Roll Call

[angela in ohio]

I think it is time to do a roll call for the Accelerated Board. If you posted under a different name over there, include that, too!! Please include the ages of dc you are homeschooling and a bit about them. :)

[angela in ohio]

I am HSing an 11 yo, 9 yo, and 5 yo. Oldest went to Pre-k for 3 yos and K for a few months, but other than that we have always HSed.

 

11 yo dd loves horses, knitting and sewing, reading, writing, and history. :)

 

9 yo dd loves art, crafts, sewing, reading, writing, and math. :)

 

5 yo ds loves knights, animals, writing, reading, and math. :)

 

We have always done testing, and this is our second year doing MATS. We use a mix of materials.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Homeschooling a 10yo boy, my accelerated child. He loves sciences, math, and electronics. He may or may not have Asperger, depending on who does the evaluation. He's also into 'girl sports', ballet, highland dancing, and synchro swimming

 

Also homeschooling a 7yo girl, quite standard, but completely pig-headed.She's my artist. She enjoys drawing, inventing stories - she's quite good actually. Her art teacher tells me she's talented enough to make a career of it. She's also well coordinated, part of a competitive gymnastics team, and her ballet teacher told me she could make a career of ballet.

[nandmsmom]

I'm still nandmsmom. We have always homeschooled.

 

DS 6 loves legos, star wars and doing mental math

 

DD3 loves dolls, reading and doing 'school' with mommy

 

We havent' done any testing and have no plans to do any at this time. Favorite materials are Singapore math, HWT, Spelling Power and Minimus.

[Sharon in MD]

I mostly post on the high school board, but usually check over here daily too.

 

We just have one ds, a junior....can't believe we've only got one year to go. Sometimes that is a relief and sometimes it makes me sad.

 

Our son is slightly accelerated....very bright in math and science, but we are only going about one to two levels above grade. It is hard for me to judge because I only have my experience with him to go by, KWIM?

 

He's done a couple CTY classes through JHU and he is really hoping to win a spot at Drexel's summer high school mentorship for this summer.

 

Oh and he's into classical piano and Irish Step Dancing, check out the promo for the show if you have a chance, it is really cool...make sure you have the sound on. You have to click the button that says click here for promo.

 

http://www.teelin.com/POI.htm

 

 

Hope the link works, never tried it before...:o

[mellifera]

I was mjia on the other board. We homeschool 3 of our 4 kids (the youngest being 2 and not old enough.:)

 

All of them like Legos and trains. Dd1 is my most accelerated one. Ds1 gets obsessed with a topic and wants to learn everything about it. Ds2 loves math and is a lefty. He and dd2 are the biggest train nuts after dh.

[hsmamainva]

I didn't post much on the accelerated learning board on the old forums, but I'd like to start doing so now, since these boards are easier to use for me!

 

My oldest dd (16) is a college student at our local community college. She's hoping to switch to a 4 year university in another year and a half. Her passions are Tae Kwon Do, reading, and music -- she plays four instruments (piano, violin, flute, and guitar) -- she's also my computer geek and spends hours designing webpages, graphic design, and programming.

 

My second child (ds 13) has some learning disabilities, so he's not accelerated, by any means, although he's gifted in art and hopes to be an artist when he 'grows up'. He loves drawing (naturally), video games, and chess.

 

My third child (ds 8) is working at a 5th grade level in all subjects and he adores math and science. His passions are Tae Kwon Do and video games.

 

My youngest (dd 6) has autism and she's in a special education program at our local public school. She's gifted in math and reading (she's been reading since she was 3), but she has significant speech and language delays.

[PariSarah]

I'm homeschooling myself, although this is officially called graduate school. Dh is homeschooling himself in a similar fashion.

 

I'm homeschooling my 9yo son Isaac, who is scary-ahead in anything language- or idea-related, and merely bright in science and math.

 

I'm homeschooling my 6mo son Theo, although this tends to be called merely parenting. So far, he's not scary-ahead in anything, but we have high hopes that he'll learn to crawl soon. :D

[StacyWithFourRugrats]

I am in are 2nd year of homeschooling. I have an almost 8yo ds, almost 6yo ds, 5 yo dd, and a 4 yo dd.

 

My eldest boy, Gandalf, is my academically advanced child. We are taking a break and doing fun math before going to SM 4a. He loves Legos, Brainpop, Star Wars, TaeKwonDo and learning.

 

My next boy, Pippin, is our artistic and silly boy. He loves to build and draw. He does not have much interest in academics right now (they cut into his building and drawing time) so we spend only about 30 minutes a day doing some grammar, math and reading. He just began guitar lessons.

 

My eldest girl, Arwen, has absolutely no interest in learning whatsoever unless it can help her dress prettier or become a movie star. She loves horses (of course).

 

Our youngest girl, Eowyn, is the hardest worker in the house. She wants sooooooooooo badly to learn how to read but is just not at the point where she is able to. She is a small girl for her age and also wants to do everything the bigger kids do. She has amazing determination and I can't wait to see what she does with it as she gets older.

