So yesterday I realised...

[LEK]

_{So yesterday I realized that dd7 is slightly more accelerated than I previously thought :lol:}

_{She is half way through 2nd grade (school year = calendar year here). I knew she was accelerated and would have said a grade or 2 ahead...}

 

_{I have been allowing my girls to do their own research and reading for science this year. I have been a little (or a lot) slacker than I would have liked in actually checking what they have been reading and learning, blame my terrible health and 2 littles, anyway, yesterday I realized that not only has she been reading my Holt Life Science book (7th grade) but she has also been answering the questions in an exercise book (correctly!) and doing all experiments she could without asking me for equipment :eek: I only cottoned on when she decided to ask me for a balance scale yesterday to check something... She is half way through the book and so far seems to have mastered all the material covered, wow!}

 

_{This comes only 2 weeks after I realized that dd9 (4th grade) is 4+ levels ahead in math, again I knew she was accelerated but I had not looked at the books covering our local curriculum in so long that I had no idea she was so far ahead of our local standards.}

 

_{Second such realization in only 2 weeks, this mummy better get her act together and actually work out where her kids really are at (and leave the denial behind). I have just been picking books at my kids current level and interests without really paying attention to grades etc and somehow was completely oblivious to how far ahead they really are, oops.}

[Grover]

sounds like a good way to go to me, follow their lead and see where you end up.  Enjoy the ride :-)

[slackermom]

 

 I have just been picking books at my kids current level and interests without really paying attention to grades etc 

 

This plan seems to be working so far! :)

[LEK]

This plan seems to be working so far! :)

 

Yes it does :001_smile: It might change the books I look at for next year though lol

[Dmmetler]

Don't worry, it's hard to run out of science books :) (says the mother who's child took a 1971 ZooGeography text to bed with her last night...)

[Tumbatoo]

Sounds like you are doing great! Grade level is much less important than interest.

[quark]

Standards are designed to standardize. For kids who love to learn, it's much more fulfilling and meaningful to put grade levels aside and go wide and deep. Congrats to you and the girls! Sounds like they are loving what you are doing. Now, consider something different!

 

Once we realized kiddo was exceeding standards (it looked like he was not only radically but also ridiculously accelerated at one point), it all felt very fishy to me. So we went off the beaten track. Instead of only the usual math, we went looking for alternative paths. He didn't like contest type books but he had already caught on to number theory so we let him immerse himself. Thankfully, there was enough number theory material available at his level through Living Math and soon after, AoPS had textbooks that felt accessible. Beast wasn't available at the time but if it had been I suspect he would have plowed through those too. We discovered very inexpensive high level Dover math and science books. We discovered resources like Numberphile and James Tanton's videos and books (but the books weren't used as much). We discovered the power of biographies and well produced documentaries. We left the usual stuff aside and went into full on immersion mode!

 

It's so much more satisfying! :001_smile:

 

 

[Jackie]

I realize at least annually that DD isn't where I thought she was. I've mostly given up. When we tackle a new topic, I often get a giant stack of library books spanning early elementary through adult level and just let her sort through them herself.

[Arcadia]

Yes it does :001_smile: It might change the books I look at for next year though lol

There is a reason I have more than five library cards (ETA: per person, different city and county library systems), and the B&N staff and the librarians think we are on vacation if they didn't see my kids :)

 

We used an older edition of Campbell Biology AP edition for reference. I had a used Holt life science CA edition and there is also a Holt biology. I passed it to my friend's ADHD 9 year old daughter who enjoyed it.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Arcadia

[pinewarbler]

I've mostly given up as well. Very occasionally I'll notice a topic in which one of the kids has noticeable gaps and can pounce there. Mostly I'm trailing behind them picking up the resources they're done with or running around finding more. It feels as if the best I can do is fly by the seat of my pants.

 

I think I gave up assessing their reading levels in grade 2. They were reading books years ahead, and when I quizzed them on the content, they could answer coherently. Now I occasionally read one of their books with them and we discuss book-club style, and I find that they're still years ahead. I think that as long as they have an ever changing pile of interesting books and the time to read them, they'll always be ahead. The last 2 years my youngest has been able to read any level book he wants at school, which is one of the reasons he's still in school  :lol:

 

Had to laugh at this

 

 

 

There is a reason I have more than five library cards, and the B&N staff and the librarians think we are on vacation if they didn't see my kids 

 

as it sounds exactly like us. We have 4 library cards because we can have 150 books out at a time, and my husband can still have his own library card. The librarians know us by name, and it is one of the busiest libraries in a city with the highest circulation per capita in N.A.

 

This year, I was dragged to one of our city's speciality reference libraries so that my DS could apply for access. Which meant I had to sit there for hours waiting for him to finish reading the books he needed. It was time well spent. Because this location has the best children's collection, I took a huge stack of novels from the 30's to the 60's and read the first chapter of each one. I then took out the ones that passed the test. Then with the oldest, we read the first chapters (only) and discussed why they were compelling. Structure, plotting, setting, characters, dialogue, etc. Then we read just the first page and did the same. Wouldn't have thought to do this if I hadn't had my day sacrificed to sitting in the reference room! 

 

For me, the math is the hardest to assess. Without having been taught, my DS in grade 4 could do many of his sister's grade 8 questions in his head. But then of course he has gaps, having no formal training at the level. Last year, I focused on his mastery of basic algorithms that he'll need (in order to jump up to that level) by doing BA. I started a math circle with other HG kids so that we can expand our mathematical discussions without needing to write out more formal proofs, which he isn't ready for yet. The best thing that happened this week is he overheard that people pay a lot for math tutors. I believe that he'll be super motivated going forward to push the math... :hurray: