keeping a gifted child challenged

Just wanted to mention that AO Year 1 is a lot more disjointed / bounce around – in my opinion – than the next couple of AO Years.  I’m going to try a new schedule (that I’ve made up) for it next year with Foxtrot.

I just wanted to say thank you again to all you wonderful ladies for your comments. It has been so helpful!

houseofchaos,
I agree that music study is great period. 🙂 I am looking forward to getting back to our music studies after Christmas break is over. Of course, we’re still listening to lots of music during Christmas break including classical, hymns and lots of the good ole’ holiday favorites.

Suzikimom,
We haven’t done any of the early AO years except for the try we gave Year 1 a couple of months ago; but we did use HEO for two years with my older daughter. I will say that the HEO years do seem to flow better together; but aspects of it do still feel somewhat disjointed to me. But that’s just me. 🙂

Sonya,
I think in my daughter’s own way, ruminating/thinking/processing is probably what she is doing when we do a read aloud and then she likes to take time before going on to another subject in order to play. Many times, when we read a read aloud, she will spend time afterwards acting out the story (or chapter of the story…whatever we have read) and/or adding her own creative spin to the story in her play. Or she’ll pretend to be one of the characters and add to the story. She is extremely creative and imaginative. Wouldn’t that also be considered narration?

May I just add a thought about advanced level reading? I’ve talked to many moms who think that because their young child is able to read at a higher grade level, they should be given those books. But please keep in mind that even if a child is ready mentally to read certain words, he or she is probably not ready emotionally to think through and handle some of the more difficult themes that are often woven into those higher grade level books. So please be careful to guard their innocence and protect their childhood even as you feed their eager minds. Quite the challenge!

This has been such a good discussion!  Someone mentioned that dealing with a gifted child can be similar to children with other special needs.  It does take a lot of wisdom and time to really observe and learn what each child really needs, regardless of where each child’s strengths and weaknesses lie.

In terms of finding enough good books at an appropriate level for young, advanced readers, I’m finding that ebooks are a good source.  We have the Yesterday’s Classics collection, several of the Heritage History collections, many of the SCM books, and I’m constantly looking for older classics to download from other places.  Each of my children has an inexpensive tablet that they use primarily as eReaders.  I’ve loaded them up with hundreds of good books.  The nice thing is that many of these books are written at a higher reading level than would now be considered elementary school level, but the content is still aimed at younger children.  For example, my DD8 loves both the “Magic Tree House” and “Among the ….People”, but she will blow through a Magic Tree House book in 20 or 30 minutes, whereas an “Among the … People” book will take much longer.  She tends to just read a couple of chapters at a time, then stops to think about it or discuss it.  They are at a higher level in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure, but also have more ‘meat’ to chew on in terms of ideas.

Another thing I’m learning (which I think Bookworm touched on) is that challenging a gifted learner doesn’t always have to just mean more academics.  There are so many other great things to learn.  I love that I can choose to just drop things like math for a while, because my children are already ahead.  Sure, they could get further ahead if I made sure that they did math everyday, but we are also fine if we skip math and history for 3 weeks to work on a sewing project or to spend the entire month of May outdoors, when the long Canadian winter finally breaks.  I think with a bookish child, it’s even more important to provide opportunities to put down the books and learn other things, since they might not be inclined to do it themselves. 

I also am learning how important it is to find areas that are hard, so that the children learn how to struggle, overcome frustration, persist through difficulties, and perhaps even accept a result that isn’t perfect.  It’s a challenge for me to find those things that will push my children, without overwhelming them.

And then there’s the fun of having two advanced readers followed by Little Sister who isn’t reading yet at age 4.  I have to occasionally remind myself that not reading at age 4 is perfectly normal!  She has many skills and talents that the other two didn’t have at that age, but doesn’t get the same “Wow!” reaction from other people that my older two did.  I don’t want any of the kids to develop unhealthy pride or feel badly in how they compare to each other, so I try to be alert to how we react to each person’s accomplishments and challenges.  Which gives just one more reason that I’m so glad for the chance to homeschool, because public school is so focused on measuring and comparing all the time!

Joanne

I looked at Stanley Schmidt.com, and he has a seven question test with answers for just this situation. It is under where to start, had one year of highschool algebra.

I find it extremely difficult to motivate my students when they are struggling with a particular curriculum. Some would say we switch too much, but I see more benefits than problems at this point.

The biggest complaint I hear about LOF is that there are not enough problems. This almost always comes from parents, not students!

Hth,

C