I think "many/most" homeschoolers can be ahead if they want to simply because they get to work (close to) one-on-one with their parents/s. Regardless of LOG, parental involvement is the number one success factor in any education, public, private, or home. So having parents that care enough about their kids' education to take it on themselves is bound to produce the best outcome (so long as the parents are competent). So if a parent wants to take the time to push ahead and maximize their kids' education, they can. Public school just doesn't pop out kids who have been really challenged in most cases. But when you add in high LOGs to the mix, it is even a more pronounced acceleration. There is NO way a public school could accommodate the type and amount of acceleration DS needs. Socially it wouldn't work, emotional maturity wise it would bomb. DS is ahead not only because of his LOG but because I can help him by scribing for him when his hands are tired, bounding ahead in his strengths and pushing hard for his weaknesses to catch up (handwriting). That is something a school wouldn't be able to do. So he might be board but advanced in math but probably only two years at most. So yes, I think most kids could be ahead if their moms wanted to push a year or maybe two because you can cover more and do more when you aren't waiting for an entire class to catch on and be on task. But when a high LOG comes into place a homeschool is really almost the only place that fully allows that mind to evolve at the pace it is capable of.

At six, what we call "school" really just includes handwriting (should be less than 10 min. if he will just do it), LA from MCT (currently just ten minutes finishing practice Island book, but if we are also reading the other texts then maybe 20-30 min), and a structered sitting of math which can run anywhere from 20 min to an hour tops, depending on the curriculum of choice at the moment. He reads alot but mostly at night before bed. I suggest which books he might like and sometimes have to strongly encourage which ones to try, but it really isn't assigned reading. If he doesn't want to I'm not going to force a book he hates. But if he wants to play computer before he has read some then I will enforce the reading first rule. Piano comes whenever and for however long he feels like. He enjoys it so I'm not going to push it at all. That's about all we really do right now. Our Schedule is very open and flexible and we do school sometimes early, sometimes late in the evening.

So it looks like Intro to Algebra would be a good starting point? I guess, so long as Aops pre-A agrees with DS's learning style, I will be buying all the books at some point. I do like the idea of working them along side DS. Maybe I'll just hold off and do that when the time comes.

I've been thinking lately about ordering an Aops book for myself. I expect DS to be at pre-A pretty soon and I feel like I have forgotten a lot of math beside the fact that I'm not sure I have the deep understanding or ability to explain things once we get to the higher levels. Thank goodness for the Internet. But I also just kind of for fun want to go through all the Aops books myself. I had a horrid experience in high school maths but recovered enough to make it through Diff Equations in college and enjoyed it. But it has been over 15 years and I can't say I've used it since. Where should I start? What book would be a good starting place. Are the basic algebra books that much more challenging that they'd make me struggle? Or would anyone with a good education in science breeze through them?

We read all the Oz books aloud, but once the series switched over to a different author (Thompson) my rhythm broke. She had a different pace and more awkward dialogs that need to been seen more to make sense. I never new if my audience would know who was talking without following along. Even though I liked her story better I struggled out loud with it.

Okay, from the sound of it, I'd say that is a "no"! Thanks all.

Has anyone read this book that would recommend it for a younger audience? It keeps popping up in my Amazon feed and though I have heard of it in passing it was written long after I stopped reading children's books. Seems like it might be a heavy (topically) book. Any thoughts?

Well okay, you got me there. Having never used or seen MM I didn't know it was so cheap. Also we started SM at level 4 and compared to all the other programs we also use-- Beast and LOF added together-- it doesn't seem too much. Also we started math at grade three. Didn't even use the first three grades because that was just where he was automatically. So that saved some.

We do. It is hard and only recently I've been wishing for a second kid. Mainly because I feel like I never get alone time unless DS is wasting away on the computer or tv. I like that I can spend more on books than I would otherwise. But it is lonely an in an insanely small town we just don't have anyone to hang out with often. I don't have any idea how I would handle combining two kids, but even more depressing is feeling like I'm failing him socially. Public school just isn't an option though.

I'm another one for Singapore (Primary Mathmatics is the real name) using the Challenging Word Problems books along with Beast and other supplements as wanted for fun. I don't think Singapore is that expensive at all. But I guess it depends on how many of the extra books you get. We just do the WB, IP, and CWP. What we like about it-- it is easy to accelerate. The amount and style of word problems are great. Enough space in the wb and the CWP that young students can fit their own handwriting on the pages. (IP pages are harder to write on though). It's a good solid spine that has little repetition. We add LOF and Beast for fun and Beast for super challenge. Between all three I do spend too much money on math books. All well. For LOF we didn't use the elementary series. Only the Fractions/Decimals and shortly physics. For what it is worth we started DS when he was 5.5, I think, on ixl. It was a terrible perfectionism inducing program. He did a full grade level on it (3) but it had its costs. He hated math for while after that, even though he wanted to do it at first and then later wanted to finish off the grade. That was when we switched to Singapore and he loved it. Some people use Dreambox. But I've heard mostly the same review of ixl-- perfectionism causing.

Don't forget all the other Oz books. The series continued on after Baum and they are equally as good, if not better. Ruth Plumly Thompson is one of the authors as well as Jack Snow, I think. There are also a lot of other Baum books outside the Oz series that are equally as good-- Queen Zixi of Ix, Sea Faries, Sky Island, Life of Santa Claus. We love them all!

This is all interesting and had given me a new perspective. Thanks! I guess since we have always homeschooled I have never had to deal with the SPD in a school setting, so never saw it as a huge deal. I see it a just a minor quirk that is usually easy to deal with. I don't know how ds's sensory issues are compared to other's, but most days, I'd guess he only deals with mild SPD. But that might be only because we have our controlled environment around us. Thanks for enlightening me!

