About developing math and art skills. I am. Well, actually I'm developing the three Rs (reading, riting, rithmatic), math, science, history, music, and art from my kids. My kid's around your kid's age and I guess a similar level of gifted, although he's not been tested.
Here's some drawings of a train, George Washington, and a zombie.
They're all from step-by-step how to draw lessons. There's tons of them online for anything you could want to draw.
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/Hablame_today/66f9e3b6.jpghttp://i945.photobucket.com/albums/...D-FB8EA4CE0749-1560-0000029A79400122.jpghttp://i945.photobucket.com/albums/...B-4D0F95EA2861-1560-0000029A6BEB14AB.jpgHere's his introductions to division. He's able to do multiplication with a number line so I'm having him fill in a couple of multiplication charts so he starts to memorize them. He has done enough Bedtime Math © brand word problems (little kid level) that his addition facts are almost memorized just from using them. His sense of place value (borrowing and carrying) has become cemented by this division process (search youtube for khan academy division lectures to see). We've also worked through the book "Apple Fractions" a few times including eating the apple pie at the end. Now he's doing a workbook about adding and subtracting fractions and decimal places.
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/...F-AE420C8F516D-1560-0000029A72B82E21.jpgNow what's the point of teaching them ahead? There are different parenting and educating philosophies, even among the parents of the highly gifted there is no consensus of "the right answer", according to the internet forums. I'm going with my own understanding of the term "zone of proximal development". I'm teaching my kid at his own pace the things that I know children are usually taught. There are legitimate arguements against teaching kids ahead of time. What will they learn at school? There are compelling arguements for being child-led and delight driven rather than teaching young children "the boring parts of school" when they don't have to learn it yet. ("you might be altering their natural development"). Plus, where will they fit educationally? I'm throwing caution to the wind and teaching him these things and sending him to school anyway. Your milage may vary. Results are unsure.
