January 2013

Picture: at local farmers market - Nicholas drawing a plant cell, magnified 7 times

Wow! So much for my weekly blogs! It's been 4 months! I was off to a good start and then everything went down hill with Nicholas getting sick, Isabella getting sick from her immunizations for 2 weeks and then me with my kidney issues and surgery! How does one homeschool going through all that? And take care of an infant on top of it?

I do have to say Homeschooling is HARD!!! Granted, my son is 4 and technically preschool and really doesn't need a curriculum and isn't being monitored by the state or anything. And it's still hard! I'm doing this because he loves to learn and as practice to see if I can do this long term. I don't know if I can. I want bonding time with my daughter. Nicholas is such a delight and a self starter wanting to learn everything. However, he wants an audience and wants someone to listen to his every word - whether it's about the Zeppilin Airships(1 to who knows how many they built - oh yeah, he does), Factorials, Hieroglyphics, Periodic table of elements, etc....If I walk upstairs to change Isabella's diaper or something and he's just talked about elements 1-7 and I tell him I'll be down in 5 minutes and to keep going on his own....I will come back downstairs and he's just sitting there waiting for me not having done a single thing...just waiting and says "ready for element number 8 Mommy?". It's exhausting! But I love him dearly and I want to make sure he gets what he needs.

Even though I haven't posted in the last few months and I can't say I've been actively homeschooling, Nicholas is still on the go with learning. He wakes up thinking and just wants to talk about things and look things up and type it all in excel or write it on a chalkboard. As mentioned before, he's learning about the Hindenberg and all the other German airships. He watches videos, looks up pictures of each one and gets upset if he can't find one...I just tell him there weren't many cameras in the early 1900's and they forgot to take a camera to get a picture before it blew up. He seems to be okay with this response. He's reading several books on airships and the Hindenberg. Last night at bedtime he read a Level 3 reader story book on airships. The coolest thing is that the guy who built the Hindenberg, his first name is "COUNT"! How much does Nicholas love this? He got into airships because of his current love of the Periodic Table of elements. He is studying them all and is interested in protons, neutrons, atomic weight, shell pattern of electrons, etc...Hydrogen, the first element, was used in airships before they knew it was flammable and not good to use so this is what got his interest started in airships.

In math, he's enjoying using excel and creating formula's, doing division, factorials, and decimal calculations. A few week's ago he emailed Bill Gates about why excel will only let him calculate powers of 10 to 190 zero's and not past that. Every day he has asked me to check my email for a response and wanting to know if Bill Gates has fixed this so he can do more. Poor Kid. I keep telling him that Bill gets so many emails a day that we probably won't get a response. I told him yesterday that we can try to email customer service, and his response was "So they will tell Bill to fix it?" So Cute!

We've also started growing plants. Nicholas loves this. We're growing snow peas, Mint, bean sprouts, and soon broccoli. It's been really exciting. Unfortunately, the bean sprout was overcome by ants and died after repotting. But....it got us to start the other ones and now he LOVES going to the Green Thumb Nursery. It's a fun little hobby for him and it's getting us better at keeping plants alive. Maybe next time Ill post some pictures of the plants he grew from seeds :)

Nicholas is finally getting into story books. He's been mostly interested in non-fiction and reference books, studying facts, etc...but he's getting into stories which has been exciting. If it's funny he will like it. He's currently enjoying Captain Underpants, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Green Eggs and Ham(at which he says it should technically be called Green Eggs and Green Ham, per the picture).

As far as schooling for Kindergarten, it is coming up soon. I have been doing research for years on what will be the best fit for him. A new FREE Montessori charter school in Vista was approved last night and will open in the Fall. I have emailed them for more info and accommodations. The Principal and Director of Elementary Education for our local public school is arranging a meeting for us in the coming weeks to meet Nicholas and go over his IQ test. Afterwards, they will discuss ways to accommodate him and get back to us on what they can offer. I'm impressed with them trying to work on something and being proactive. There is another free charter that is part of the public school system that we will look into...however, it's a homeschool option where he would go to classes once a week for enrichment(art, latin,etc...). I would provide math/science at home through a curriculum they will provide for us. The plus about this charter is that we can accelerate to whatever grade necessary for math/science whereas other charters require kinder curriculum only if you're in kinder. You can't skip to a higher math or science. Of course, these free charters are by lottery so even if we wanted to get in, it's not a slam dunk.

