No my son does not drink soda, nor does he have any interest in it. I drink coke. He is quite aware of that, but he also will never touch mine, nor will he ever ask.
About a year or so ago James started to create age rules. We have dozens of them. Some we make up on the fly, some are law. I have forgotten so many of them. I think it started with driving. He asked when he could drive daddy's truck. We told him when he was 16. He remember that and told us that a lot. And the age thing trickled down to other areas  to end arguments and stem requests. Sometimes it is small and we make up an arbitrary number.
Can I do the dishes... I want to do the dishes. Not until you are 4
When can I make toast? Not until you are 5.
When can I start collecting model trains? When you are 8.
Incidentally he made up the no coke until he is 18 rule. And he abides by it. And it works so we don't have him asking mummy drinks pop and he can't.

Somethings he knows are outright bad, like tobacco.

We don't do dipping sauces. Especially ketchup either. I don't want to fight with that. I have seen too many kids eat an entire packed of ketchup sucking if off a single French fry. Not that a fry is healthy....but a fry without ketchup is better than with.

I agree with Manda! First I will say that all kids are different and all have strengths and weaknesses. But after lots of observation of the 0-6 crowd I conclude that boys and girls do develop differently. And girls do initially seem to learn faster and smarter. As Manda said girls seem to excel at the noticeable things often connected to school.
If you consider 2 children; one a verbose 2 year old that likes to chatter, the other a quiet secluded child that seems more interested in ramming a truck into a wall, iwhich child seems more "intelligent"? Or seem to be learning more, faster? In many cases it would be considered the chatty child as you can get a better idea of their development. This child is more likely to show what they know because they can talk about it.
In reality that quiet child could be soaking up everything, getting an understanding of the world around them via their own experiments, but just doesn't have the ability to show what they know.
I would say in about 90% of cases the chatty child is a girl. The other is a boy.

I think that somewhere along the way people have got it into their minds that what is tested is the Maxium that each child should be taught. In some low performing school districts that may be the case.  But it shouldn't be the norm across the nation. But this is not the case at all. CC are MINIUM standards. And the test should not be a challenge to an average performing student. Even a below average student should be able to be proficient.
 I just have such a hard time wrapping my head around if being a bad idea that a child can walk out of any 3rd grade classroom anywhere in the US at the end of the year, iand right into any 4th grade classroom anywhere else when the new school year starts, and be on the same level, with the same skill set as the majority of their new peers. My teacher friends are actually loving the idea of CC because of this. No more inheriting children that are all over the place academically.
CC and standardized testing does not stop a teacher from inserting their unique teaching style. It is at the  discretion of the teacher to push a child, to challenge them. If poppys are being cut, they are being cut in individual classrooms, not due to a minium benchmark that each student needs to rise above. I had teachers that pushed me, teachers that didn't, and this was a different country with different educational goals.

Tamsyn, I think data mint in has always happened. I don't think it is anything new... But that is one area I am not familar with.

Comprehension and summarizing are two very different skills. I would start with some easy passages. A simple paragraph from a book. Choose something well below reading level and then start asking questions.  Give answer prompt. And if you still get the deer in the headlights look, provide the answers and ask it that is so. After you feel like he is following your answers, throw in a silly statement. The more absurd the more obvious.

Also work on summarizing events. Things like going to the park. Talk about what was seen. What was done, how did one feel, the weather, the sequence of events. Ask the same kind of question prompts. It is good to try this several times a day in short spurts. And go over a special event over and over again until they can summarize the entire thing. Use exaggerated words, silly words that will stick in their heads.

Sigh... I feel like I need to raid the piggy bank and buy some books. Sadly there are just too many to buy.

