Hhmm, I guess I don't necessarily equate accelerated with gifted. Gifted kids are often accelerated, but accelerated kids are not all gifted maybe? Please don't take this the wrong way as I am not singling you out...I just think this is the whole point of this thread! For her, that WAS her experience. It is no less valid than yours, right? and I can absolutely understand how frustrating that must have been to really want to give your child the gift of reading early on, firmly believe it to be possible, yet your child needed something different! I think every parent finds themselves in that position with SOMETHING they want to pass to their kiddos:) The point is, everybody, every parent goes by the experiences they had with their own child/children. They do their best. But, as your response highlights, it is very difficult to talk about personal experiences or even the beliefs they have taken from their experiences when everything you say may well be taken as bragging by someone who had a different experience. Just as someone who had a child on a typical reading/learning path might find it extremely difficult to believe that all children can learn to read early, in a fun and joyful manner, a person with her experience might find it difficult to believe the opposite. Unfortunately, one belief is popular and the other is ...taken as bragging.

Just to preface, I also read your secon post but cannot seem to multiquote on my phone or IPad:( This is a very tough subject for me as I feel like I can't even join in everyday mom conversations about what their kids are up to. Yes, you can make VERY broad generalizations like, "yes, my kiddo always has her nose in a book", but as a previous poster said, this says basically nothing. Fine for some conversations. But I get really, really tired of being left out of those conversations because I know I cannot chime in with the more specific things they are talking about without hearing crickets. Part of the problem is that I take my dd4 to a mostly non-academic preschool 2 days per week (6 hours) just so that she can run around and get messy. The other kids in the class are doing a sort of VERY laid-back letter-of-the week program. None of them are close to reading, fair enough....but I hate feeling like I have to sensor every.little.thing I say or amusing anecdote because I WILL be taken as bragging. Ask me how I know. And another poster in another thread mentioned noticing in signatures that the programs kids accelerated are working on 'must be taking hours' kin of thing, as if the kid is accelerated so we must be having them slog away at the table for hours and hours. Definitely not picking, because I think that is probably a natural response. I assure you that is not the case for us at least, but I mention it because that is the other attitude I get if I manage to 'brag'...she must be that way because I force her to work long and hard. I actually have had people tell me out of the blue that if they 'made' their kid do the work their kid would be just as advanced...it ether feels like a slap at my 'bad' parenting style or a 'your kid is NOT smarter than mine, I just refuse to force the poor thing to work so hard at a age-inappropriate level!' Either way...kids are kids are kids. Every.single.one is different. I do NOT think any child not reading early is not intelligent, quite the opposite. I think all kids are capable of much more than we give them credit for...some are just on a different timeline. It would never occur to me to question their parenting, compare my child, or make defensive comments. I wish I encountered more people willing to grant the same grace:)

Here is the company I like: This is their FAQs page, and if you scroll down you can see where they discuss the options. If you want the books back you have to choose NON-DESTRUCTIVE scanning, which is just a bit more expensive...BUT very necessary when doing materials that might not be easily replaceable. This is what we paid for. You do have to sign a form about use, but it really is pretty basic. Obviously, this is for personal use only, and anything else is a copyright violation. http://www.blueleaf-book-scanning.com/convert_book_to_pdf_faq.html I would also send your books to them registered mail just to insure they arrive safely. They do provide quotes in advance, which was extremely nice. I needed this, as I just packed up my entire set of Life of Fred books as I will not be carting them to Europe with me for vacation!

Mine was inaccessible for over a month until Yahoo finally figured out that there was a flag on it after I called them the first time to try to solve the spam issue! Useless. Their email/report fraud online system is only slightly more responsive. That is, they emailed me back fairly quickly...I just don't think they actually bothered to READ the emails I sent. It took several back-and-forths to get them to understand exactly what I was attempting to tell them:(

I have been having issues with my yahoo account for months! I assumed it was because of the whole Target security breach, as it started RIGHT after we were forced to get new cards and all sorts of drama/fraudulent activity. My email account was hacked twice, Yahoo supposedly fixed everything and we now have pretty fool proof passwords...and then a ton of spam was sent from my Yahoo account to all sorts of random people including individuals I had not communicated with in years, and even colleagues of my hubby:( I finally set up a gmail account, and am having yahoo mail forwarded there. I really hope things get settled as I am so tired of that...and all the new strange formatting issues that are causing me grief as well!