For those that are interested, attached is a gifted scale showing IQ's from an average person on up. There are 5 levels. This was sent to me yesterday and was an interesting read.

http://www.talentigniter.com/ruf-estimates

I am not going to share my son's score but he is in Level 5. I don't say this to brag. I say this to show how different he is. A level 5 range compared to an average person is the same as comparing an average person to a mentally slow learning disabled person. This paints a picture of how different my son is and why it would be difficult to put him in a traditional school. No one will get him, know how to teach him, know how to be friends with him. In my opinion, he will be uncomfortable and why would I put my son in such a situation? It is my goal to find other level 4 and 5's in this world so he can have same age peer friends. This is one tough quest but I am up for the challenge! Not only does finding these people help him but it helps me with support because these other parents understand what we're going through. It's not all easy-peasy living with a child like this. It is the hardest thing I have gone through(well, except maybe my kidney stone surgery - LOL). It's been a challenge since he was born. And it will be a challenge for me until he turns 18. Afterwards, I'm sure it will be a challenge for him the rest of his life. I also want to point out that Nicholas has no idea he is "gifted", does not know his IQ, and does not know he is a member of Mensa. He does not need to know this. He is just a kid and thinks he is playing all day. I'm the one doing research and trying to understand him and how to help him and keep him a happy boy!

With this advanced academia, comes a big delay in social and gross motor skills. We're happy to report though that he received a bike(with training wheels) from Santa and he is really enjoying it. I'm not able to take him with the baby but Chris takes him on weekends and he always comes back happy. I think he is proud that he is doing so well. He is slowly getting better with gross motor and it's all really exciting. Socially, he is a social butterfly with adults and any older child that will sit and listen to him(he actually doesn't stop talking)...but with same age peers he has no interest. I'm hoping this will change in time as we have found a couple other folks with similar children so maybe after spending more time with them some friendship bonds can form. I hear from some people, "just put him in kinder for socializing. who cares about the academics part since he already knows it". I get what you're saying but I just don't think it would work for him because it's not that he's shy and needs to learn to interact with people. It's that he can't relate to them because they are so different. I think it might cause more damage than good. Still thinking on this one. I love how strangers get on our case about this one...they don't know our son at all. And I've heard some people get real huffy puffy to me about this. So I try hard to avoid the topic. It's tough because everyone you meet asks where he goes to preschool, why he doesn't go to preschool, and where he's going to go to Kinder and when you say he might not go to the local public school and they ask why I haven't thought up a good response. The true reply just gets an awkward silence or a defensive snotty remark where they say "just put him in for socialization". I think the snottiness is in their voice because they think I'm bragging...which I'm not. (sigh) I just need to avoid the topic somehow. Maybe I can somehow make my phone ring and pretend talk and then say "excuse me, I have to take this important call" and run away. LOL!

Okay, so I think this is long enough for today...and my kids will be up soon so lots of caffeine is necessary as I've been up since 4am! What's on our plate for today? It's going to be nice out so I'm thinking a trip to the park/playground....Nicholas loves the sandbox/sand & water wheel, walk around the lake, picnic lunch. Thanks so much for reading and if anyone has fun science projects I can do with N please share. My go to lately has been giving him little cups of water and food coloring and he mixes them up to create primary, secondary colors, and of course he enjoys mixing them all to make brown and adding water to make them super light. He's getting bored after a few times so now I needs something else new and easy so I can cook/clean while he plays!

9/17/12 - 9/21/12

Wow! What a week. We're into our third week and this was a rough one. Grandma and Grandpa Klein left and Nicholas was wanting the same attention as when they were here. It made for a very tough week. Lots of whining and me getting stressed. The more stressed I got the more whiny he got and it just makes for a miserable day. And it's hard to force a 4 year old into time out when you're feeding a newborn...for an hour(The little princess takes her time)! Ugh! It didn't help that one day I slept in and wasn't prepared with worksheets for him. So...the lack of structure made the day miserable. Nicholas loves structure and needs a "plan" for the day. He likes to know what's going to happen and have it all laid out for him. If I don't have a plan and I need to cook meals or feed Isabella he literally doesn't know what to do and can not play on his own. He just plants his head into the couch whining "what can I do?" over and over and over! He has a playroom filled with toys. I'm talking trampoline, basketball net, lego's, mega blocks, train set, etc...he just won't play with any of it on his own. His occupational therapist thinks it's part of his sensory overload and he really doesn't know what to do and that he needs to be taught how to play. I didn't know this could be possible. Doesn't everyone know how to play with toys on their own?!?! I just thought he was needy and wanted attention but the therapist thinks its more sensory and having to decide on his own what to do is overwhelming. There are too many options going through his head and it's too much. Interesting!

