And to top it off, Lite-On is as well respected as Plextor for people in the know. Heck even LaCie external drives are Lite-On:) Oh yeah your JVC DVD player? thats right the whole reader part of that was made by... Lite-On.:) I love Lite-On, fast, cheap, reliable, top quality, and NERO instead of Roxio EZ Coaster Creator (though it doesn't make coasters anymore it just sucks:) )
OUr 1989 GE branded Thompson (RCA) TV still has excellent picture quality, dual composite stereo inputs, hi-fi outs, viewed out, and s-video in.
Now mind you this TV is nearly 13 years old. That means I was SEVEN when we got it.
The image quality is still excellent, in fact it beats out 90% of what I see on display at the electronics stores. Other than the high end stuff at least. For about $500 back then, it wasn't a bad deal. Considering the thing lasted 13 years so far, and shows NO signs of going downhill anytime soon, I doubt you could buy ANY TV today that would be in this good of condition 13 years later.
And yes, it actually gets used about 5 hours a day. Show me any current Sony that has done that!
You daughter is smart, very smart. She is also very curious, and desires to learn. I was exactly the same way.
In first grade I fortunately had a rare teacher who knew what I was. I would never do assignments, because I thought they were dumb. I mean, I'm in first grade, I can do 12X12 in my head. I've never memorized multiplication tables, i just do the math in my head - always have.
What your daughter needs is to be challenged, constantly. Never let up for a day. Make her work, make her learn to read big words (phonetically mind you, at least it worked great for me). Make her learn to read difficult stuff, make her do math.
If your daughter is like I was, she doesn't have problems paying attention. She has problems paying attention to things that are instantly understood and grasped, or to her seem obvious. If she doesn't have to think about it, she doesn't care.
She is also probably VERY competitive, right? Make homework assignments a race, make her see how fast she can do it. Reward her for better performances (with accuracy accounted for of course).
Many people think that pushing a kid to fast is going to result in an anti-social child. I don't think this is true. Sure I am not the most social person, I have a few friends is all. All of them are much like myself. Types like us don't like being around the less intilligent. It becomes annoying when all you think about with the person is "and you just now figured that out?"
Anyway, part of my story follows. In first grade my teacher identified me and one other student as having difficulty concentrating on the simple tasks of class. So when we would get assignments, such as math worksheets, she would set us off by ourself with a timer. We had two minutes to do the sheet (With 30 math problems, simple math of course). Whoever got done first, got a reward, and if we didn't get done in two minutes, we got the grade for what we got done. All this time the other students were doing thier work, and were given 10 minutes. This challenge stuck with me for quite a few years, up until part way through my 7th grade year.
Starting 7th grade, i became the victim of severe harrassment, being accused of being homosexual (I was not, and am not.) The main reason was because I didn't socialize much with other students (that getting annoyed at how "dumb" they were). So basically I was made fun of. Yes, being smart gets you made fun of as a kid. (OF course, because you're smarter than them, they are jealous so they have to tear you down. Its thier problem not yours.) Make sure your daughter understands this, that if people make fun of her for being smart, to just ignore it, because they are the ones who have a problem not her.
Anyway, I unfortunately had little guidance through this rough time, and the schools wouldn't help (because the bullies were labeled learning disabled and got protections under law and were basically exempt from being punished) They were disabled, I'd suspect or were maybe like myself but were coping much worse. Though I if they were like myself, they had already been destroyed by the education system.
By the time I reached High School I was still doing quite well, I switched to a private "christian" school. (I did become a Christian because of this, and I am thankful for that.) But the school was too small to offer the kinds of courses I needed. I was already very into computers at the time, and actually Sophomore year ended up being the computer class teachers assistant (well more like the teachers teacher half the time).
But because the school was not capable of offering more and more advanced classes, I eventually fell into boredom, began ignoring assignments etc. I failed both my junior and senior years, and had to take summer school. In fact, senior year I failed summer school. fortunately for me, the teacher knew exactly what I was, and basically forged all my grades so I could graduate. Thanks Miss. B.:)
I tried going to college, but never made it through the first semester. Despite taking the highest placement courses they would allow me to take for a freshman, and even challenging a number of them (and passing), the boredom was too much. Also the fact the school would not let me add more advanced courses to replace the courses I challenged (too many credits in one semester, against policy.) It just made no sense to me.
The structured public education system is sorely innadequate to deal with students who are intelligent. In fact private schools are as well. Montessouri may seem like a decent option, but often are unprepared for truly advanced students. Such at those who are capable of 5th and 6th grade material by the 2nd or 3rd grades.
