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
When I was learning to quilt, the only consistent about my stitching were the mistakes. A friend reassured me that the famous and fabulous Amish quilters always placed a deliberate mistake in their quilts in recognition that only God is perfect. After that, whenever I made a mistake (often), I would
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
You should memorize poetry, and I’m going to share ten reasons why. This is general advice that is good for everyone in manner of “wear sunscreen.” I love poetry. I’m not just saying this because it sounds good at cocktail parties to say you love poetry. I truly love the
In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks seeks the chair, food, and bed that are just right for her. She doesn’t take the big bowl of porridge just because it’s bigger, and she doesn’t take the bigger bed just because it’s larger. She takes the ones that
I just returned from Mensa’s Annual Gathering in Portland, Oregon, where I spent five days surrounded by smart people, including dozens of smart kids. It was challenging and fun and exhausting. We ran a focus group (well, my best friend, Patricia Bear, an LPC, ran the focus group) with our
