natal!!! You are such a softie behind that mince-no-words exterior! ;-) But seriously.... how amazing is that little girl? I was trying to place her accent/speech pattern and had it pegged as Lithuanian - close. Would love to know more about mom's home schooling approach.

She reminds me of a young Dakota Fanning whom I think has a high I.Q. like the little girl in the link.

Sometimes it turns me off to hear little kids speak like adults, but this little girl and Dakota are precious!

You are such a softie behind that mince-no-words exterior!

Thank you. ;)

dlm, I am guessing it's not the homeschooling approach that led her to the SB, but her IQ!

I'd love for my daughters to meet her.

No Anele, you want your daughter's to be normal. LOL. But still smart.

I don't get it, Oak?

I said that not really as an insult to the child, but her I.Q. is probably through the roof. Which changes their personalities as children.

She was born with the high I.Q., it wasn't learned. I would want my childrent to be smart and act like kids at the same time, and not act so "grown up."

What an amazing little girl!

Being brilliant, IMO, can go either way regarding a kid's personality. I think it just depends on the individual child and maybe even how the parents raise that child. My own now-18 y/o DD was tested at the beginning of her freshman year in high school, and she placed at a college senior level in most everything but math, but still high in math. The school wanted to test her out of HS and bump her up into our local University of NM, but we decided to just kept her in her HS pre-AP classes with her friends. We worked with her school and with her and, almost four years later she's pretty much a normal, albeit more mature, high school senior. We thought that it was more important not to hurry along DD's emotional maturity . . . and that the high school experience was too important to miss. Bypassing that, we felt, could turn her into one of those brainy kid who wasn't able to relate to others her age ~ or older. I'm not saying that this approach is right for everyone, but was for DD.
Lynn

Oak, I see . . .I didn't mean that I wanted my DDs to be friends with her so that she'd "rub off" on them. Not at all. I just know that sometimes my girls have issues with others. They get along with them fine, but they just can't always relate to them in a way they'd like, if that makes sense.

Let me give you an example. My infant was in a room, sleeping. I asked my 10 yo to check on her. My DD said the baby was like Schr�dinger's cat at that moment. I don't think (maybe I'm wrong) any of her friends would have gotten her joke.

Another--she is dealing with a sort of mean girl at school, and DD said she thinks she is going to do what surgeons do, and write out all of the possible problems that might occur before surgery and plan for the scenarios. (She read this on one of her books about surgeons' lives.) If she said that to her friends, they would probably just think she's weird.

My other daughter read and re-read The Grimmerie one summer, when she was 4. Her other friends were just not into Wicked by then. Could not relate.

I have not had my girls' IQs tested, but I am sure they are not through the roof. They are not geniuses or prodigies, but they are quirky. I like to think of them as Chic Geek. (Not that I say that to them.) I know they would appreciate being around others who "go beyond," because they'd have some fun discussions.

What's normal? Average?
I prefer interesting!

Either way, as a child, genetics, family and culture have more to do with how we are than anything else.
I would love to have chosen to be wildly intelligent but it didn't happen.

I love prodigies, they are indeed fascinating.

Prodigies are fascinating, yes. But they don't live a fun childhood, IMO.

Chic Geek is cool! My DH is what I call a "Brain." Our boys are brains too. But not geniuses for which I'm thankful.

My youngest son's teacher in 3rd grade wanted him to be tested for the "gifted" class. I said I'd rather he not. But we were able to feed his intelligence here at home without coddling and making him feel like he's better than anyone else.

I didn't want them to have a stigma and get that superiority complex that many have which IMO, causes them to miss a lot of fun childhood things.

Oak, the problem, though, is that if an athlete is gifted, he or she is celebrated. If a child is gifted intellectually, no one is supposed to know. We put the emphasis on the wrong people. IMO, our hope for survival rests in the hands of scientists, but parents don't want their gifted children to be singled out for advanced studies, inc. science. But athletes? Everyone knows who they are. If your children are smart, let them be happy about it. Gifted kids often feel different because they are different to varying degrees. No one is saying anyone needs to brag, but gifts of all sorts need to be acknowleged and honed.