Hunter, I have already paid to have a whole series of Singapore math books scanned in for me. They return ship the books back! I would not have done it otherwise as when we are home we prefer math in hard copy format:)

Cool, glad you could get them:) TeenieBeenie6 I think originally posted this. She is awesome for finding great deals and passing them on:)

Despite my somewhat irreverent comment above, I do understand that there are those who could really benefit for lots of reasons. My kiddo is perfectly able-bodied, but I am in a wheelchair and just can't keep up with her constant need to just GO. Hubby and I have semi-joked about a preschool sized hamster wheel, and we have turned our garage and backyard into a Rockwall, gymnasium, ballet/gymnastics studio with playground and pool. All because it isn't always possible to take her to places out of the house. I can definitely see the allure and even necessity of therapy at home!

Nope, not expired! I just re looked. The code I remembered is correct, but here is a link with info. Scroll down:) http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/homeschool-deals-life-fred-elementary-math-sale/

I am pretty sure I remember it being FHD20, but I just had a look and didn't see it on the Freehomeschooldeals website. I remember thinking it was going to expire soon, but I could be wrong about that...

If you have a lot of documents or want whole books scanned for your own use, I HiGHLY reccomend going with one of the scanning companies. It is just sooo worth it. There are of course, copyright laws in usage, but if you already own the material and just want to create your own curriculum by picking and choosing, or just want older stuff to be much more mobile in the form of ebooks? Awesome:) I just sent in whole books to be converted because we are taking a long trip this summer... Here is an article in Wired magazine about one of them called Dollarscan, but there are several. http://www.wired.com/reviews/2013http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/highschool/olympiad.html/06/1dollarscan/

But wait! This solves the problem of getting them away from the television long enough to actually exercise! Does it come with an optional extra-large cup holder for soda and a chip clip😄

Are you by any chance in central Texas? I am hoping that my experience and discussion with other homeschool moms is just a by product of having just one kiddo, who is not technically school age! We are looking ahead to next year as the kid is crazy advanced in many areas...but not socially:) I can totally understand why they aren't keen on having us around since we aren't 'officially' homeschooling...but I have yet to find really anyone who is very involved. I think it I more of a culture where people tend to stick more closely with fellow church members here? At this point I think we will end up doing a lot of driving to Dallas or Austin...

Today we had a 'figure out what creature are the peanut butter/birdseed treats kiddo made and hung in the tree to attract birds to her window box bird house." We spent the entire morning looking for clues:) Mom is certain it was a opossum, especially since we have seen one around lately. But we didn't tell the kid this, other than as a possibility. Instead she hauled out the magnifying glass and we brainstormed ideas on how to figure it out...she spent 15 minutes crawling around on the ground in search of scat (thank you Wild Kratts!). Time on the computer for Internet research, a stack of printed animal footprints/pics/poop were necessary of course. We spent the afternoon making new treats to tempt the bandit, and she is up late tonight, hiding in a blanket/pillow nest in the dark inside the window to see if the 'creature' comes back to the scene of the crime, lol! I suspect daddy will need to carry her to bed soon:) A fantastic day...

Dd4 is really very advanced at the moment in many areas including reading, math, science, etc...I send her to a non-academic preschool for six hours per week, mostly to play and do lots of messy things with other kids. I had a giggle with my hubby because the preschool sent home a 'report card'. The only skill she had missed was in not properly locating her SHOULDERS! We thought this was hysterical as the kid can name all the major bones in the body, and we play a game singing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in four different languages. Hysterical that is, until daddy asked her to point to her shoulders, lol! She vaguely gestured somewhere in the vicinity of her upper arms:) Guess we should slow down the game instead of trying to see how increasingly fast we can sing it...