 

Everything might change for us and our homeschooling journey as there is a good possibility we will be relocating to the Czech Republic within the year. While it is legal to homeschool there, it is not very common. Learning the language will be important and for at least some of our children, PS might be better for them for a while. Who knows :)

 

*obviously, these are not their real names! ;) I just love Lord of the Rings tho.

[Closeacademy]

I have 2 girls and I own and moderate http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GiftedUsingWTM/

 

My oldest is in 2nd and is about 2 years ahead in math and science. Currently, I just let her explore science although I am looking at picking up Singapore Science again later this year.

 

My youngest is in K and taking her time. She loves princesses and ponies.

[Anne/Ankara]

We've got two kids, one in 8th grade, one in 6th. Busy homeschooling them from day one. Today, for instance, my ds age 13, is at the science center, a teen docent for the Bodies Exhibit, and my dd, age 11 is in a chess tournament, followed by basketball game. Fun Saturday for us!

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I'm homeschooling myself, although this is officially called graduate school. Dh is homeschooling himself in a similar fashion.

 

I'm homeschooling my 9yo son Isaac, who is scary-ahead in anything language- or idea-related, and merely bright in science and math.

 

I'm homeschooling my 6mo son Theo, although this tends to be called merely parenting. So far, he's not scary-ahead in anything, but we have high hopes that he'll learn to crawl soon. :D

Clearly there has been a gap between the first crawler and the second crawler. Don't you remember what happens when they start to crawl? Life as you know it is OVER.

 

Your proper response to all attempts to crawl or walk is "STOP IT! What are you THINKING!"

[Laura Corin]

I have two kids: 'Calvin' is eleven and 'Hobbes' seven. They are very good friends, despite a 3 1/2 year age gap and markedly different personalities. Calvin went to school for the equivalent of pre-school and K, then part-time for first, before I started homeschooling him full time for 2nd. Hobbes went to playgroups but never started school.

 

Both boys are probably gifted, but Calvin is the one that people spot - he has that 'little professor' air. He loves to read, play 'till all hours with the neighbourhood gang and work on Zoo Tycoon. He has some coordination issues still, so his output doesn't always match up to his intellectual abilities. He's been stuttering recently. He's low-key, affectionate, amenable, has feet almost as big as mine and weighs 66 pounds at 4'10"

 

Hobbes is full of energy but has flashes of surprising insight. He loves to build lego models, play Gameboy and read, but his favourite activity is exploring - either in town or in the countryside. He hates to move on and leave people, then falls in love with the next place and person. He stutters, but less than he used to. He takes after his father: short, stocky, a bundle of fun.

 

I own and moderate the Yahoo group for users of Galore Park products.

 

Laura

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I'm not even a homeschooler now -- unless you count the 4 y/o that we're using Phonics Pathways and lots of United Streaming stuff (Magic Schoolbus, Peep, Weston Woods books). And lest you call me on the United Streaming stuff for a FOUR year old, dh is now the primary caregiver and is not on board with the whole "limiting of screen time" thing, though we really don't "do" TV for her. Ah well. Any thoughts (or books) on making this case without being a nag would be appreciated. As in, this would need to be "his" idea.:rolleyes:

 

I homeschooled one kiddo from 1-4 using Calvert for first two years of that and Sonlight for the last two. Interspersed in that, he went to half-day public school kindergarten, six weeks of ps 1st grade, and German 2nd and 3rd grade. He's now in his first year of college after seven years of boarding school (three of those as a touring musician).

 

My second dd was homeschooled mostly WTMish for 5th through 8th. We had a great time, and it was just about 100% wonderful. She's now attending a boarding high school and loving life. The school does a four-year sequential history rotation with art, music, and lit woven into history "spine." She's continuing with Latin and has the opportunity to prep for AP Latin credit and just read (Virgil? Cicero? something) in her Latin V year. We're pretty amazed that there's even a school out there like this and that she gets the opportunity to go.

 

I'm a full-time nursing student, second-semester junior classes. I'll be finishing up in December if all goes as planned.

 

And I'm trying to post enough to be a larva before classes start again next week. Between copious amounts of reading, reading, reading.

[JenneinCA]

I have three kids, all three are different.

 

The oldest is Bookworm, a girl age 9. She loves books and currently is into Neopets. She does Girl Scouts with other homeschooling girls and loves it.

 

The middle is MisterMan, a boy age 7. He likes to play the piano and play games of all kinds. He likes Ticket to Ride and Moose in the House. But he will learn any game if you will play it with him. He is a Wolf in Cub Scouts and likes hanging out with the other little boys.

 

The little guy is Bunny, a boy age 3. He thinks he is big and is sorely disappointed when he can't do the things the older kids can. He tags along for most of our outings and picks up far more than I think he does.

 

Jenne in AZ

[kokotg]

I'm another who didn't post much at all on the old boards, but I like this format much better....

 

I'm Gretchen, mama to 3 boys--6 1/2, 4 1/2, and newly 2.

 

Ari is the only officially homeschooled kid. He's doing SOTW 2, Singapore 2B, and we just started FLL 3. He likes reading ("books are better than toys"), drawing, making books, and gymnastics.

 

Milo's less interested in academic things at the moment. He's doing Singapore Earlybird, listening to lots of library books, and sitting in on SOTW and science when he wants to. He likes robots, superheroes, and aliens.

