Come Meet Other Moms of Gifted

Ore Academy is excited to announce that we are now hosting virtual meetings designed for moms of profoundly gifted children. These meetings are open to moms with children of any age. Moms can join the meetings by phone or internet. This service is offered free of charge, preregistration is required. Each meeting will have brief introductions and a discussion topic. Ore Academy Mom Meet Ups are a great opportunity to connect with other moms who are going through similar experiences. Come be part of our Mom community!

To preregister for Ore Academy Mom Meet Ups, follow this link:

Registration for Mom Meet Up

School Does Not Fit My Child, What Do I Do?

Thursday, January 29, 6:00 pm ET

Living with Intensity

Tuesday, February 24, 8:00 pm  ET

Beyond the Math Box: There Are No Dragons!

My mother was a child psychologist and she always used to say that if a child is old enough to ask a question they are old enough to get a straight answer, and that the answer should go into all the depth that the child is interested in. That approach hasn't always been easy with Adam, but it's paid big dividends.

Reaching Beyond Borders

We have gone international! Ore Academy's blog has now been viewed in 22 countries and 44 of the United States. We have reached all of the continents with the exception of South America and Antarctica. Six year old Adam has been helping us mark the world map. He is anxious to add Italy to the list. Thank you to all of our readers. We would love to hear from you! Give a shout out, in the comments, letting us know where you are. And if you know someone in Italy to share our blog with, you would make a little boy very happy.

I Have Never Met Anyone Who Has a Child Like Mine… Until Now

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a mama who had heard about Ore Academy. With her permission, I share some of our conversation. 

She began telling me about raising her five year old son, who is often referred to as a genius. He does algebra, and reads and writes in many languages. The more she talked the more I knew exactly what she was talking about. In a lot of ways it was like she was describing my child and my home. I was amazed at the similarities. When I told her about my son, Adam, there was a long pause, followed by, "I have never met anyone who has a child like mine."

I have never met anyone who has a child like mine.

Both boys have a hard time making meaningful childhood friends. In her words, "The other children aren't interested in what he is interested in, and go off to play, while he continues what he was doing." We had both experienced environments where teachers or coaches just did not know what to do with our little boys. We discussed our desire to not only meet each other, but for our sons to meet.

Leta Hollingworth, a pioneer in understanding and advocating for the profoundly gifted, wrote:

[Most profoundly gifted children] play little with other children unless special conditions such as those found in a special class for the gifted are provided. They have great difficulty in finding playmates in the ordinary course of events who are congenial both in size and in mental ability. Thus they are thrown back upon themselves to work out forms of solitary intellectual play.

I got off the phone and cried. I had finally found someone who had a child like mine. I had found someone who understood the intensities, hardships, and joys I lived with, a family who needs what Ore Academy has to offer as much as my family does. 

That afternoon I told my son, Adam, about this little boy. He watched the videos of this little boy intently. He then asked "How old is that boy?" When I told him he was five, I saw disappointment come over his face. I then pointed out that even though they were not the same age they had a lot in common and could still be friends. Adam's whole self lit up. That night when Daddy got home Adam made a chart to tell him about his new friend. He had a column for himself, Daddy, and the friend. He listed his own interests and likes under each column. He then marked if Daddy and this boy shared his interests. Question marks where used for unknown information. 

Did finding someone, even if by long distance, have an effect on my six year old? Yes!

I have met someone who is like me.

Did meeting a mama like me have an effect on me? Yes! 

I am someone who tries to hide emotions, and am usually pretty good at it. I try to put on a strong face. This time I could not. The tears came. I needed to share my experience. Through tears and choking up I got on the phone and called my brother. After my story ended, he said "What I am hearing is community. You need community." He hit the nail on the head. That is what my precious boy, my family, and I were missing. Someone who understood. I then called the camp directors and staff of Ore Academy; they needed to know about this experience. This is what Ore Academy is about. 

To those of you who are raising profoundly gifted children, know you are not alone. I am going through the trenches with you. I too am exhausted from the intensities that come with having profoundly gifted children. I know what it is like not to be able to share in a normal mommy group what my normal looks and feels like. I also yearn to share the intense joys and awe that come from raising these amazing children without trying to sound like I am putting my children on a pedestal.