Anyway, we continued our daily worksheets and we decided to give him more difficult math problems just to see how he did. He amazingly did everything correctly. For some reason his mind just "gets it"! It's amazing! We've decided to use one of these worksheets for his application to the Davidson Young Scholar Program when he turns 5 next May. Here's a website to the program: http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/ It's a free support group for profoundly gifted students ages 5-18. Nicholas was IQ tested in May at the age of 3 and his results came back as Exceptionally Gifted(borderline profoundly, which is the highest). With the standard deviation(5 points given for his perfectionism and not wanting to answer some questions for fear of failure) he does fall into the profoundly gifted range. Therefore, I describe him as EG/PG rather than picking one. We've heard great things about this support group and look forward to hopefully getting him accepted. Once accepted he would remain as a member until he's 18. A big part of our reason for taking pictures and documenting all of his work is for this program and for us to be an advocate for him and get him the help that he needs, since the public school system most likely can not accommodate him. We want all of his work samples should anyone ask so they can readily see what level he is on at any given point. He is so hungry to learn and loves Math(and science) that we want to do whatever is necessary for him to continue on this path and do whatever great things this may lead to.

Something we did this week was make a volcano(mixing acids and bases). I basically put the mold together and poured the plaster but the next day he painted the volcano himself. He was so excited to erupt it on the third day but it was quite a bit of a let down. It barely erupted so I would not recommend the scientific explorer kit we used. We definitely want something more grand! I think next week we'll pour a bunch more vinegar and baking soda in to see if we get a big explosion, rather than just the 1 teaspoon of each per the instructions. In months past he was into volcano books and watched a cool DVD about all the volcano's in the world and saw eruptions and destructions of cities and how people can be in danger. I think I'll look for that DVD on netflix again and watch it again with him soon!

I also noticed the game Qwirkle in a Mindware magazine that we received in the mail. We had it but we never played. I brought it out and thought it would be a great thinking game for him so we tried it while Isabella was napping. It was a hit! He got it right away. We made our own version of it and used all the pieces. It was exciting to see the huge winding shape we made by the end! I think this will be a good "go to" game for the next few weeks!

We are also working on another scrapbook for Grandma and Grandpa's journey back to South Carolina. They got home today but we are a little behind on keeping up with them. Between Isabella's feedings and Nicholas' whining, things were a little slow this week.

However, we did have a get together with a friend. We had a friend come over with her 19 month old son. He is in the toddler stage, not yet talking but running around. I was curious to see how he would do with him. He surprised me and did really well, trying to help him play with toys and even engaged in a "pass the toy back and forth" game the little guy initiated. But, as always, Nicholas is much more into the parents and preferred to read a book with him mommy. But...he is progressing!

Here are some pics from the week. You'll see we also did a spreadsheet on ounces/pounds/cups, played with math dice, and worked on IXL.com website for their math problems.

Our Second Week of Preschool...

Well, we've finished our 2nd week of preschool, and Nicholas is still excited about it. He comes down every morning excited about his 2-3 daily worksheets I put out for him on his desk. In doing his morning worksheets, I'm not only learning what Nicholas does and does not know, I'm learning what he likes to do. For example, one day I didn't put any math worksheets out(they were planets and other questions), and he was upset that there was not a math page so I quickly created one. So now, I always make sure one of the pages is a math page. I'm trying to do a worksheet of math, a worksheet of something new, and then a "review" worksheet to include questions he got incorrect on prior days to see if he now knows them. It's been working out great!

The greatest part about homeschooling this week is that Grandma and Grandpa Klein came to visit, and we didn't have to worry about taking him to a school where they would miss seeing him for some time(especially since they were only here for a few days). We were able to work around our schedule and do activities at different times when necessary. The flexibility is wonderful! And...I also liked that Grandpa got to do science with him, and I got a little break! Yay!