I have not yet read The Nurture Assumption but I will say I have seen what has been described with my own two eyes. I used to be a live in nanny. I raised a sibling set of girls from early toddlerhood and infancy. I was with those girls almost every day of their lives. I was actively teaching them and taking care of their well being for about 10 hours a day, for six years. Not at all like it is with my son, I can do my own thing all the time if I desire,  as I am not "on the clock" so to say. Point is. I knew these girls very well everything said to them was well considered. And they were great kids. They are now great teens. But there was a shift when they went to school. Who they were fundamentally changed. They became obsessed with things they never cared about before. They were talking different. They had a lot of attitude. They stopped enjoying family TV shows, calling them lame, in favor of the Disney channel that all their friends watched.
I nannied for a second family, a set of twins from infancy. Same thing when they went to school. They started teasing each other, calling each other sissy girls. They are boys. And they became obsessed with vampires, guns and iPads. Things that were never part of the family culture. After a few years at school their interests aren't in sync with  the family things that they used to enjoy. They are more obsessed with beating their friends on the xbox than going outside to play, or spending quality family time together.

I really don't understand the hullabaloo about testing. Here in Ohio they tests aren't that hard. The tests aren't tricks. They are just testing what the child should be competent with. Children with learning disabilities or cognitive delays get accommodations. The kids get chances to practice past tests so that they are comfortable with them. The girl I tutored who was a D grade student all around was able to pass the tests with proficiency.

We had tests all the time when I was a kid, in Australia.  They weren't these big giant tests. But almost weekly or at least once a month our teachers gave us tests. It let them know where the 25 or so students in their classes were academically. I don't recall anyone suffering from test anxiety. We did our tests, then went out to play. There was no detriment. If a child was sick, there would be a make up test. It was no biggie.

How else are we going to know how well our kids are doing in school. We wait too long and then children start to lag in class.

BOOKS  USED  BY  DAVID
Math 54:  Hake, Saxon;  Second Edition, 1995
Math 65:  Hake, Saxon;  Second Edition, 1995
Math 76:  Hake, Saxon;  Third Edition, 2002
Math 87:  Hake, Saxon;  (first edition), 1997
Algebra ½ :  Saxon;  Second Edition, 1997
Algebra 1:  Saxon;  Third Edition, 1997
Algebra 2:  Saxon;  Second Edition, 1997
Advanced Math:  Saxon;  Second Edition, 2003
Calculus:  Saxon, Wang;  (first edition), 1997
Physics:  Saxon;  (first edition), 1993

Some notes on the above list:
1)   All books are hardcover, with black and white text and pictures (believe it or not, kids can actually learn that way)
2)   Stephen Hake is an co-author on the first 4 books.  However, he is also a solo author on later editions of this series (which I do not recommend), and to avoid confusion, always look for John Saxon's name on each book.
3)   As pointed out above, all of the books that I own (above) have John Saxon’s name as an author
4)   There are later editions to these books, some are acceptable, and some are not, so be careful and read the other recommendations here.
5)   The first edition of his books do not say “first edition” which is why I’ve shown it in parentheses.
6)   Again, always check the editions and the publishing dates, and especially the authors.
7)   On a related comment, using the list above, the first introduction of calculator use is right near the end of Algebra 1.  While this is still too early for my taste (I would avoid calculators right through Calculus…after all billions of people were able to learn math without them), it is still much later than conventional math curricula, and only used, sparingly, in certain areas, like graphing.  In my case, I did not permit David to use a calculator until well into Advanced Math, but instead had him use log and trig tables that I developed and printed out…and this seemed to work fine.  As to the problems that were meant to be done on calculators (like multiplying very difficult numbers), he would borrow a calculator just for them.  Learning how to use a calculator is not hard at all and does not have to be dealt with at all in math class.  Now, if you do the Physics text, then, by all means, use a calculator, or slide rule, but use something, as the purpose of that course is not to teach math, but to teach science.
   The books in this list start at the 4th grade level (hence Math 54 is really 4th Grade math, at least when math standards had some sanity to them).  Don’t ask why they named them this way.
9)   The Physics book is not calculus-based, meaning that it is not a college-level, engineering track, physics book.  So your kid will still need college-level physics at some point.  Some people have questioned the need to even cover this book – I don’t know, but I will say that we did not cover this book and David still did fine in college-level physics.