 

Gus is 2, so his main interest is in destroying things and trying to give up naps. But he's cute.

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

We've always homeschooled. My dc are dd age 10 and has always been way ahead in anything to do with language, reading, and writing. Ds is 8 and is a math/science whiz with a HUGE imagination. Youngest dd is 6 and seems to be like her older sister and loves to read and write and is an amazing logical thinker. :)

I did not post much on the old board either (I mostly read posts) but this format is soooooo great, I'll post more often.

Hopefully, too, I'll get my avatar fixed in a day or so.

[KAR120C]

Hello hello! I was "erica" on the old boards but KAR1200 in various other places so for continuity's sake I switched! (and since we have to be logged in here, the only hope for my remembering all my logins is to have some duplication! :p )

 

I homeschool my one darling 8 year old boy and have since the start whenever that was. He's working at an almost-solid 7th grade level in most things, although his writing is slow (good, but slow) and his spelling is only just barely age appropriate. And we're not planning to finish all the 7th grade work this year, so we might just be camped out at this level for a while!

 

We use a TON of different things, enjoying the variety and taking full advantage of there being no hurry to get through any one of them... I'll just list:

 

Science:

Singapore Interactive 1

New Scientist magazine

First Lego League (fall)

Science Fair (winter)

Dissection/ Biology club

Cooking club

Physics class

 

Math:

NEM 1

Gelfand Algebra

Zome Geometry

Euclid (with a study guide by Benno Artmann - extremely helpful!!)

Martin Gardner puzzle books

 

History/ Geography:

Story of the World 3

History of US (3 I think... can't remember... whichever has the American Revolution)

Oxford Teaching Guides to the History of US for discussion questions and essay prompts

History Pockets American Revolution

Behemoth geography project that will almost certainly take us until graduation to finish (lots of writing, lots of maps, continent by continent and region by region within each. We've been on Africa for a year now.)

 

Literature/Language Arts:

Lightning Lit & Comp 7

Local book group of 8-12 year olds

Megawords Spelling

Turbo-twist Spelling (anything for extra practice!)

Sentence diagramming (McGraw Hill workbook)

Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing workbook

 

Language:

Minimus Secundus (co-op)

Lingua Latina (home)

Spanish with a reader, Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur

Russian cursive handwriting (in preparation for adding Russian language in a bit)

 

I mentioned our menu system on another thread -- these are all our choices, but they don't get done all at once. Basically we do an hour of each (science, math, history, lit/comp, language) and DS chooses what is done in each hour from the list. Although I should admit that when the science fair deadline is only two days away and it's not quite done yet and book group is meeting this afternoon, sometimes it works out to four hours of science and one hour of lit/comp and everything else can wait for next week! LOL

[mktkcb]

I'm Kayleen in So Cal. I Homeschool 3 (dd 16, dd14, ds 11). I mainly like this board for my ds who is very asynchronous (you all know....the input output thingie), gifted academically and musically, and is an EXTREMELY difficult kid. My oldest was very similar (although not quite as obviously gifted), and she is now in her right mind and a very good student, so there is hope! I love getting ideas from all you great ladies.

[KarenNC]

One daughter, age 7, who loves anything to do with horses or comics (Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, Foxtrot, Asterix, TinTin, Far Side, etc). Princesses, Playmobil and Barbie are now in second place, except where they intersect with horses (which is quite frequently:)).

 

She's taking aikido and enjoys Girl Scouts. She went to a small preschool from 2 1/2 to 4, hsed rest of the way.

 

The only thing we've done in terms of testing are a couple of streamlined WJIII achievement tests for planning purposes, and she had scattered scores at the end of last year (age 6) from 2nd up into 5th/6th grade depending on topic. Her passion is for reading (her best areas are reading and spelling), not so much on the math or handwriting end of things.

 

I have gone back and forth numerous times on whether there is a point to doing an IQ test on her as we don't have any specific program-driven need at this point or any concern about learning disabilities (her achievement scores are quite scattered, but I don't think it is likely LD-related). I have a suspicion of where she would fall based on knowing my and my husband's scores and observation of her (and that would not likely be in the profoundly gifted range), but not sure we really need to shell out for formal testing just out of curiosity.

 

We have the typical issues periodically of emotional and social maturity being closer to her chronological age than her cognitive skills and that gap being an issue, but she has a group of friends, is very outgoing and does well. I'm actually not sure how two introverts ended up with such an extrovert, but it's an interesting journey!:)

[Guest Lorna]

I have two children. They have always been best of friends and love to play together. They like to invent their own games, go swimming, make crafts, build Kapla, listen to radio plays and play with their wooden animals.

Our oldest daughter (12) is really the one who has always been ahead of her time. She read at age two. I didn't even realise she knew her letters but she read out a 'No Smoking' sign phonetically. She was in school until the age of seven. She was reading chapter books before she went to school (aged five) and so I was quite concerned with her having to read the terribly boring, badly sellotaped together, books they had at her school. I was worried that might put her off. Luckily she would read anything and so I needn't have worried. She was tested at age six as being off the scale with her reading (their test only covered up to the reading age of ten). Because she has spent most of her childhood reading I am think she has missed out on some things her brother is good at. She is very impractical! She has no common sense. I think she is going to have to have a wonderfully practical husband to look after her and not mind her reading all the time. She even reads whilst her friends come over. She really doesn't notice. She is also very good at maths although she only occasionally gets pleasure out of it similar to her reading. She has an 'instant' sort of memory and so she loves memorisation but it isn't really an activity for her because she only needs to read through something a few times. I do find her difficult to 'teach' because she picks things up quicker than I do and she is also very pedantic.

