If you’re looking for Christmas gift ideas for bright children and teens, I’ve got an updated list for you, as well as free Christmas resources for your family to enjoy this year. I’ve got the ideas organized into age ranges. Be sure to look at categories that are age-adjacent to
The question about IEPs and 504 accomodations comes up frequently with regard to gifted learners, so I’m going to address it here. Gifted kids can have other conditions as well, so just because your child’s gifted doesn’t mean him/her has no educational issues that may require intervention. To oversimplify in a
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time. ~John Lubbock Rest. Its importance cannot be overstated. I’m going to give it a shot. We’re
It is possible I’m going to offend people today. I’m going to have to be okay with that. Here’s my pet peeve du jour: A small but vocal group (note to self: examine phenomenon of how the most vocal and vitriolic groups are nearly always small) of parents of gifted children
I was reading this wonderful article by Atul Gawande about coaching, and it resonated with me because I believe firmly in coaching. If you’re really good, you get a coach. Think about it: what professional athlete do you know of who doesn’t have a coach? In Gawande’s article, he talks
Do you see this girl? She’s a budding underachiever. How can I tell? It’s the look on her face and the boring paper in front of her. How many times can you color this thing blue and that thing red? Although I love words (oh, how I love words!), I’m not
Before I get off of books and words completely, I have two sites to share today. They are opposites, in fact, and the perfect place to send gifted word-o-philes to play. The first, Save the Words, allows you “adopt” old, obsolete yet fabulous words in order to prevent the pedestrianization
The last post looked at how to find new homes for books you no longer needed to live with. This post focuses on the other end of the dynamic – how to invite new books into your life. And if you are parenting gifted kids, this is information you will
Gifted people tend to gravitate towards books (not always, so no hate mail from misobibliists – I just made that word up, to be honest, and spellcheck is yelling at me in red squiggly lines). Sometimes all this bibiophilia creates a problem. Recently, I was in a used bookstore with
I just finished six straight days of training teachers how to teach the gifted. The classes were large – between 150 and 175 teachers, which is fun, and I was struck with a few thoughts that I want to share: 1) This strikes a chord with people. Many teachers expressed
When I wrote this article in the summer of 2011, I had no idea that its ideas would become even more necessary over a decade later. As the world feels increasingly complex and emotionally unsafe, finding peace in a troubled world (and helping children find peace in a troubled world)
I was on tv this morning talking about simple things to do with kids at home this summer. I thought I’d put the directions for the beanbags here. To make them, take a scrap piece of fabric that is one inch wider than you would like the bean bag to