This week we did a couple art projects. One was creating a scrapbook of grandma and grandpa's trip out to Cali. Grandpa emailed every night the amount of miles they drove, what city/state they were staying in for the night, and a little info about the city. We printed out the email and cut and pasted it onto construction paper. We printed out a blank map and plotted out their drive/stops/miles. After the 8 days, we hole punched all the pages and tied them together to complete our book. It was great because not only did Nicholas learn how to make a little book, but he was practicing cutting with scissors, glueing with a glue stick, and even got to press down on the three hole punch which he thought was super cool! ...and he learned about cities, states, miles, days of the week(counting), and so much more. We're planning on also printing out the pictures they sent us from their drive and adding them to the book this week.

Here are pictures from the Art Project:

Our second project was going out to buy a binder and sheet protectors, and a hole punch from Staples. This was to put together all the work we've done so far since preschool started. Now we have everything in a nice organized place to look back on. Nicholas got to decorate his preschool binder with crayons which was fun.

Here are some more pictures from our second week of preschool:

One of the most difficult things with homeschooling Nicholas is dealing with both him and Isabella together. Isabella is a cat napper and needs to constantly eat and be changed. This leaves Nicholas to be on his own a lot...and he does NOT like playing by himself...nor does he really know how to play on his own. That is one of our goals and we're finding out that he is starting to be okay to play on his own with Lego's, marble runs, and snap circuits.


Here's a picture of him building a marble run while I was making dinner:

All in All, it was a good week. He definitely got lots of attention from Grandma and Grandpa this past week so I anticipate this week to be a bit of a challenge and him getting upset on having to be on his own a lot. Fingers crossed on me keeping my sanity and getting through it :)

Our plan for this week: We're hoping to get 1 or 2 play dates in to socialize him. Hoping the triple digit heat goes away so we can get some outside time....and I'm also planning on buying a small patio greenhouse so we can start planting some herbs and teaching him about plants and their lifecycle...
We will also continue our daily worksheets, reading workbook, etc...and maybe get into making a volcano for our science project...and of course, receive emails form Grandpa each night about their trip back to South Carolina and making another scrapbook with all the new cities, miles, etc...

Thanks for reading about our second week's journey! :)

Pics of Nicholas' First Week of Preschool

0-10 in Several Languages

Addition

Math Problems

Money

Pi/Fibonacci Numbers

Nicholas Starts Preschool - 9/4/2012

Nicholas started Pre-K this week - Tuesday, 9/4/12! He is super excited about learning and having Mommy as his teacher. We decided to homeschool him this year because he's so far advanced beyond his peers academically. While Pre-K is learning a "Letter" of the week or counting "1-10", Nicholas is counting well beyond a googol and reading anything you put in front of him. Taking him to a preschool would be doing him a dis-service and we don't want him to lose his love of learning.

We will be learning many things this year to include: Math, Reading, Writing, History, Science, Art, Foreign Language, Maps, Telling Time....as well as other topics like learning chores, helping with Isabella, attending play dates, independent play, and getting exercise/playing sports.

How do we do it? The evening before, I plan the next days lesson. The first week was spent a lot on creating worksheets to see what Nicholas knows and where we need to start teaching him. I think after another week I'll have a good handle on new things to teach him. Each morning he woke up and saw the spreadsheets on his desk. We could see his eyes light up and a huge smile expand on his face as he saw the material and couldn't wait to answer the questions. He usually finished the spreadsheets within a few minutes while I fed Isabella and/or drank my coffee. He was then excited to show me his answers and ask if he got them all correct. He knew most everything. However, for the ones he didn't know I explained the answer and now we will work on those lessons to teach him in the coming weeks.

After completing the spreadsheets and breakfast we play like usual and get ready for our normal outings like swim, piano, OT, library, whatever and then come home for lunch. Afterwards, we work on a few pages of a 1st grade level workbook - currently the reading section(learning reading comprehension and remembering details in a story). He's really enjoyed it and did 7 pages the first day we cracked this book open because he didn't want to stop.

We're also doing lots of science experiments, snap circuits, and also tracking Grandma and Grandpa's trek out to California.

Our plan is to schedule one play date a week to socialize him. We had a neighbor come over the other day with her 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter and Nicholas interacted with them helping them learn how to play with his toys. It's nice to see him grow in this area.

As far as extra-curricular activities, he is in swim, piano, and karate. We are considering entering him in a mommy & me Spanish class at our community center(if they allow Isabella to come).

I was a little nervous how it would all pan out with Isabella here, but it all seems to be falling into place. Nicholas does better with structure so having a plan helps get through the day! Overall, our first week was a success! We will hold preschool on M-F and take normal breaks over weekends, holidays, etc....

Thanks for following our journey and reading about Nicholas' love of learning.