Our son is certainly an engineer and we come from two families of engineers. He is wonderful with processes. He can astonish me with maths but also exasperate me if he can't be bothered that day! He is a fantastic writer with some beautiful turns of phrase which always surprises me because he isn't a reader like his sister. He is extremely kind and thoughtful and loves to help cooking and fixing things with his father. He is an extrovert who really likes to be with people all the time. This, I think, is the main reason he only reads when I set time aside for it or it is bedtime.

I love these boards for getting new ideas and sharing similar experiences!

Best wishes,

Lorna

[Tess in the Burbs]

Hi, I am Tess and I homeschool my two kids, Ds, just turned 6, and Dd, 4.

 

Ds is K by the ps standard, but I filed him as 1st grade this year. He is ahead a year in math....and reading on a 4th grade level now. I struggle to find books he can read and still have appropriate subject matter/language. He is also into K'nex and builds the most amazing things!

 

Dd is preK, but already reading and doing math...I suspect she will catch up if not surpass her brother next year. She doesn't like to be 'behind' her brother in anything. She is taking ballet but IMHO more suited for aggressive sports and hope she will ask to play a sport next year ;-)

[Allearia]

Hi everybody! I am a frequent lurker but rarely post, but now with the new boards I am hoping to change that, especially if this board is moving with no more awful spam. I have two sons, ages 6 and almost 3.

 

I just started homeschooling my 6 year old in September, who would have entered ps Kindergarten, but has been reading and writing at a higher level since he was four.

 

We started RightStart A in September, went very quickly, and started RightStart B at the end of October, and he just did the mid-year test yesterday and so far is doing great though I expect we will do all the lessons in the rest of the book as it is getting more challenging for him.

 

We are doing first grade language arts, and SOTW 1, REAL Science 1, Spanish, piano, monart classes, gymnastics, soccer, and some other stuff that I am exhausted just typing out but he thrives on it and wants more. He loves prehistoric mammals and dinosaurs and is currently in a superhero phase, spending every spare minute drawing superheroes, creating costumes out of scrounged materials, and we are starting to write a book about them. Oh, also poetry memorization, he went through the first two levels (40 poems) from Andrew Pudewa's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization program in less than a month and now going through a similar level that I created myself, though a little more slowly as the initial novelty has worn off.

 

My almost 3 year old goes to preschool 3 days a week, and although he is still learning to talk, he is also learning to read and write and loves letters and numbers and steals my thick paperback novels to pretend to read and point out letters. He can sound out words but doesn't always realize what he is doing (he will sound out C-A-T and then proudly say, "Daddy!") He is also obsessed with the computer and takes every opportunity to play games meant for much older children that I mistakenly installed a demo of.

 

I look forward to active participation in this board!

 

- Laura in CA

[Old Dominion Heather]

I've got three boys, 8, 5 and 2.

 

They are in 3rd and K. We do mostly WTM with a mix of whatever we feel like doing at the moment.

 

The oldest is a bright kid. He is ahead in most subjects and is scary ahead in math and science. He writes like an eight year old, though. He also has some vision issues, had congenital cataracts, double lensectomies and has glaucoma.

 

The five-year-old is also ahead, scary ahead in anything language based. He is reading The Hobbit.

 

The two year old likes to ask questions about our current read aloud... "Where Bilbo go?" (We just finished chapter one of Fellowship of the Ring) "Bilbo work?...Noooo! Bilbo trip!"

 

We have a dog who likes to run away.

[Mom2GirlsTX]

I used to post on Accelerated Board a ccouple of years ago and have only visited once or twice in past year...their was so much spam on that board!:mad:

my 10 year old dd is ahead in most subjects, with math being her nemesis, so she is on grade level for it.

My 8 year old is just a typical kiddo, but has some special needs do to a head injury/stroke so she is gifted in some areas and behind in others.

[K&Rs Mom]

Clearly there has been a gap between the first crawler and the second crawler. Don't you remember what happens when they start to crawl? Life as you know it is OVER.

 

Your proper response to all attempts to crawl or walk is "STOP IT! What are you THINKING!"

 

That goes for talking and reading, too.... ;) Once they can talk, you get backtalk, and once they can read you have no more secrets!

 

I have 3 & 5yo dd's, the 5yo definitely accelerated and the 3yo looks like she may be also but has speech issues so it's hard to tell what's in there just yet. This is one of the main reasons we're homeschooling - I was lucky enough to attend an elementary school with a gifted program, but it was only one day a week and I was SO bored with the other 4. I don't want to do that to dc and the outschools here (public, private or charter) don't offer much in that direction.