Just curious. I never would personally, because I don't see SPD as a learning disability-exceptionallity. I just saw in another location someone describing their DC as being 2e when the second e was a diagnosis of SPD. Personally I would only label 2e those things which really hinder learning. SPD can hinder learning, but just as much as being too perfectionist can, or any other personality trait. Just wondering the hives opinion on this rainy (here at least) day.

I'm so glad to hear of everyone forgoing the calculator. I didn't know that AOPS was designed for use without one. I am thrilled to hear that.

As I was browsing through DSs current math book- LOF Decimals and Percents, I saw that the author was telling students that this was the last book in which they wouldn't be allowed to use a calculator. Then it dawned on me that if DS finishes all of elementary math (not that soon as we are going deeper with multiples cirriculms) in the next year or so that traditionally he will entered the "Calculator Use Okay" zone. Then it scared me that after so few years of doing long math he might be more prone to forget it. I admit I had to quickly review long division before I taught him as well as long division with two decimals. But I had three times as many years drilling that stuff into me at his age. So the question is-- do you allow your very young algebra ready children to use a calculator? I just fear that math fact fluency would really suffer as well as algorithm memory.

Life of Fred might be a fun, light set of books he could work through. There are few problems per book, and "Fractions" plus "Decimals and Percents" are supposed to be pre-a prep.

I also have no experience with ASD. However, I don't think you are describing anything that out of ordinary for a five year old boy. Most five year olds don't like to sit still in a circle. Yes, many are trained to, but there will always be amoung them a few who are not people pleasers and run around or find it difficult. Many five year old boys hate handwriting. But since he's improved leaps and bounds, why worry yet? Social awkwardness-- kids at this age are still figuring out rules. If he hasn't sat through three years of preschool, he is still figuring them out more than most these days;). What kid isn't socially awkward at five. Unless, it is more describable and way beyond the normal range of course. But blurtting stuff out of nowhere --totally normal. As for attention, as described as a video game addict, probably normal that you have to touch him to get his attention. Video games teach you to ignore even the fire drill. :). If all this isn't affecting life quality day to day, why bring it up. Wait and see how he grows. If its not blaringly obvious, then just live and enjoy.

An idea for helping develop frustration tolerance-- My DS frequently give me or DH codes or hard problems. He makes them up himself and tried to make them as tricky as possible just to annoy us :). Yes, it is usually just basic math since that is what he knows-- but it's always huge numbers ( or 0.000346788876) and it's a no calculators game. The other day I did an order of operations problem that took me a good 45 min or more. The point is that I model being happy and thrilled to figure out these messes he makes for us. He sees that even though he thought he was foiling us, we, with patience, can get through the problem, and he sees how to tackle it. It is fun and has helped model good problem solving attitude.

I agree, it can feel like so much spent on math:) There are so many programs and paths. But I like these threads because I love to plan ahead and think about, yes, more books. I'm a bit of a book hound. For us, concurrent with SM5 is LoF fractions/decimals and Beast Academy. Then we are planning on SM6. I already have it, haven't looked much through it. I've heard a lot of folks mention that there is nothing new in it or that they are skipping it and going straight to pre-a. Not really sure why. After that more BA if they are out as they always have a great way of looking at off topics and deeper thinking. Then we will do Jousting Armadillios and LoF pre-algebra. That is as far as I have planned. I'd like to end up in Aops, but hold out till he is older. For a kid who doesn't like math but is good at it (my kid claims to hate math but does it in bed at night and in his spare time-- what he really doesn't like is me telling him it is time to do a little school before he plays computer or does any electronics) I would try to get his excitement for math up before you move on. Maybe just reading some living math books with him. That reminds me of a funny comment DS made the other day. We had just bought him the LOF pre algebra and explained that physics was math and got all excited and said, "oh now I love math! I had no idea that physics was mostly just math. I love physics, so I do love math!"

Phantom tollbooth Little britches The Complete Oz series (frank Baum) Those are my top three!

I think DS went through the geometry section in about a month. That was when we were taking it easy at a very relaxed pace. If you want to go at a summer's pace I'd shoot for just doing 3a text and practice. The comic book portion itself can be read in one day if the child is really into it. But the problems themselves can take much longer, especially for a younger child who doesn't have as much stamina.

Well I'm not the OP, but this post has really made me wonder what I'm missing by not having the HIG. Do I need to buy yet another math book? It's looking like I might. Will starting the HIG at the 5th level be okay? Or will it throw us all out of sync? :) So many math books floating around.

That is a great analogy and I fully agree that learning to do the problems with the elegant solution is an important foundation. But sometimes kids come pre-wired with an understanding that seems to have come out of no where. Honestly, I don't know how DS see the answers to problems like he does. I'm always a step behind him, writing it all out on paper. His tool box seems to have come stocked before me. Maybe that is why, FOR US, Singapore has worked without the HIG. It just doesn't matter too much how you teach it, he just has an innate understanding that came from.....well I don't know!

I feel like when I go to teach something now, the why sometimes jumps out at me and I don't know that I had ever really thought about it before. But is the Singapore way only about the why or is it also about the bar diagrams as a way of dealing with algebra?

And one more question-- I feel completely competent to teach elementary math without any sort of assistance, besides a list of scope and sequence. Jut curious if some of the people who say the HIG is mandatory feel less confident in their math abilities? Or if they just feel that it is mandatory in order to understand how the Singapore way works.