Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Hothousing- did you, didn't you, will you?

That's interesting Dottie! My DS3.5 had a bunch a sight words and really WANTS to read so I actually got Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons a few weeks ago to work on with her. We're only on lesson 10, but she's already trying to sound out a whole bunch of words she doesn't know yet and loves the rhyming word games. My DS would have never have gone for this at all, but she loves it! They're all different!

And I know exactly what you mean about denial St. Pauli. I'm still right there with you. Had I known DS was HG+ before kindy, I'm sure I would have been thinking "what is wrong with you? Do something amazing already!".

And my DS also really loved captain underpants before kindergarten!

Ditto the Captain Underpants!

And if your kids like that kind of humor, you might look into the Jiggy McCue series: _The Killer Underpants_, _The Toilet of Doom_, etc.

DS6 DEVOURED the first one, and he's been pestering me about when the rest of the series will be delivered ever since. ("Soon. Soon! Asking me every hour on the hour won't make them arrive any faster!")

Anyway, DS6 has been in heaven! The first book reminds me of a cross between _Harry Potter_ and _Captain U_. It is a novel geared for 9yos and up, not a comic book.

Plot: In _Killer Underpants_, the hero, required by his mother to get rid of the holey, filthy undies he normally wears, dons a new pair of underwear and finds they have evil powers. Nuttiness ensues until he can figure out how to get them off.

It's humor, mild horror stuff (not gory or violent, just in the loss of control and superpower areas). He (and the undies) make his best friend flush his own head in the toilet, for example. Not violent, but a wee bit creepy nevertheless. The hero is concerned about accidentally doing violence, so a very sensitive child could have trouble with it, I suppose. (Though neither DS6 nor DS3, my sensitive one, were at all bothered.)

Anyway, it's another option that you may not have heard of. It's from British Scholastic, but Amazon sells it.

Thanks for the recommendation Kriston! That sounds right up our alley.

kcab - The True Books series looks like something DS would like. He does like a lot of nonfiction science stuff. thanks!

Glad there are so many Capt. Underpants fans. We'll give 'em a try. Killer Underpants sounds good too - thanks Kriston.

By the way, since i commented earlier today, I looked over DS's shoulder when he was playing one of his latest fave games on the computer. I asked him what does it say in that box, and he read to me, with no problems: "Shifters can become invisible and are nearly impossible to see, except by the snipers." So I should just shut up, I guess!

LOL! Interest matters so much with these kids, doesn't it?

This is my working definition, in a nutshell.

Both of my girls were reading at that age. The oldest was always interested in reading by herself and reading to us. She read everything she could get her hands on. Her younger sister, however, wasn't as motivated until recently (she's 7 now). I think part of it was that she was just interested in doing other things and too busy to sit down and read. Now she's reading 3rd-5th grade level books. She also had a great teacher this year who did a good job exposing the students to lots of different types of books. I actually talked to DD's teacher at the beginning of the school year and expressed my concern over her lack of interest in reading. She was very helpful in suggesting different material like nonfiction, poetry, and magazines.

If the ability is there, I think the interest will eventually follow with exposure.

I provided my 2E son who has sensory issues and motor dyspraxia and hypotonia with the support and nurturing he needed in order to learn--support that public schooled kids in my area don't receive, so some people would probably call it hothousing.

I remember being called a "hothouse plant" by my 3rd grade teacher. I was a very shy, sensitive child who preferred to read or watch other kids instead of running around playing at recess. I was sick every morning before school that year because of my anxiety, but I was still able to learn enough that I was at the highest reading level in the class even though I was one of the youngest kids in the class. I did not have my son's sensory issues or hypotonia and I could color in the lines and draw and write well so I at least fit in that way.

Even though I almost always made straight A's, I think my anxiety caused me to not learn as much as I could have. I wanted my son to be free to learn as much as he wanted without dealing with the anxiety that I knew would result from being different in a school where different kids are bullied. My experience in school helped me make the decision to homeschool, but my anxiety keeps me wondering if I am doing the right things to prepare him for life.

I didn't have to teach him to read. He somehow learned to read and spell on his own at two even though his eyes tired quickly because he has always had that incredible desire to learn.

My "hothouse plant" seems to be thriving so I don't care what other people think.

I totally identify with both your confidence that you're doing the right thing and your anxiety that you're not. I think that's just a sign that you're a conscientious parent.

It doesn't sound to me that you're hothousing to get a "genius," nor in the sense that you're raising a fragile child, FWIW...

I'm so pleased to have found this group. I think I am just starting out on the journey that your group has been on for a while.

My son is 2 1/2 years old and reads at a 2nd grade level (word identification, not necessarily comprehension of concepts/themes) and does simple math. He is our first child and although we are older and considered ourselves ready to parent, each day's developments with Graham seem to bring more and more bewilderment and confusion. The topic of hothousing is one I have considered extensively as we start down this path, because I am very unsure of myself at this point and how to advocate most effectively with him.

My husband and I are voracious readers and made a conscious decision before Graham was born to eschew TV completely for him in favor of books, toys, etc. We read to him A LOT over the first 1 1/2 years simply as a way to fill time and keep him occupied. I was home full time with him until he was 18 months. At 18 months he went to a full time institutional day care (Goddard School) and I returned to work. He started reading, as opposed to memorizing, at around 2.

Graham's obsession (as we jokingly call it) with numbers, letters...now progressing to how words (all of them!) are spelled, and the concept of telling time has been completely self directed. We answer his question, provide him with computer time (limited), a never ending supply of books, etc, but never really sit down and drill him per se.

Graham has a late July birthday so he will be the youngest in his kindergarten class a little more than 2 years from now when he starts school.

I have no idea what to do. I am at a loss. As each day passes and the mental jumps he makes get larger and larger, I get more scared that I'm really going to screw this up. Either by downplaying it too much for fear of being labeled as one of "those" parents, or focusing too much on it and not giving him the normalcy I want him to have.

Sorry to ramble. Just glad to be here and read about your experiences.

Catherine