[Sara R]

I lurk here occasionally. My middle child is accelerated. We used to homeschool, but school worked well for him, and the public school here has a great Spanish immersion program. The school's math program is weak, and he is ahead in math (just finished up Singapore 3A), so we do Singapore for him before school each day.

[Debra in CO]

Hi,

 

I'm still Debra in CO. I have five kids, homeschooling the four boys.

 

ds10 - he's my accelerated one. He's using VideoText Algebra, he reads anything and everything, he is pretty decent at picking up languages. His spelling is horrid, though, and we're doing remedial work on that. He doesn't particularly like to write, which is something I have to start dealing with.

 

ds9 - he has struggled with a lot of things, mostly reading. He's behind grade level pretty significantly there. But he loves history and science, and he's pretty good at math (as long as he doesn't have to read it). He's a hard worker, and the one who notices things and tends to follow through.

 

ds7 - he's a pretty typical first grader, though I think he might take off with math in the relatively near future. He has loved learning about the Civil War this war, and all things battle related.

 

ds3 - he's doing kindergarten math, started reading without any instruction from me, and he gets pretty obsessive about whatever his current topic of interest is. He loves helicopters, is fascinated by Abraham Lincoln, and his current project of choice is to teach his sister sign language. I think he is going to be an even bigger challenge than my oldest.

 

dd 23 months - she loves her babies, loves to dress up, and is majoring in getting her big brothers all twisted around her little finger. She's good at it. She loves to be read to.

 

 

So, that's my crew. Now, I'll go read about all of yours! :)

 

Debra

[ArwenA]

I was A on the old board but didn't post much on the accelerated board. I hope to be more active here.

 

My Arwen, 28 year old mom to three girls, 9,6 and 3.

 

Chelsea, 9, is the accelerated one who loves math, reading, writing and history.

Megan,6, is an auditory learner which means that I have a lot to learn (Chelsea is visual). She loves animals and really, really wants to play violin.

Cassidy, 3, is my super cute preschooler. :) She loves listening to stories and being a "big girl".

 

We're in our 5th year of homeschooling and are loving it!

[Mom2legomaniacs]

I am Melissa, Mom2legomaniacs. I haven't really posted on this board, but am on a couple of the others. My ds's are 6 and 9. Both are working ahead of their grade/age in a couple of areas.

One thing I am coming to realize with my little one is that I need to dig deeper to find ways to work with him more. He is an insane little reader. He can read high levels with great ease and speed. He has a deep understanding of what he has read and is extremely intuitive. And I just don't know what to do with that! He has surpassed me in ways already due to abilities that are natural to him that I do not possess.

So, I will likely be lurking around and asking a bit from time to time to see what I can do for him.

[snickelfritz]

I have 2 dd's: 4 1/2 and 2.

 

The oldest loves dance, gymnastics, kittens, and babies. She loathes her swimming lessons. The youngest, of course, loves swimming.

 

My oldest tends to be ahead of her age group in most areas (physical coordination, reading), but she still has lots of potty accidents. :confused:

 

The youngest likes to keep up with her sister, so we'll see how all that turns out.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I didn't post much on the old board and still probably won't much since my kids are still very young. I have a feeling that I'll be using this board a lot in the future though.

 

My oldest dd is 3yo and loves to talk and make up stories. She is always amazing me by the things that she says and understands. She enjoys being read to and is dying to learn to read herself. We'll probably start some informal things once we are settled in after our newest is born. She has an amazing memory and could tell you the color lollypop that someone gave her 9months earlier. Her motor skills are more average for her age, and I know that everything I do with her will have to be adjusted because of that.

 

DS is 22mo and he is even more vocal than his sister was at this age. He wants to do anything that his sister is doing. He is more practical than his sister and enjoys building things and figuring out how things work. He loves ladybugs and could find a picture of one anywhere.

 

Baby is due in 1 1/2 weeks and we are just waiting for him or her to show up.

[Desert Rat]

Hi All!

Still trying to figure out the new format, but I'm sure I'll get it. I, too, am grateful for no spam.

 

I have 2 boys. "Huck" is 7 1/2. He's ahead 3-5 years in most subjects, the hightest being math. He loves science and latin too. "Tom" will be 5 in a couple weeks and has very little interest in school related subjects but loves reptiles and amphibians and came name many species I have never even seen before. He's flying through Singapore EB so I have a feeling he's more gifted than he's letting on. Either way is fine with me.

Except for the year Huck spent in preschool, we've always taught at home.

We love SOTW but have taken a break as we're in the 4th year and many kind people on this board gave me a head's up that it was a bit on the violent/sad side. So, we're spending this year reading and learning about interesting and notable figures of the last century and having a blast! LFC has been a hit in our house too.

Glad to see you all here! Once I figure out the picture thing, I'll try to get mine up there. It's nice to connect faces with names.

Cheers.

[nitascool]

Hi. I'm Nita. I live in Ohio with my dh, three boys, baby girl and our cat. I have two and a half homeschooling right now. We started hsing when my oldest was 3. We are on our 4th year.

 

My dh is a Mental Health Specialist at the local Hospital. He is going back to school in the fall for Nursing.

 

I am a SAHM. I like to write poetry and have written a couple short stories as well.