With the help of God, I am dedicating the energy I did not know I had to advocating for profoundly gifted children and their families. We need a place where our families finally fit. I urge you to become part of the Ore Academy community. We desperately need each other. Come know what it feels like to be able to say, "I have never met anyone who has a child like mine… until now."

Beyond the Math Box: How a Dad Guides His Boy Through the Amazing World of Math

In school when they tell you you have to learn your multiplication table and graph a parabola before you can learn to do real mathematics they are lying to you! - Vi Hart, What was up with Pythagoras?

Well, "lying" is a bit harsh. "Misinformed" is a better choice. But first, a little background.

I'd like to explain how it is that I've been able to teach my son Adam some math concepts that generally only math and physics majors in college learn.

I should warn you that one advantage I have with Adam is that he learns so easily and so well that I don't actually have to be a good teacher, so there is a chance this technique won't work for everyone. But I think it's worth trying.

I don't push Adam when I'm teaching him.  I'm more of a guide helping him to explore his world. I help him to discover things faster, and I lead him to things I think he's likely to be interested in. Sometimes what interests him and what doesn't surprises me. I'll give him a couple of tries and if he's not interested move on to something else.

We'll study each topic to the depth he wants and then move on to something else that interests and challenges him. It's a lot of fun to see how excited he gets sometimes when he learns about a new concept and sees how it interrelates with everything he already knows.

Sometimes he gets "stuck" on something. I don't mean that he doesn't understand, I mean that he'll just be so interested in something that he'll get fixated on it and  want to do it over and over. Sometimes I have to work a bit to get him to try something else.

Learning about other subjects can naturally lead into talking about math (and vice versa). We watched a video on a large telescope and how it has computers that adjust the shape of its parabolic mirror in order to focus it. That naturally led to a discussion about how a parabola is a shape and the properties parabolas have that are useful for a telescope, and that actually led into the topic of the other conic sections.

A lot of people believe that math builds upon itself in a linear tower, and that you have to master each topic before you can start to begin study of the topic after it, but this isn't true. There are actually a lot of different things that don't build on each other nearly that strongly. That means that you don't have to worry about teaching things exactly in the traditional order.

You don't always have to master one topic to understand the things that are based on it, either. Most people couldn't tell you anything about the Peano axioms (arithmetic is based on them), but they are still quite capable of adding two numbers together.

Even when some level of understanding of a dependency is required, it's often not at full depth.

If Adam gets interested in something that requires him to strengthen his abilities or understanding in some prerequisite, it gives him the motivation to do so. For example, Numberphile got Adam very interested in the Fibonacci numbers, and his proficiency in adding multidigit numbers soared because he wanted to be able to compute the sequence on his own.

So he may not have long division mastered yet, but that's ok -- he's six, after all, and he can divide well enough to do modulo arithmetic and convert numbers to base 12, so he's satisfied. He hasn't really needed long division for much other than that. I'm not worried -- he'll pick it up when he needs it.

Obviously, this technique can't work as well in a large group, but I think it's a great way to do individual tutoring for students of any ability level, especially those that have some level of interest in math.

Genius Knows No Bounds

Profoundly gifted children come from every walk of life. They can be found in every socioeconomic class and race. Genius also lies in many different areas: languages, art, music, mechanics, engineering, mathematics, the ability to read people, creativity, organization, science, etc. Profoundly gifted children may or may not be on the autistic spectrum. Just because a child is profoundly gifted in one area does not mean that all learning comes easy to them. In fact, the term twice exceptional refers to those who are both exceptionally gifted, and fit in the group often labeled learning disabled.

When a child is not allowed to accelerate, and grow in his abilities, the child and society pay the price. Each of these profoundly gifted children carry with them an intensity. Their drive and brilliance are at their very core; it is a huge part of what makes them tick. When deprived of nurturing and acceptance they often begin to close down. This can be seen as underachieving (so as to fit in), becoming disruptive, depressed, withdrawn, turning to gangs for acceptance, and/or anger. Their souls are crushed. Those who could have achieved so much are resigned to mediocracy, never getting to see what they might have done and become. This is a loss for the child and society.