Prodigies are fascinating, yes. But they don't live a fun childhood, IMO.

IMO . . . indeed. I doubt there is not one single study that supports your insulting opinion.

And who defines what fun is? My idea of fun often clashes with societies idea, and that was especially true when I was a child.

Anele, I would have disagree, but only slightly. I would say that it is wrong to put emphasis on any group of people. Talent, whether athletic, intellectual, or artistic should be recognized wherever it is found. It is only when one type of talent is exalted too highly above others that we tend to have a problem. Personally, I revel in in the myriad personality types that populate this earth (I gather from your posts that you revel in it too). It is just plain ole neat. Scientists, athletes, comedians, poets, and even normal folk, they are all just fun to me. Not to mention, some athletes, well, um...David Beckham anyone? Yum!

I had people tell me my youngest son should be tested for gifted when he was in elementary school. I didn't and hope I did not screw things up. He was gifted in certain areas I do know that. As a baby he was almost freakish in his hand eye coordination in dismantling his crib, electronics or anything with knobs or screws. He was also gifted in art composition but only advanced in most studies in school. His school was in a close nit neighborhood and the gifted kids moms seemed along the lines of stage moms to me so I didn't pursue the gifted testing. I didn't see any of the kids in the gifted classes suffering from any side effects of having a happy childhood though. I have seen some of those kids have problems after school and before college though (don't know what happened since college days). I know of one kid who seemed to of lost his identity in the interim. That kid in particular was lucky his grandmother had been high up in the police department as his record suddenly disappeared off the public record site and he is now in a university. With some of the others there were talks of odd quirky happenings. It's just hard to know the right answer, my son is well adjusted, ambitious and doing well. Would he be doing better if I had taken a different road? I don't know I just care that he seems happy, has good friends, a good job and is going to school.

Tish, we agree- I said gifts of all types should be acknowledged and honed. I am fully in agreement with the theory of multiple intelligences!

Jterrlynn, many schools' gifted programs are not about meeting ggifted learners' needs but instead about doing more vs. going deeper. And, of course, giftedness is so varied. Some people are gifted, but most are not profoundly so, and they will have different needs. So, it's no guarantee that the gifted program would have done anything for your son other than give him unwanted pressure. If my kids are content in life, then I will feel we've really made it, regardless of job or income. It sounds like your son has truly had a great life with the right opportunities.

My dream is to have a school where it would not be product oriented but process oriented. Every child would have access to a wide range of studies, and be able to approach them in meaningful ways, inc. internships and apprenticeships. No child would be hurried or held back. And, social and emotional development would be part of the core curriculum.

PS sorry for typos- hard to type on my Nook!

Every child is different and there is not one generalization that applies to all in any group. JMHO.

Anele, aren't the Montessori schools process-oriented and not product-oriented? I don't know this for sure but that was my understanding of their educational philosophy. In retrospect, I think my DD would have done very well in that type of early school environment.

Lynn, yes, they are, and they are all about meeting children's individual needs if they truly follow Montessori's philosophy. (There are schools calling themselves "Montessori" when they are not.)

The only thing I have never liked about Montessori is that materials can only be used one way. I understand why, but on the other hand, I think it can really stifle children's creativity. I also would like to see more focus on cooperative learning, but maybe that's changed since I observed Montessori classrooms.

I think my kids would love Montessori schooling, too, even as older children. Some schools go up to 8th grade. If only I could afford it!

Being exceptionally bright in kids can swing both ways, influenced by their nature and upbringing. My 18-year-old daughter, a top achiever in high school tests, considered skipping to college early using a spell bee, but we opted for her to stay with friends. We prioritized her emotional growth over rushing academics. Now, as a senior, she's both mature and typical. Our choice aimed to prevent her becoming disconnected due to accelerated learning. It's a personal choice; we valued the traditional high school experience. This approach, while not universal, fit her well, contrasting the path of a "brainy but isolated" child.