 

My 7.5yo ds enjoys reading adventure/fantasy books, swimming, Lego's and taking care of his cat. He's outputting on a 2nd grade level in Math and 5th/6th grade level in everything else. We had ds tested and he is considered a gifted underachiever with mild ADHD (non-hyperactive).

 

My 6yo ds outputs on the 1st/2nd grade level with everything except writing, which is at about a high preschool level. We had ds tested and he has ADHD with hyperactivity, SPD, and a vision development problem which we haven't gotten a dx for.

 

My 3yo ds does school when he feels like it. He can do all preschool things except cutting and writing. He knows his shapes, colors, letter names and sounds and numbers. He can also site read some words.

 

My 8mo dd isn't doing any school right now. I'm hoping that she will take her time. At least until the others are doing school a little more independently! She is currently keeping us busy with trips to a GI and PT. She is a very active, happy, and small little girl.

 

The cat's name is Jr. We realized that Jr. was an inappropriate name when she gave birth to four kittens.

[3flowers]

In the past I've just been a lurker. I have 3dds and this is just my second year of homeschooling.

 

My oldest is just your average 4th grader. She's a science nut though and wants a career with animals.

 

My middle daughter is 3 (4 in April). She's still young so I'm not really sure if she's 'advanced' or what not. But she is the reason that I'm a lurker on this (old) board. :) She is currently reading. We're on lesson 30 something in 100ez lessons and she's doing ETC 1. She just got Saxon Math K for Christmas. (she was asking for a math program just like her sisters) =) She's flying through the first part of that. Well, very first part of it. She's on lesson 16 now. But she's been doing 3 lessons at a time. (the beginning ones are really easy).

 

My youngest dd is just 1 1/2 and her main interests tend to be making a huge mess of everything or wanting to be held. :rolleyes:

 

Well, I guess that's it. (Who's next? :D)

[freethinkermom]

I used to post on the WTM boards as 2wackyboys, then I took a break from posting for a few months (maybe a whole year). I just started posting againa as freethinkermom. My real name is Terry (or Teresa depending on my mood).

 

I have two sons ds10 (11 in three weeks) and ds6. Both are homeschooled, although on some strange whim none of us have quite figured out we did try the public school this year for the first tri-mester. They insisted on placing the boys by age then doing testing (with lots of insuated insults towards dh and I that there is no way we were we being honest about the boys giftedness). Ds was placed in the 5th grade which is middle school here. They did some testing... WISC-IV, standardized tests, etc... and comfirmed that he really is profoundly gifted like I said he was. The school counselor and the psychologist both confidentially (like please don't tell the Principal we are saying this) told me that ds10 was better off being homeschooled as I could provide him with a better education than their system could dream of. Ds6 was placed in K, but tested at a 4thgrade reading level and 3rd grade in math in the informal testing they reluctantly gave him. We pulled him out before they scheduled the WISC-IV that was planned.

 

So except for that brief couple of months, which we all look at as an entertaining experiment, we have homeschooled.

 

For ds10 we are using Kinetic Books Algebra I (thanks to a recomendation from the Curric. board), History Oddysey Early Modern Level 2 (this is very easy for him, but we like it anyway...no stress and he gets a good overview of the history), literature reading from WTM 7th grade list, Vocab from Classical Roots A, Rosetta Stone French combined with some podcasts, and self-directed science until he has enough algebra to start the Kinetics Physics. I expect to go through all of these programs and the next level of each (Jacob's Geometry after Kinetic Algebra) by the end of 2008.

 

Ds6 is doing Mammoth Math Grade 1 because while he has the arithmetic down he needs the money and time telling skills reinforced, we just switched from Singapore because we like the MM better. He is moving through it pretty fast, but not like his brother. At this rate I expect to be started with grade 3 by the end of the year but not done. Other subjects we are pretty much following WTM year 1 but I have him do almost all of the reading himself. We are adding in Growing With Grammar and Minimus latin soon. He spends a lot of time on Cosmeo.com and pokemonlearningleague.com researching subjects he is interested in.

[Donna]

I posted over there as Donna as well.

 

I am homeschooling 3 accelerated children...

 

12yo ds who loves wrestling and martial arts and also plays drums.

 

10yo ds also loves martial arts-taekwondo and Judo and also plays guitar.

 

5yo dd who is very talented in violin and Celtic fiddling.

 

I work 2 days a week as a physical therapist in Early Intervention for children under 3yo and teach taekwondo.

[Guest Elizabeth in Canada]

I have two boys, aged 10 and 12, both homeschooled their whole lives.

 

My 12 yr old, J., is very musical, playing violin and piano, and now has joined the church choir as well.

 

My 10 yr old, T., loves gymnastics and is more physical than his brother.

 

Both boys are gifted (yes, we tested) and we have chosen to go both deeper and faster to accomodate. Both are accelerated in just about everything, but their writing skills lag behind the rest, even though vocabulary, phrasing, etc. are all excellent. I wonder about 10yo ds sometimes as he could have "stealth dyslexia", but he is so able to cover up a lot of the time (hence the stealth...). His reading is good, though I think he reads for the "whole picture" and not for the details.

