that is so cool, Ametrine! i always think it's so neat to hear what actually goes on inside their heads - i hardly ever get that from my kid!

my stuff... (sorry it's longwinded - we seem to have had quite an exciting week around here.)

it's now a week into homeschooling, and DD5 has raised her reading level an entire grade since i last tested her in august, and i just got a report that she has finished 40% of the Grade 3 math in her online practice program. she also did some sick geometry this week: designing, measuring and building her own contiguous patterns for several quite complex 3D shapes.

also... we've always kept a bike for her in the shed, but she's never been that interested. this morning at breakfast, she boldly announces that "those useless training wheels are holding me back." i stifle a laugh - there speaks the Great Rationalizer - but i'm thrilled, so we get out the wrench and pop them off.

i was secretly hoping she'd finally experience a little healthy failure - but sadly, it was not to be. she climbs onto the bike, shrugs my hand off her back and RIDES AWAY LAUGHING. (yay/arg)

Doubtful...

You made my day with your DD's success shrugging off the training wheels. I KNOW how difficult the seeming easy stuff is for our kids.

DS has been weepy today. Some days he's on the edge because his ideas are too big for his abilities...I know you know what I mean.

Love the trainingwheels story doubtfulguest! I am Bonaire how accurate my memory is, but I seem to recall being so scared to give up trainingwheels because bike riding with them was so hard - and then to find leaning without them so much easier once pushed to give them up...

LOL. My DS4.5 was the same way with training wheels. He'd been begging all summer for us to take them off and I finally did on his smaller bike (He has a bigger one where he can't quite touch the ground). He was riding within the day. The same day, he also swam across the pool without his floatie.

We went to a park with good bike riding areas, along with some other homeschoolers and there was a "bump trail" (small hills, similar to what you'd see a bmx racer riding on, but much smaller.). I thought it would be a bit of a challenge for him and it was slow going the first time or two around, but once the bigger kids got out of the way and he had the track to himself, he was cruisin around it. In all honesty, his small bike is holding him back in this case...

W00T!! Last night, DD8 declared her intentions to launch the conquest of my bookshelf!

It had become quite disorganized, so together we pulled everything out and sorted by author. As we did so, I pointed out various things she might be interested in that were age-appropriate. She said she would like something funny, so I pointed at the huge stack of Terry Pratchett works, and described the nonsensical impossibility of the Discworld. She decided that was a good place to start.

Other comments she made during this conversation:

- Books are her favorite media, trumping movies, video games, etc.
- Her G/T class was offered the option of working on a particular problem, or free reading. She was the only one who chose reading.
- This prompted her friend to say something to the effect of, "You're weird. You read more than anyone else I've ever seen." DD did not take it as an insult.

Also, DD8 is currently reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets from the school library, despite the fact we have the full series at home. This is because, during free reading at school, she's only allowed to read school library books, not books brought from home. She had recently started the series over again, because she has yet to read the whole thing from start to finish, and wanted to give it another go.

What was brag-worthy about this, though, is that DD has a new school librarian who tried to block her access to it, as they've rated 6th-grade level (she's in 4th), and DD successfully self-advocated with the librarian to get it.

Good job, Dude's DD!

Which PTerry is she starting with? I love the witch books, either Wee Free Men or Equal Rites as a starting point. (I realize that the question of which book to read first is practically a religious matter in some areas of fandom, and I promise not to try to change your mind if it is for you, too.)

Will she be allowed to read what she wants from now on? I can't believe they're still policing at that age. DD9 was never limited in any way (she started at this school in second). That reminds me, though--I need to see if they're limiting DS5. K could very well be different.

LOL... it's funny that you use the word "religious" there, as I decided to plunge into the series when "Small Gods" caught my attention, and I'd probably commend it to DD as a good place to start.

But it's not really important to me where she starts. I have yet to organize them sequentially, but will do so tonight, and then I'll let DD know she can start anywhere she likes.

She'll likely be a while, though, as she's currently dedicated to that HP task, and she doesn't like mixing reading projects.

Ditto. It seems foolish to me to police a child's access to any reading material for reasons other than violence or adult content. I've had this conversation with DD's school before.