When a profoundly gifted child is nurtured and allowed to grow and achieve, their genius shines. When given opportunities for growth they accelerate at unprecedented levels. When they are validated for who they are, and what they are interested in, they blossom. Their lives are focused and filled with enthusiasm. Because of their unique gifts they are able to make huge and significant contributions to society. By nurturing our profoundly gifted children we are nurturing one of our greatest and most irreplaceable natural resources. Their lives are changed for the better and so is the world around them.

Michelangelo is an example of a child who was nurtured in his profound giftedness. At a young age he was tutored and mentored at the feet of the greatest artists of his time. Hundreds of years later Michelangelo is a household name and his works will forever be treasured.

At Ore Academy we are reaching out to families with profoundly gifted children regardless of where they come from and what challenges they may have. Your contributions will help make Ore Academy accessible to these families and children.

Join us in becoming involved in the cause of nurturing these exceptional children. Visit www.OreAcademy.org, subscribe to our blog and newsletter, share with friends, or donate time, money, or talents. Because of your generosity genius will shine! Perhaps one day you will be able to look back and say, “I helped a Michelangelo, Mozart, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking, or Bill Gates reach their greatness.”

Together we are making a difference!

Challenges of Raising Extremely Bright Children

Living with a profoundly gifted child or two can be exhausting, to say the least. Their intelligence bounces off the walls, sometimes even onto the walls.

You might be living with one of these children if:

1. Your child at a very young age discovers that she knows more than you. Why should she pay attention to the directions you are giving?
   
   
2. You walk into the living room only to find the DVD player dissected all over the floor; he had to know how it works.
   
   
3. Your child is bored, bored, bored at school. His teacher tells you he is acting up in class, and won't finish the busywork he is assigned.
   
   
4. In an effort to fit in, your child underachieves. She is tired of standing out.
   
   
5. Your bathroom has become a laboratory. All the contents of your spice cupboard and locked cleaning closet clutter the counter and floor. Your child needs to experiment.
   
   
6. You worry that your child might become a mastermind criminal.
   
   
7. You search high and low to try to find a toy that both fits your toddler's age and his intelligence. You have finally found the one: the pieces are big enough that they wont be swallowed, it can be manipulated by smalls hands, and has a deeper learning value. You come home hopeful that this will hold his attention. He spends all day playing with it, figuring it out, then never touches it again.

8. The children at the playground respond with blank stares as your six year old shares that he knows the cube root of 216. You long for him to have friends and to be understood.
   
   
9. You are constantly advocating for your child. Society wants to keep shoving your square peg child into a round hole.
   
   
10. There is not a school within a two hour drive that is willing and able to teach your child as fast as she can learn, or at least fast enough to keep her from being extremely bored, and disruptive.
    
    
11. You stopped spelling out words to your spouse long ago when your two year old decoded everything you were trying to say over him.

11. You are exhausted from the comments of well meaning people telling you how to raise your child. “If you just...” and “You need to...” are comments that you get too often.
    
    
12. You don't know what to say when asked, “How did you teach them that?”, when you don't even know how they know “that”. How is it that a two year old sits down and plays Beethoven by ear?
    
    
13. Your child got upset about electroweak unification only happening at high energies. Nobody knows what advice to give you about that, or even what you are talking about. Your child is not the only one who gets blank stares.
    
    
14. Your child acts his age. Though he can compete with med students at twelve, he still has the maturity level of a twelve year old. People expect him to act older.
    
    
15. Your child, along with many profoundly gifted, is on the autistic spectrum, adding all the challenges that accompany autism.
    
    
16. You can't remember the last time you went on a date with your spouse, unaccompanied by your children.
    
    
17. All of your energy is consumed by trying to keep up with the intensity.

If you are one of these parents, or know these parents, you are not alone! There is hope! This hope is called Ore Academy.

At Ore Academy we understand the challenges that parents and siblings of profoundly gifted children face and offer workshops and special activities for family members.

Join us this summer at Ore Academy Family Summer Camp. This camp is set up to nurture individual genius, and meet the needs of each child, and their family, in a customized way. Finally there is a place where your whole family fits! Discover new friends who share your challenges.

Ore Academy Family Summer Camp is a place of learning, joy, childhood, family, friendship, and support. At Ore Academy genius shines!

Visit www.OreAcademy.org to get connected and learn more.