 

I am now in the middle of trying to decide if 12yo ds should write the SAT's this year or not. It would give us a bit of proof to substantiate the level that he's working on. Because we have to register with a home education school board here in Alberta there are some hoops to jump through, one of which is dealing with bureaucracy because the boys are challenging some high school courses for credit, and the principal isn't thrilled. Long story... Any advice on the pros and cons of early SATs? Do people prep for it? Write it blind?

 

We are using Sonlight this year (core 6, with extra reading) for the first time and we're really enjoying the reading and the discussion that comes out of it. This is for our history, and lit. studies. We're almost done Rod and Staff Grammar 6 (and this is very accelerated grammar in Canada!) and will move on to 7 soon. They do some writing every day, but it varies--everything from dictation/narration to reports, essays, lap-books, novel logs, book reports, outlining from Kingfisher, etc. Neither is into creative writing, but I'm planning to blindside them with poetry in the spring. (They enjoy reading/hearing it, but I want them to WRITE it!) 10 yo has started NEM 1, and 12 yo is into NEM 2, but we just took a two week break to go through the Teaching Company Algebra 1 dvds which they really enjoyed.

 

Both boys are doing Latin Grammar (after finishing Latin Primer 1, 2, and 3), but 10yo is doing a bit of review using Latin Prep because he just doesn't focus on the details. DH is teaching them science this year using a program he wrote up himself: they are covering earth and planetary sciences (including geology, cosmology, atmospheric sciences, and astronomy). Sounds good to me!

 

My biggest struggle is trying to fit it all in, while still giving them free time to play, think, and dream. Is this a stuggle for others?

 

This is probably much too long, but I don't post often, so you won't get this much from me very often!

 

Elizabeth

[Plaid Dad]

I'm hs-ing one dd, age 6. Her current obsessions are unicorns and drawing...and drawing unicorns. ;)

[Lorna in the boonies]

I'm another Lorna, and, though I've posted infrequently over the years on the general board, I've only lurked on this one.

 

My primary reason for lurking is my 14 year old, who spent K-5 in public school before things got so bad I pulled her out. At 10 months old she pointed to the clock on the wall and gave us a very clear "what's that?" -- we spent the rest of the evening teaching her the words for all the objects she could find, and we've gone from there. She was the youngest child in the history of our district to be admitted to the GT program (which met for an hour a week and was basically useless). We pulled her out of ps after 5th grade, which is when the 8th grade science teacher (who was also the GT teacher) decided my 10 year old would be the perfect person to demonstrate experiments and explain concepts to children 3 years her senior. (Let's just say that young teenagers don't appreciate that type of thing very much, and this put an end to her social life.) Since she had been miserable since Kindergarten anyway, pulling her out seemed like the way to go! She has been much happier since we started homeschooling!

 

I also have an 11 year old who was in the ps gifted program, as well (just for K-1, as that is the point where we pulled them out of ps), but did not qualify with the off-the-charts scores his older sister had -- his were more 'normal' gifted scores. Our 6 year old has never gone to public school and we've never had her tested, but she appears to be somewhere between her brother and sister in the area of giftedness.

 

I'm looking forward to being involved over here now -- I am really enjoying the new format!

[nancypants]

Normally I just post on the k-8 general board. I have read on the accelerated board several times as my oldest is ahead in all subjects. I may ask questions more now in the new format... but I don't have many answers so I'll probably mostly lurk. :)

[Storm Bay]

I typed this on my second try and saved it. Boards were too busy before.

 

I'm keeping this short as the last time, I went to a lot of trouble and was told I couldn't post! Must have run out of time or something.

 

Same Karin as old AL board. I was on there for the past 4-5 years, so many of you already know who I am.

 

3 kids. 12 yo dd visual spatial/auditory learner. Hates academics, but still is accellerated because she is gifted. Artistic. I was told in Sept she is talented and am seeing it. I'm not a mother who loves everything her kids draw and only compliments when I like it (for better or for worse.) The first time she showed talent in art, I was horrified. She was 3 and it looked like she'd drawn a terrifying monster, but what she'd done was draw a face with teeth, eyelashes, etc, etc, etc. She's an avid swimmer and is improving in her first full year on a team.

 

9 yo dd very vs learner who loves history, being silly and physical play. No sense of time and draws on her work when I'm not looking, but spelling is her only real challenge other than learning to follow oral instructions (she's improving at both.) She dances and is also on the swim team; she enjoys them but it's much more social for her right now than serious.

 

7 yo ds. Not interested much in academics, but is interested in asking lots and lots of questions and exploring topics in enormous depth, particularly if they relate to physics or religion. Learning to swim and draw. First he drew only airplanes, then airplanes and sharks. He draws more things now, but not people. He's very consciencious and considerate most of the time (he is only 7!) and I think he's going to be a real gentleman when he's grown (not that I'm in any way biased!)

[EKS]

I have two boys ages 11 and 5.

 

The 11 year old is pretty good at math, started algebra in 5th grade, but sometimes seems to forget everything he ever knew about math. He has dyslexia and his inability to read by the end of first grade is what prompted us to homeschool him. He now reads on a high school level. He likes to have higher level texts but is a basket case when it comes to output. I just recently gave up on the high school biology text (something he requested that we use in the first place!) we were using because he was using the high school level of the text as an excuse for his inability to answer any questions about the material. Now he is doing the K12 Life Science course for middle school and is still unable to answer questions. Can you tell I'm frustrated?