Just to clarify some stuff. Stephen Hake actually wrote the books what he is co author for. He came across John Saxon's controversial articles in some teachers or Maths publication when he was searching for idea to teach his middle school students. John Saxon hit home for him because the Saxon method was how Hake was already teaching his students successfully with. Hakes was a teacher and had experience in the classroom, Saxon never did. Hake approached Saxon and offered to write a series for middle school. Saxon said okay. After Hake had written the curriculum, or adjusted what he had already been teaching, Saxon approved and published it. I think that credit is due to Hake too. Some of the books have been amended over the years to fix flow issues and any typographical errors. And a series has been written and published for the schools. Hake says it is very similar but due to copywriter issues they have to change things.
When Saxon publishing changed hands though, that is when the editions changed. And then, Nancy Larson was enlisted to write the elementary books, which have a very different format. Hale also wrote several intermediate books for between elementary and 5/4.

There are several things you can do. Cut out some pictures, draw them, or use books. Write a bunch of couplets or sentences on a strips of paper and have your child match  them to a variety of pictures.
For example start simple. Red balloon, green ball, orange car. Then make the sentences more complex, like The girl is brushing her teeth. Or He picked a yellow flower.

Secondly you can write a series of instructions for her to do. Once again start simple with sentences like Roll over. Clap your hands. Then build up to Go to the bathroom and brush your teeth. Draw a circle with a purple crayon. Go and give daddy a three kisses.

Interesting..ll it goes up to 12 years I think... It is rather vague. There  is such potential with this app. I love the ideas being presented. I think the "assessments" are way off though.
Apparently my 4 year old son's motor skills are only 50% mastered compared to a 20-24 month old child. And his speech is 75%. I will say his speech might be behind a little. But it is not that of a 2 year olds. More like a 3 year olds.
Also they are suggesting that an activity that I do with him is to draw spirals to teach him about circles and to work on secondary colors. He is writing and has known secondary colors for years. It doesn't let me to check off those more "advanced" skills.

I am hoping the app will work out these glitches because it is really good otherwise.

In Australia math is integrated. Frankly I can't tell you the finite  differences between geometry., trigonometry, statistics, algebra, calculus, because it is all just called Maths. It is a brilliant idea and I can't figure out why the US does not integrate math.
We do 2 years of Maths in 9th and 10th grade and then in 11th and 12th grade we have the choice to do 2 more years of Maths. There is Maths A, (basic Maths) Maths B (slightly more advanced but still general) and Maths C (Maths for those who wish to do a math related career).

I have read that Singapore. Math is integrated..... But I am not sure if it really is.

This is an interesting four part write up by Saxon Author Stephen Hake. He talks about the history and purpose of Saxon.

http://homeschoolingodyssey.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/saxon-math-author-stephen-hake-part-1/

And yes! iTunes is horrendous. I am completely at odds with it. I have tried to transfer audio books onto the iPad from my computer. But despite washing YouTube vides and reading tutorials it is still not working.

Overdrive has been my way to go. And right now we are enjoying the great selection from our library. It doesn't have all the books I want to read but I have a huge list that I am working through. I love the speed up feature. That is essential for me. I think audible has the same good speed up feature.... Or maybe I was just using the overdrive app. I wish I could remember.

What audio library are you using. I still have my library card from when I lived in Australia. But it is a regional library. I wondered if it were linked to the state library. My small town library is linked to 2 state databases in Ohio. 

Interesting. I do math facts with my fingers when I am doing it mentally. I tap my fingers where no one can see. And I use dot formations, like those on a dice, if I am writing them. I just lightly tap my pen down, not marking, on my paper in the dot formation. Number lines are awkward for me as they are a relatively new technique, but I see the merit.  I used to have really automatic recall but over the years my brain is sloppy. Honestly, I seldom ever use math. Pretty much only when I am shopping and I round up prices so much as it is easier and if I forget something I am not too far under.  I always underestimate the final price. It feels like winning the lottery at the check out.

Sadly I don't have these books at my online library. I can't afford to read as much as I would like to.
Using the speed up function on my overdrive app is essential for me to listen to audio books. And it also doesn't alter the voice pitch. I did check that after you asked the other day. I never listen to things slowly so I wasn't aware of how deep initial voices were. But they are the same.

Shen-Li has a lot of suggestions for good books.
Sam Wang's Welcome to Your Child's Brain is interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Your-Childs-Brain-Wang-ebook/dp/B005PWMG7S

I am still a fan of Po Bronson's Nurture Shock but I didn't feel like I got a lot out of Top Dog.