I know for me, the best option would have been homeschooling. Homeschooled children typically are the brightest, and also the most polite and well moralled children you will find. If you are religious, homeschooling is almost a must. Public schools want to do nothing more than destroy a child's faith in God (Jesus Christ). Private schools often times are no better in this department, often teachers are not of the same religion even, and most often the school caters to all denominations and viewpoints, which weakens your childs faith. I'm a firm believer that a child who grows up with a strong religious background, particularly Christian (I'm biased to this one, sorry.) stands a much better chance anyway. Religious morals set guidlines for children to follow, and for smart ones, it allows them to avoid having to discover the nastier details of life - because they avoid them. The other advantate of a good religious background for a homeschooler is that church activities provide great socialization, most often with children who are not going to adversely influence your children.
Please do consider homeschooling. Obviously if my religious views are not to your liking, ignore them. But for me, my faith is permanently linked to every aspect of life, so for me everything is filtered through that lens. (Not that it limits me in any way whatsoever.)
Also, your childs morals usually do relate to thier intelligence or at least performance. Kids who misbehave usually don't do well, and just don't succeed in life. I've never known a criminal supergenius outside the movies (beyond hackers, but they themselves aren't murders etc. they usually do it for the challenge, not because they are badly behaved.)
Sorry for rambling, and ignore the religious viewpoints if you don't like them. BUt its how I think, and what I beleive.
The girl in question needs to be challenged to excel at everything she does, she will never be happy with less than what she knows is her best. She also needs some strict moral guidlines, to keep her from getting too curious and slipping into things that will distract her from doing her best (drugs, sex, those sorts of things). If she falls into bad behavior she will quickly rebel against everything, and will slip into depression because she is not challenging herself to do her best, and instead is doing her worst. This is a few years down the road of course.
But, the girl needs attention, and to be challenged, not to the point she can't do it, but just so she can succeed, but not more or less. Right to the limit of her abilities, thats where she is going to be very happy. She isn't going to be the type that is friends with everybody, she's going to pick one or two usually smarter kids that she will be friends with. She needs those FEW friends, only a couple is all she will want - and she will want to do everything with them. Don't push her to make lots of friends, she doesn't want those. Also, her few other friends make good people to compete with. If she has brothers and sisters, homeschooling will make them best friends. Nothing is better than brothers and sisters who are lifelong friends (the way God intended for them to be).
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And to top it off, Lite-On is as well respected as Plextor for people in the know. Heck even LaCie external drives are Lite-On :) Oh yeah your JVC DVD player? thats right the whole reader part of that was made by... Lite-On. :) I love Lite-On, fast, cheap, reliable, top quality, and NERO instead of Roxio EZ Coaster Creator (though it doesn't make coasters anymore it just sucks :) )
OUr 1989 GE branded Thompson (RCA) TV still has excellent picture quality, dual composite stereo inputs, hi-fi outs, viewed out, and s-video in.
Now mind you this TV is nearly 13 years old. That means I was SEVEN when we got it.
The image quality is still excellent, in fact it beats out 90% of what I see on display at the electronics stores. Other than the high end stuff at least. For about $500 back then, it wasn't a bad deal. Considering the thing lasted 13 years so far, and shows NO signs of going downhill anytime soon, I doubt you could buy ANY TV today that would be in this good of condition 13 years later.
And yes, it actually gets used about 5 hours a day. Show me any current Sony that has done that!
You daughter is smart, very smart. She is also very curious, and desires to learn. I was exactly the same way.
:)
In first grade I fortunately had a rare teacher who knew what I was. I would never do assignments, because I thought they were dumb. I mean, I'm in first grade, I can do 12X12 in my head. I've never memorized multiplication tables, i just do the math in my head - always have.
What your daughter needs is to be challenged, constantly. Never let up for a day. Make her work, make her learn to read big words (phonetically mind you, at least it worked great for me). Make her learn to read difficult stuff, make her do math.
If your daughter is like I was, she doesn't have problems paying attention. She has problems paying attention to things that are instantly understood and grasped, or to her seem obvious. If she doesn't have to think about it, she doesn't care.
She is also probably VERY competitive, right? Make homework assignments a race, make her see how fast she can do it. Reward her for better performances (with accuracy accounted for of course).
Many people think that pushing a kid to fast is going to result in an anti-social child. I don't think this is true. Sure I am not the most social person, I have a few friends is all. All of them are much like myself. Types like us don't like being around the less intilligent. It becomes annoying when all you think about with the person is "and you just now figured that out?"
