I know it makes for a NAME, but I actually think that with multi-syllabic names it works to just go all out:) My dd''s name is Alexandria Isobel, with a second middle name...and if this one was a girl it was going to be Anastastia Aurora (also with a 2nd middle name). I think it can flow nicely to pull all the sounds together, an it certainly provides a huge selection of possible nicknames, lol. Our problem is going to be finding a boy name that matches. I shall have to have a baby naming assist from the Hive in a few weeks:)

My dd has a fifth bday in about a month and one of the things I have planned is one of those large table-top organizers with tiny drawers. I am filling each little drawer with little craft supplies. Pom-poms, googly eyes, glitter glue, Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, feathers, sequins, all kinds of things. My mom wants to send something so she is sending refills and extras. She is also getting an entire ream of cheap printer paper. This $2.50 gift at Christmas last year was one of her favorite gifts:) Also, she is getting more 'parts' to sets she already uses. Snap circuits, Magnatiles, That sort of thing.

This is one of my dd''s favorite things to do! And the weather is cool this weekend so we are planning a family sleep-out on the tramp if the college Halloween crazies aren't too out of control...although somehow homecoming got planned for the same weekend:(

You can, but getting the dosage just right can be a bit of a problem. Our pediatrician had us first try Fleet PediaLax tablets and juice. They were so much kinder on her system, and they are flavored tablets...

This was my dd4. We opted to go with a solid phonics-based spelling program instead. We are using All About Spelling with great success as she is a very rules-based kid:) We have just finished level 4 and will start level 5 next week. I never intended to go so far through the program at this age, but my dd really loves it and asks for it several times per week. She does seem to be a natural speller, but she loves knowing the WHY of it. And I get to make sure there are no 'gaps' from not being taught explicit phonics in reading:)

Wow, I would be furious. That is a new take on attempts at public shaming. I find it hard to believe it is legal, but probably is. it is certainly unethical:( Is it done by your city, a political action group, or a certain candidate? That will make quite a difference in how to proceed.

She did test high enough. But as she is just turning five I worry that it may/may not be a good fit later. And whilst I sure there are lots of opportunities for groups with younger siblings of Davidson out there, as well as support, camps, etc., I am just not sure there is much ELSE in Reno for us. It is still near the top of our list, but I would need to make some visits and asks round a bit before we would consider it.

Our current area as well. We live in a Uni town and there are lots of private schools for kids advertising 'advanced curriculum' and 'gifted opportunities.' Anyone who does not fit into the bright, teacher-pleasing role is not in the best position to excel at them. The coops tend to be the same.

Dd is going as Aphrodite and wanted mom and dad to dress up too. We are wrapping my wheelchair up in gold paper and I have a circlet so I will be Hera on her throne. Dad has a crown and a foil-wrapped cardboard lightening bolt:)

You are in so many thoughts today. I hope all goes well...

My hubby is British and we are NEVER going to agree on a name for our son-to-be. Some of what he likes sounds like your hubby's likes:) Of course, if my dd has her way we will name him something from Greek Mythology. She cried the other day because I vetoed HephaestusðŸ˜"but WHY mom, he was kind and crafty!" All I could think about was kids calling him 'festering Hephaestus!' Of your choices, I think Benjamin is nice. A couple of possibilities for nicknames as well, and goes well with James.

Excellent advice. In so many of the places we have looked there are gifted programs touted and raved about...but when you look into them they are much more run-of-the mill pull out programs. And we are most definitely planning on homeschooling. Really, there is no other option at the moment. It would be completely unrealistic to expect ANY school to meet her needs. At this point in time, where she is academically, socially, and emotionally are all so divergent that *I* find it a daily struggle to keep up. If anything, I think she comes across as a bit younger emotionally that her same-age classmates due to intensities and her ability to switch from being utterly absorbed by something to bouncing off the walls. Homeschooling her gives us the luxury of chasing rabbit trails when she wants, speeding up or slowing down, doing various curricula and supplements, and so much more. I just would like to have the option to outsource some of it, to be in a location where she will have opportunities and possibilities.

So very sorry...

My dd is a bit younger, but I have found that this is a constant problem. We are consistently juggling back and forth between multiple curricula and supplements looking for a perfect balance. Not enough learning new concepts and she gets bored, always wanting more. Too much in-depth long Beast-style puzzle problems and she gets so frustrated she shuts down. Alex is working through SM 4A at the moment, but we are still playing with Beast 3B. We have tackled some in 3C and 3D as well, to go along with what she was working on, but just because she understands the math concepts does not mean she has the patience to work through the problems. And they can be hugely problematic for young perfectionists! I am fine with that. I want to introduce her to the idea that all math does not have to be easy or have an instant solution, provide her challenge and foster her live of math. I wouldn't mind if we work all the way through elementary math and them come back to them later. In a lot of ways, that would be perfect. A natural review, with extensions:) We also supplement with Primary Challenge math, CWP, math puzzle books and all sorts of activities I pull from the Internet. She chose to put away SM for a bit and asked to work through the Key to Fractions, Decimals, and Percents series. I have no idea WHERE we will actually be when she is done, lol. In addition, she LOVES Hands-on-Equations for 'play time.' It is so gentle and a great introduction to an algebraic way of thinking. (And, plug for cuteness, there is a video of my kiddo on Dr. Borenson's YouTube/Facebook channel having fun with it!) We read short biographies about mathmaticians and scientists who struggled for YEARS on certain concepts or problems. That has been a big help, as well as learning to when to put the problem away for the day...or longer. Ultimately, I don't think there is an easy answer for how to find just the right mix. I think you will have to mix, match, and juggle programs to try to find a decent balance...and constantly adjust that as you go.

You just made my hubby and dd''s day! I broke out the recipe for a chocolate coma. Bring on the anadamides:) The science of the 'bliss' of chocolate so that you can pass chocolate off as a science lesson today:) http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/features/anandamide.shtml

The smile doesn't happen until later, after the chocolate:)

We are planning a trip at Christmas for Greek-mythology-loving dd as part of our regular trip to Europe to visit family. Hoping you get some great suggestions I can steal, but if not I might have more ideas when we return:)

The thing that jumped out at me in your original post was that she gets frustrated when she recognizes that a word isn't spelled correctly. I started AAS level 1 with Alex at four for this very reason. She was reading fluently as well as writing fairly well, and would become frustrated if a word didn't 'look right.' In addition, since she never had any explicit phonics instruction I wanted a solid phonics-based program to teach spelling. I have to say it has been nothing short of amazing for her. However, she really enjoys it and loves, loves the rule-based nature of it. I am not sure what you mean by too much drill as it is most certainly not that. I simply present the rule, we do some examples together and then she gets to apply it. Easy Peasy. I know that some people accelerate through the first levels, even with very young children, as the words tend to be fairly simple. We chose not to go this route for several reasons. I was in no rush, she enjoys it, it makes for extra handwriting (and we practice cursive with 1/2 the sentences!). There are lots of ways to mix it up and do different things. A word building app on IPad, the tiles, typing...we do all of our sentences on a dry erase board with lines. Sometimes she likes to finger spell words with ASL, or do them in window markers on our windows:) We also added in the Montessori wooden parts of speech symbols and she likes to place them above the corresponding word in the sentence she wrote to identify parts of speech. It has been wonderful. I worried so much about letting her go through the levels so young...we will be starting level 5 in November. I even spoke to the folks at AAS about it, but she applies the words and rules in her own writing, can reiterate the rule, and will play a game where I misspell a word purposely and she tells me why it is incorrect and then corrects it for me. She might say, 'no mommy, you have to double the consonant here to protect the short vowel' or remind me to pronounce for spelling. AAS also has lots of 'fun' components that can be be made even more fun for littles. For example, when she was working on the different jobs of silent e for her 'silent e book' she liked to play silent e detective. I gave her a hat and a magnifying glass to sleuth out the individual jobs. She really enjoys the homophones lists and book. And so forth. The point is, I think it is a great program for littles ready for spelling, some grammar, and fun, as it is so easily adapted to BE as much fun as you like. You can stick with the words in the levels and produce a great pretty darn good speller...and if they need a challenge, we use the rules and examples, then supplement with more advanced word lists following the same rules. I get lists from online spelling resources as well as a great book I have called The Natural Speller. Sorry for the long post:) hopefully you will find something useful in there!

I know that she has been learning statistics informally, in the context of papers she is reading...what about doing a more concentrated stats study? Maybe even combined with some applications using statistical software, with basic linear regression. You could take it a in-depth as she requires, or more of an overview. I am sure her mentor will have access to software, and may even be able to get her a copy to use or allow her to do it at the Uni. Some of my bio and chem classes required a certain amount of time spent on them for working with data. And much of it was not all that complicated, but more of a special area. That, combined with some fun math puzzle books could keep her going for quite some time, be useful and applicable to her interests, and could be ended pretty much wherever you got to...