 

My 5 yo has been reading since he was 2, just started Singapore 2A, is doing the K12 Grade 2 language arts course, and mostly just breathes in everything I try to teach him. Most of the time it's like he knew it already.

[dangermom]

I've always been dangermom, but it's been a while since I posted.

 

I've got two daughters: a 7yo in 2nd grade and a 4yo in pre-K. Both of them are into horses and unicorns right now.

 

7yo loves to read and make things out of paper, fabric, and whatnot. Her favorite subject in school is Latin (LC1), and she also loves CW Aesop and science. And history. She's a very enthusiastic kid, but inclined to perfectionism and gets easily discouraged when she makes mistakes, so I'm always telling her to relax and that mistakes are good. She's slowly getting there.

 

4yo is learning to read and likes to do "kindergarten math" but mostly goes to a small preschool group 4 days a week, which she loves. She likes horses, knights, and bloodthirsty fighting with knight and horses.

 

I sew and read a lot, besides trying to squish in all the school and activities and play.

[Arch at Home]

I have always been Arch At Home. I work part-time as an architect and my firm allows me to telecommute part of that time.

 

I have 3 dc. My oldest, 8 yo, is accelerated. She is into Shakespeare, ballet, and historical fiction. She doesn't like math but it pretty good at it. She has many of the personality characteristics of a gifted child.

 

My second, 6 yo, is trying to figure life out. She definitely has a mathematical brain. It is amazing to watch the concepts click and her manipulate numbers. She is starting to show an interest in sports and is currently eagerly following the Patriots. She also really likes flower fairies.

 

All of my children have late summer early fall birthdays. We officially termed the fall they turned 5 their kindergarten year. The girls were definitely ready. My third, 4 yo, is coming along nicely but I am not sure that he would be ready emotionally and perhaps even academically this next fall. He is really into vehicles and wants to be a truck driver, motorcycle driver, and a train driver. He also likes to do anything his sisters like to do.

 

Arch At Home

[elizabeth]

Greetings, We have hsed since 1st grade . TWTM has been our guide and inspiration for the 5+ years we have been on this journey. I am mom to an only child who loves to read, play chess,design clothes and draw cartoons. We are a catholic-jewish family who reside in the hills of Iowa and find life here to be everything we could need or want.Although I am an attorney I do not practice law but work as a research assistant for my dh when needed to keep me on my toes. I post rarely but read frequently . I was and remain simply ,Elizabeth.

[Country Girl]

I used to post as Carrie on the old board but saw quite a few with the name Carrie so I just changed to Country Girl.

 

I am officially homeschooling my 6yo ds and I have posted on the old board asking for help on how to accelerate him in math as well as other areas. I would say science is his passion but he also loves to read and is pretty good with numbers. He is a smart boy and I have a feeling he will be a challenge to keep up with. I'm so glad to have a group like this to come to for support.

 

I also have a 4yo ds and a 2yo dd. I do a little informal work with my 4yo and he is beginning to learn how to read. Mostly must short vowel words but a few more advanced words as well. My 2yo, what can I say, she's 2! But she can say the ABC's:D.

 

Looking forward to posting more and getting to know everyone better.

[earthmother]

I'm earthmother...used to be just plain old Peggy. I am presently "after-schooling" as my ds8 was accepted into a "challenge" program which is a gifted/blended program at the local public school and we thought we'd give it a try. So far, he says its "too easy" but he loves it so I'm happy with that. Not so sure on next year as I haven't heard great things about the 4th grade challenge program. My ds loves to read and scooter, and be adventurous. He's reading at a high school level which challenges us because of finding appropriate content.

 

I also have a ds4 who loves to draw, read, and play piano. He can hear a song and play it on the piano within a couple of tries...pretty neat!

 

And to round out the bunch is my dd16 months. She is my crazy climber and loves to be with her brothers.

earthmother

[Kristiana]

But I'm still Kristiana.

 

I have 3 boys and we pretty much follow WTM recommendations in all subjects, though at an appropriate level for math and reading.

 

7yo is my accelerated one. He can read just about anything put in front of him and loves number and logic puzzles. He's ahead in math and generally loves to learn. He also has beautiful handwriting for a 7yo boy, always has.

 

4.5yo is doing FIAR for some one-on-one time with Mom, and works hard on pencil control and writing--he's a lefty and hasn't nearly the physical fine motor skills his brother has but wants to do well.

 

3yo is right there with us in all that we study.

 

All three are absolute train fanatics, and take Kindermusik classes where their teacher tells me they all have a good ear and some musical ability. Thank heavens they take after me and not after Daddy!:D

[East Coast Sue]

dd6 loves reading, legos, math, history

 

dd4 loves math and seems to enjoy "doing" school, even though I don't require her to participate, yet...

 

ds2 loves Matchbox cars and playing outside

 

We have had dd6 complete a round of testing (achievement & cognitive) to help me figure out where she is at and how best to be her teacher. We found it very insightful.

 

Sue in TX