Anyway, part of my story follows. In first grade my teacher identified me and one other student as having difficulty concentrating on the simple tasks of class. So when we would get assignments, such as math worksheets, she would set us off by ourself with a timer. We had two minutes to do the sheet (With 30 math problems, simple math of course). Whoever got done first, got a reward, and if we didn't get done in two minutes, we got the grade for what we got done. All this time the other students were doing thier work, and were given 10 minutes. This challenge stuck with me for quite a few years, up until part way through my 7th grade year.
Starting 7th grade, i became the victim of severe harrassment, being accused of being homosexual (I was not, and am not.) The main reason was because I didn't socialize much with other students (that getting annoyed at how "dumb" they were). So basically I was made fun of. Yes, being smart gets you made fun of as a kid. (OF course, because you're smarter than them, they are jealous so they have to tear you down. Its thier problem not yours.) Make sure your daughter understands this, that if people make fun of her for being smart, to just ignore it, because they are the ones who have a problem not her.
Anyway, I unfortunately had little guidance through this rough time, and the schools wouldn't help (because the bullies were labeled learning disabled and got protections under law and were basically exempt from being punished) They were disabled, I'd suspect or were maybe like myself but were coping much worse. Though I if they were like myself, they had already been destroyed by the education system.
By the time I reached High School I was still doing quite well, I switched to a private "christian" school. (I did become a Christian because of this, and I am thankful for that.) But the school was too small to offer the kinds of courses I needed. I was already very into computers at the time, and actually Sophomore year ended up being the computer class teachers assistant (well more like the teachers teacher half the time).
But because the school was not capable of offering more and more advanced classes, I eventually fell into boredom, began ignoring assignments etc. I failed both my junior and senior years, and had to take summer school. In fact, senior year I failed summer school. fortunately for me, the teacher knew exactly what I was, and basically forged all my grades so I could graduate. Thanks Miss. B.
I tried going to college, but never made it through the first semester. Despite taking the highest placement courses they would allow me to take for a freshman, and even challenging a number of them (and passing), the boredom was too much. Also the fact the school would not let me add more advanced courses to replace the courses I challenged (too many credits in one semester, against policy.) It just made no sense to me.
The structured public education system is sorely innadequate to deal with students who are intelligent. In fact private schools are as well. Montessouri may seem like a decent option, but often are unprepared for truly advanced students. Such at those who are capable of 5th and 6th grade material by the 2nd or 3rd grades.
I know for me, the best option would have been homeschooling. Homeschooled children typically are the brightest, and also the most polite and well moralled children you will find. If you are religious, homeschooling is almost a must. Public schools want to do nothing more than destroy a child's faith in God (Jesus Christ). Private schools often times are no better in this department, often teachers are not of the same religion even, and most often the school caters to all denominations and viewpoints, which weakens your childs faith. I'm a firm believer that a child who grows up with a strong religious background, particularly Christian (I'm biased to this one, sorry.) stands a much better chance anyway. Religious morals set guidlines for children to follow, and for smart ones, it allows them to avoid having to discover the nastier details of life - because they avoid them. The other advantate of a good religious background for a homeschooler is that church activities provide great socialization, most often with children who are not going to adversely influence your children.
Please do consider homeschooling. Obviously if my religious views are not to your liking, ignore them. But for me, my faith is permanently linked to every aspect of life, so for me everything is filtered through that lens. (Not that it limits me in any way whatsoever.)
Also, your childs morals usually do relate to thier intelligence or at least performance. Kids who misbehave usually don't do well, and just don't succeed in life. I've never known a criminal supergenius outside the movies (beyond hackers, but they themselves aren't murders etc. they usually do it for the challenge, not because they are badly behaved.)
Sorry for rambling, and ignore the religious viewpoints if you don't like them. BUt its how I think, and what I beleive.
The girl in question needs to be challenged to excel at everything she does, she will never be happy with less than what she knows is her best. She also needs some strict moral guidlines, to keep her from getting too curious and slipping into things that will distract her from doing her best (drugs, sex, those sorts of things). If she falls into bad behavior she will quickly rebel against everything, and will slip into depression because she is not challenging herself to do her best, and instead is doing her worst. This is a few years down the road of course.
But, the girl needs attention, and to be challenged, not to the point she can't do it, but just so she can succeed, but not more or less. Right to the limit of her abilities, thats where she is going to be very happy. She isn't going to be the type that is friends with everybody, she's going to pick one or two usually smarter kids that she will be friends with. She needs those FEW friends, only a couple is all she will want - and she will want to do everything with them. Don't push her to make lots of friends, she doesn't want those. Also, her few other friends make good people to compete with. If she has brothers and sisters, homeschooling will make them best friends. Nothing is better than brothers and sisters who are lifelong friends (the way God intended for them to be).