty introverted and independent - her younger sister is a very accelerated autodidact - while I love that we have the EEP program at CSULA, I also wonder if it's more set up for kids coming from traditional school settings. My kids are not particularly achievement oriented - they love to learn for the sake of learning, and they are not used to being graded, competition with other students, and testing (at least not at this point). I wonder if it would be better to let them enter that world very gradually... So, while I don't really want to do the credit by examination route - I think it may be a good fit for them when they are younger because they can learn at their own pace without classroom pressures. The downside is that many of the credits will only transfer to certain schools (the CSUs, less selective - and not the UCs)... The idea of online learning has also been appealing to me because they can set their own schedule with it, for the most part, and it doesn't involve me driving them or being physically at a campus location! I am very drawn to the idea of a peer group at the EEP program - and for the first time, my daughter would have others who "get" her - I just wonder if it's a good fit for her with her personality - and she is definitely not STEM - she wants to be a writer/artist - so...I don't know if that's a great fit at the CSULA EEP, in particular - where most of those kids seem to go on to med school, phd in science programs, or law school after graduation... I wish it were easier - I keep telling myself these are good problems to have - just sometimes I think how much simpler it would be to have a child at or near grade level and push along with the typical way of doing things!!! :-)

I am so excited you're answering questions - thank you!!! Okay - so if you had to choose between these options (given what you know now) - which would you choose: 1) EEP Program like MBC (in my case, it's the CSULA EEP, we are within commuting distance) 2) CHSPE (California high school equivalency exam), Community College for two years, then transfer to local 4 year university as a junior (at age 14 or so)... 3) Independent homeschool study, AP CLEP and DANTES exams, then apply to college or university with advanced credit from credit by examination 4) Wait and apply to more selective undergrad at age 16 or 17 (just a year or two early)...possibly out of state Thanks so much!

Oh, and one thing I wanted to add - I think the most important thing about TT (the thing that makes or breaks it in terms of being effective, at least for me) - is to sit with the child during their lessons and while they do their problems. I know that TT is supposed to be independent - but in my experience, it helps A LOT to sit with the child - and guide them, redirect them - and even repeat lessons, etc. If the child has a problem they can't solve, it's nice to have someone there to help them through it. My dd had a lot more frustration (and lower scores) with TT back when she did it without me sitting next to her. I don't give her the answers or anything - but I help explain things when the computer really isn't doing it fully... Hope that makes sense.

We do TT and are currently in the middle of 5th grade year. I think whether or not it's enough depends on your child - here's how we do it: -DD watches the demo, answers all the questions including practice problems - she can either do them in her head or write down on a piece of scratch paper. that's it! :-) she usually gets 100% or maybe 95% - if she gets less than 85% or so, then I know I need to reinforce things with her in other ways but that hasn't been an issue. On the side, she did Reflex Math to memorize her facts (she loved it at first and is now OVER it) - we also do a couple of chapters of Life of Fred as part of before bedtime reading...that is a family thing we do with our younger daughter, as well... We kind of drop in and out of other math enrichment programs - but for the most part, we just do Teaching Textbooks (and now Life of Fred most nights)... I feel like Life of Fred helped her understand Math bettter (since started LOF, TT has become easier for her) - although I don't think Life of Fred would be enough on its own - it just sort of helps her understand real world application of math... And fwiw, I think TT has PLENTY of review. Right now my DD does 2 or 3 lessons/day of Teaching Textbooks - and I notice how many times they do the same type of problem again across multiple lessons. (I think) - they do a great job bridging the topics from one lesson to the next - so for example, in the section where they learn Roman Numerals - you have to answer the problems across MANY different lessons - not just the one or two lessons that taught Roman Numerals.