Hubby and I are chemists, he teaches chem at Uni level both undergrad and grad level courses... We have several different modeling kits that have been a huge hit with even my dd4. This one is our favorite. We have the expanded teacher set as well as additional organic kits from the same company. Awesome, well put together. In fact, the amazing Houston Children's museum has these because they are incredibly durable. We played with them there and had to ask where they came from:) The top link is the larger pack and includes both inorganic and organic pieces, but you can do quite a lot with the smaller (and more inexpensive! Student pack. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007R79M9O?cache=fa9273b09d9de993f19e23905a5fac82&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70#ref=mp_s_a_1_7&qid=1392865143&sr=8-7 There are, of course, lots of less expensive models. But these are fun and will last you as long as you need. Your kid may find themselves using them even for a Uni-level course:) ETA: we now have purchased or received three different Thames and Kosmos kit and have been fairly happy with them. They are well thought-out, reasonable explanations, and come with a nice range of materials/experiments. Dd also got the DK Chemistry book. If you don't have it, I highly recommend it...especially if you want to help expand on the basic explanations and don't recall a lot of chem. My hubby actually bought a copy for a colleagues 10 year old for Christmas because it is such a nice overview...

Ugh...I shopped at Target ONCE in six months. Of course it was just at the right time😡 I have since had my yahoo account hacked twice, and the gmail account I set up in response was eventually hacked too. Random spam was sent to all sorts of addressees in my account that I had not use for years, including colleagues of hubby. Such a nightmare. Things are still not right, with a collection of online accounts because we had to get all new bank cards, accounts, pins, and passwords. But Target did send an email apologizing for any inconvenience...

This is interesting, and I am bumping this with my general thoughts in the hopes that someone with more experience will chime in. Our town is JUST opening one (maybe the same town!) and I have been trying to gather information. I really like the IDEA of it in some ways...but all the information I have found through a couple of books and websites is decidedly vague. Especially the one here in town. Now I know that I is new, just taking off here, but still. And the more national websites with info are vague of course, because they will not have specific info regarding the school in your area. Add in the fact that there are two types (private Christian and public charter) and it gets murkier. I do like the idea that it is two days per week, and parent involvement is so high and expected. But it IS still a school where the parents are given what they need to teach. So some accountability might be great for some people, and I can see the distinct benefits of an umbrella organization for sports, activities, etc. But two things really stand out for me: Everything I have read says that it is still grade-based...so all kids of a certain age are in the same class. The information touts the model as being fantastic for tailoring education to the child, but ESPECIALLY for a more homeschool-oriented family I do not see how this is so. Kids are all over the board more often than not: third grade math, 5th grade reading, etc...I guess I don't see this as fitting a 'true university' model. Maybe I am missing something? I would love to be wrong as whilst we plan to homeschool I am always looking for that perfect setup for my social kid. Working at our own level at home but attending a couple of days a week would be great for her. Another thing that concerns me: I cannot find much AT ALL about specifics in curricula or standards. Very generic info regarding 'very rigorous' education...and that is all. I am not sure if this is because the schools themselves have more of a say? Especially since the model allows/supports the individual, albeit Christian, values of the specific school. If that is the case, I am a bit confused as to how those standards are set:( Hopefully someone with some expertise will chime in and either correct me or clarify!

Great! Farmyard Tales will be a hit. I just scrolled through my dd''s iPod to see which of the shorter stories have survived the test of time, so here are some more. Be sure to check your library, as I spent a near fortune on audiobooks before I realized that our library actually has a ton:) 1)Beatrix Potter- we have a whole collection and she still enjoys them. 2) Julia Donaldson collection- British author that does amazing stories with fantastic vocabulary and rhyming, lilting stories. Books like The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom. 3)Winnie the Pooh 4) Paddington Bear collections 5) Angelina Ballerina stories- especially for a girl, but not just. The original stories are beautiful. 6) I have several Dr. Suess collections that are faves in the car. 7) Hairy Maclary A bit longer: 8) My Father's Dragon collection 9) Charlotte's Web 10) The Little House books (These were after we read them aloud) I will try to have a look at our iTunes list for others we have been through with he most success:) Oh! The If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series was a favorite at about 3 as well.

