New Link!

Remember me? I hope you all haven't completely written me off the list! Between remodeling our house and teaching the boy, I'm exhausted.

But Dr. Newman has passed along another link so here I am. Hopefully more regularly.

University of West Georgia offers Saturday classes for math, science, and engineering. Robin mentioned in comments once about field tripping together. Anyone up for that?

Robin also inquired in the comments , "I am thinking of sitting down with an attorney and discussing issues with Georgia's gifted ed from both a personal and class action perspective, especially from a 2e perspective. I've found a great candidate (a mom, too) in Roswell, GA. Has anyone considered this route?" And, she added, "Maryland has implemented a 2e program in parallel with its TAG program. You can find a great guide book posted at the Montgomery County, Maryland, website that details the psychology and needs of these children. It's also here."

My email is angela_thepaintedhouse at yahoo dot com.

Torrance Center Calendar

The Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at The University of Georgia has an impressive list of offerings for students in K-12th grade. Check out the list here. I wish we hadn't missed the date for registration for the MINDS Program--what a fun opportunity.

Book Review & Weather Links

As Calder and I began studying about weather last month, our conversations began to touch on particles and elements and chemistry. I figured it was time to introduce the periodic table. I found this book on Amazon and decided to order, not sure whether Calder would take to it. Well, it soon was what he read when he went to bed, read when he woke up at 6am, read in the car, and read during the day on the sofa. Already during its short stay at our house, its pages are crinkled and lovingly worn.

The Periodic Table: Element with Style by Adrian Dingle and Simon Basher.

The fun anime-like illustrations captured Calder's attention, and he enjoys the silly, yet informative, descriptions written about each element. He is motivated, in part, to learn about the elements because I told him once he learned basic information (atomic number and symbol) then he could play the elements card game I also ordered from Amazon.

Soon he assigned us all with an element according to our ages. He is carbon. "I'm everywhere!" Calder exclaimed. Yes, you are, my son, yes, you are. Johns is helium, "I hope he doesn't float away, Mommy!" I'm arsenic--but I promise not to use my powers for evil. Don't worry.

I hope everyone has stayed dry during all the rain. What a time for Calder to use his rain gauge! We began studying clouds this week and actually enjoyed some sunshine today and a variety of clouds in the sky--even saw "mackerel sky!" The following weather websites for children have been great to engage Calder: Web Weather for Kids and Weather Wiz Kids. Each lists various weather experiments, and Web Weather for Kids has interactive games, quizzes, and illustrations--Calder loves these.

I wish I could post more frequently, but life lately has been so full. But chime in anytime here in the comments or let me know if you would like to guest post. My email is in my profile info.

Happy teaching, advocating, and nurturing!

The Nines!

We are all about today's date around these parts. 09-09-09, Calder loves it. In the spirit of this once-in-a-century occurrence, here are nine things I love about having a gifted child:

1. When I forget how many cups of flour I put into the bowl, Calder always knows because he is always counting.
2. I have a joke buddy to laugh with me when the other kids don't see what's so funny.
3. What's that phone number again? He remembers it.
4. He develops games to play with his sister that include stuffed animals, a laundry basket, a Magna Doodle, and a sophisticated scoring system.
5. I always know the weather forecast for the day and each day for the following week--including each day's highs and lows in Fahrenheit and Celsius.
6. There is actual truth in that dreaded claim "well, all parents think their child is gifted." Yeah, I do and he is.
7. I'm re-learning things from school and learning new things I never thought I would.
8. We were more likely to be found "playing math" than playing Candyland when he was a toddler.
9. He has a curiosity that inspires me to be more curious.

The Pitfalls of Early Reading...

For those of you who travel I-85 northbound through Atlanta, you will know of which billboard I speak.

Dear Pink Pony,

First, thank you. Thank you for entertaining my very young and innocent children. They often grow impatient in the car so you were a welcomed diversion. Sure, you are a strip club; but any disapproval I would feel toward your illicit billboard was eased by the sweet giggles elicited from my 5-year-old reader with a serious weather fascination.

"Scattered Panties?" Calder asked incredulously and then erupted into laughter after seeing the billboard with a blue sky raining thongs and undies and captioned with the aforementioned "forecast".

And then 3-year-old Lee chimed in, "Scattered panties? What?" More giggles.

"If there were scattered panties, then we couldn't even see the sky to know what the real weather is." Calder speculated.

"Scattered underwear!" More laughter.

"Scattered Pull-ups!" Oh, they were whipping themselves into a frenzy.

Lee could barely get out, "Scattered thunder panties!" They were gasping for air now from the hysterical howling.

Oh, Pink Pony, you didn't.

And, then for the next five minutes it was "scattered" everything. At least we weren't talking about panties anymore. You know, Pink Pony, I at least can be grateful that there was no writhing, nearly-naked chick plastered on that billboard. Is it just wrong to name a topless bar "pink pony?" Take two of the most innocent and quintessential symbols of girlhood and use it to describe a strip club?

Tomorrow, scattered Huggies with a chance of high gastrointestinal winds.

Georgia Enrichment Opportunities

Here are a couple of links from my Internet wanderings:

Georgia Enrichment Program for Homeschoolers in Acworth offers classes from electricity and magnetism to entrepreneurship. Robotics and Mechanics are on the schedule at Youth Engaged in Science (YES!).

The Sculley Academy Math Club meets twice a month in Suwanee. Meetings are two hours and include games, problem solving, and math competitions.

Can anyone offer additional information or experience with these organizations?

Homeschool was better today--better attitudes all around. It's amazing what a little family meeting can do to put everyone in a better place.

When Onomatopoeia Falls Splat!

Thank you, Julie and Leslie, for your kind comments to encourage me past our rather flat start to the new school year. Also, thank you for the information on the various curriculum resources and experience with local teaching facilities. Calder and I are loosely following Saxon's Algebra 1/2, and I supplement with various math workbooks.

As for science, I have pulled together a weather program that we will follow for three months consisting of library books, videos, experiments, and relevant field trips. I'm weaving in literature, art, and creative writing all related to weather to round out the study. For example, today I taught him about onomatopoeia. We listened to water and storm recordings on the Internet, read a few poems and books heavy on onomatopoeia and alliteration, and then made a word bank of all the words descriptive of water sound from which to construct an original poem. Sure, he loved it all until he had to write a poem. Sure, the fear of it reduced him to tears and consequently made me cry (I'm all for honesty here). But we talked our way through it, and in the end he wrote this poem:

Water can fall everywhere.

And it can sometimes swirl everywhere.

Dibble dopp dopp!

The rain is falling from the sky.

Of the twenty-four words in our word bank, he chose the two from Mr. Brown Can Moo. Ha! But considering how confident he was that he could not write a poem, this is a wonderful outcome. He was so proud he pushed through, and I was happy, too. Hopefully he will have more fun doing my lesson on Jackson Pollock--relating raindrops to drip paintings. What kid wouldn't want to sling some paint around? (Speaking of which, have you ever splattered here?)

For his literature, grammar, and history, he is attending a teaching facility.

And, now, more links from the magical European link fairie who keeps me in good supply! Thank you! First, My Audio School is an online resource for recorded lessons on history, art, and literature. About 25% of their content is available for free. Otherwise, you can purchase an annual membership for $14.99. I briefly browsed the site and clicked on the picture of Monet's waterlilies--since we had just seen them at the High Museum. I was skeptical that the format would engage Calder, but he was on the computer screen like flies on honey.

Also, here is a list of free web seminars offered by the National Association for Gifted Children through the end of the year.