Hhhmmm, one thing I would also note is that in the US, almost everything requires longer drives. An hour is really nothing. We regularly drive 2 hours EACH WAY on Saturdays just to drive to the bigger city for things to do, shopping, etc. In the UK, driving an hour I think is a much bigger deal. Maybe more on par with people in the US traveling 2-3 hours? My FIL and BIL live 2 hours apart in the UK and see each other about 3 x per year because of the 'distance' and the price of petrol. Would Americans drive an hour for a party if gas costs rose 3-4 times as much? Regardless, what were they thinking on the time on a Saturday morning?! ETA: according to this BBC fuel calculator, current average UK prices for petrol would be about the equivalent of people in the US paying $7.75 per gallon where I live. Other places in the US would be almost $1 more. http://m.bbc.com/news/business-21238363

So this is probably a totally disgusting way of looking at it, lol. I have always (since age 5) been vegetarian, but my family growing up was not...so I ate a LOT of processed, high fat, horrible foods. My body was not super healthy:) When I was joining the Army I needed to lose some of the pudge and firm up. I wasn't really overweight, but just...squishy:) I put a one-pound empty butter container in full view in the kitchen. It represents one pound of pure fat...and I could imagine it spread liberally under my skin in copious quantities, like butter on toast. Great in reasonable quantities, but repulsive in big thick layers. Great visual. Not. In addition to grossing me out, reminding me that I was being conscientious about fat calories, it also reminded me that all things in moderation keep a body healthy. (Obviously with the exception of allergies, intolerences, and sensitivities.) So, there you have it. A totally gross visual helped me do the trick. One I will probably never get out of my headðŸ˜

I have been following this thread with interest as I am seeing this with my dd long before I expected to. It is heartbreaking to watch her shut down, to see her learn to say 'I don't know' or 'I don't know how' because she has learned that it is the only way to get the adult interaction she craves. I happened to be observing her Montessori classroom (she is PG, turning 5 in Dec, and attends 3 mornings per week) and watched exactly this scenario occur. The teacher was discussing ovals and circles. Alex is very 'mathy'' and we had been working on finding area of ellipses at home. So when the teacher held up and ellipse (calling it an oval, true enough) , Alex raised her hand and when called upon, excitedly shared that an ellipses are a subset of ovals-that whilst all ellipses are ovals, not all ovals are ellipses. The teacher was obviously trying to just get back in task with 20 preschoolers and made a 'that's nice' type comment. You could see the kid deflate, but when the teacher tried to go on and called an oval an ellipse (I guess as a nod to Alex?) Alex interupted with a correction. She wasn't trying to be rude. It was more of a confused, didn't you hear what I said type thing. I made a mental note to discuss HOW it would be appropriate to correct a teacher with her...but when the teacher scolded her with a 'Alex, we do NOT talk when the teacher is talking, you are the child' I watched my kid totally tune out. And it has only gotten worse. Her teachers are constantly saying 'she just doesn't listen or pay attention.' Well no. She is learning not to. I will not teach her she shouldn't correct a teacher. The world is full, full of incorrect information/misinformation because people don't speak up. Whilst there may be a very, very small population of 'know-it-all' types who like to point out people's mistakes, I do NOT believe that is the case with gifted people. It really is a rub to hear something you KNOW is incorrect, and I cannot for the life of me imagine why one would be happy to sit back and let it go out of convention. I would rather focus my energies to teaching my child appropriate, more effective ways of inquiring/asking for clarification/pointing out errors. As I tell my kid daily, "It is not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it." Mike, I am sorry your child had to go through that. Thank you for sharing, as it makes me doubly intent on watching my kiddo in the context of this classroom.

I have a friend who makes a ridiculously generous salary as a cosmetic chemist. From the way she tells it, she grew up absolutely loving hair, makeup, etc., and used a cosmetology license to out herself through college. She says it has been a huge edge for her:)

Thanks for sharing:) I really try to share holidays from different countries and cultures with my dd4 as she loves any excuse to learn about new people and places. It can be hard to keep track of them so I love that the Hive reminds me. We were able to find some amazing pictures and video on the web, we made little lanterns and strung Christmas lights in her bedroom, had special treats reading a Diwali book from the library. Tonight daddy is going to light off a few left over fireworks. I bet the neighbors are going to LOVE us, lol.

Updating this thread because we are thrilled to say that it seems the progesterone was quite possibly the key for us. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Today is 14 weeks, all testing reveals a strong healthy baby...and it's a boy! I have no earthly idea what to do with one of those, lol. I grew up in a house of 4 girls with all girl cousins. My dd has decorated the house in pink frills, despite our pre-child assertion that we would not do that☺ I just had to share:)