Yes, homemade marshmallows or even the ones they sometimes sell at Whole Foods. We make rice crispy treats with them, without the butter. You can use a bit of margarine to make it less sticky, but it isn't strictly necessary:)

We love audiobooks too! And my dd4 can now happily listen to long chapter books for hours. We started slowly, building up stamina. She takes her iPod to bed every night and listens to books as she goes to sleep, as well as in the car. We actually started with a collection of Farmyard Tales. The stories are simple an cute...I have yet to find a kid who doesn't enjoy them. The set comes with an adorable book, with 20 Tales, and a 'spot the duck' on each page. We read through the stories to familiarize her (she will want to hear them again and again) and then put on the audio books. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0794509029?cache=56849dbc2be0edc106ab1b883aeb8d1b#ref=mp_s_a_1_1&qid=1392595587&sr=8-1 I now have collected a ridiculous number of audio books for kids so I will have a look back at more favorites. I do remember another favorite were the Hairy McClary audio books (Lynley Dodd), as well as Just So Stories. Now I mostly give her classic children's lit, chapter books, or a motley collection of current interests. I just bought her a 31 book collection of Fancy Nancy that I am considering hiding:)

I have a slightly different story, but I have actually gotten a great deal of relief:) However, it is probably only for very extreme cases, or situations where the Fibro is secondary. I have an intrathecal baclofen/pain pump. This means the pump/reservoir is actually surgically imbedded in my abdomen with a catheter that feeds meds directly into my spinal column. It has absolutely changed my life. That being said, I am in a wheelchair after an accident in the Army. I am very active, not paralyzed (except 2 toes!) and we even rock climb. But after dislocation of both hips, repeated surgeries, etc. it was discovered that I have autoimmune issues which were making recovery from the original injury virtually impossible. I was in a tremendous amount of pain from that, leg spasms, and back pain...but I also was dealing with Fibro throughout my body that totally put me over the top. After literally years of treatments, oral narcotics that just wrecked my stomach, and even electrical stimulation, I ultimately chose to try the pump thinking it would help with the hip/back pain and spasms. And it did, tremendously. But I had no idea that it would also relegate my Fibro issues to merely discomfort on my bad days! Truly a miraculous difference. It allows me to play with my kiddo, be counted on more (since you never know with Fibro whether tomorrow will be a good day or a rough one). And yes, it means narcotics in the pump along with the muscle relaxant...but micrograms versus tend to hundreds of milligrams. And no feeling high or sleepy, which I LOATHE. I now get the pump refilled via syringe every 3 months. It will have to be replaced about every 8 years. That is a lot of great days. I still occasionally need Diclofenac or so, an occasional oral narcotic if I have a partial dislocation...but I have a life now. My pain management doctor told me there is some use of the intrathecal pumps for Fibro alone, so if you have tried all manner of things and are still really struggling after years? At least discuss the possibility...

And on their apps:) I used the CC skip counting songs with my dd4 last year, even the squares and cubes. I do admit some of them are...not the best. I changed some a bit, or added a bit here and there, but they were pretty effective. We have a few addition/subtraction versions but my kiddo didn't take to them as well. She preferred to just play games:)

"Anyone who says they have but one life to live must not know how to read a book" author unknown "No two persons ever read the same book." Edmund Wilson

Lots of fun ways:) My kiddo has been doing ASL since she was a baby (she is hearing, no real ties to Deaf community) and loves to finger spell her spelling words, often as quickly as she can. I also think the tactile motions really help her learn. She says she can just 'see' them. She usually finishes with the actual sign if she knows it or wants to look it up.