Which “grade”?

Karen,

CM methods are extremely well suited to gifted children. My oldest taught himself to read at three, then turned around and taught his younger brother. I’ve been valiantly trying to keep up with them ever since. LOL

I recommend just tossing out everything with “grade labels”. Who needs it? Just find lots and lots of real, rich, living books. As your son has already discovered, real living books like Narnia books or The Hobbit, have so many layers. An “average” child can profit greatly by reading them or having them read aloud to them, but also a very bright child can profit by unpacking more layers out of them–if the books are rich and deep, they are nearly inexhaustible. Just move ahead at his pace–you’ll quickly find out how he behaves when bored, and can up the stimulation by adding something else. I keep a number of books “in reserve” for if I notice that the boys are wringing dry the ones I’ve already assigned and still have intellectual energy left to burn. 🙂

Some things to watch out for: Many gifted kids are not good at knowing when to stop or let up, and will work themselves into intellectual exhaustion. This can cause a period of apathy or not wanting to work. Try to keep him fairly balanced. Much outdoor time is a MUST.

Reading books slowly, as Charlotte Mason encouraged, is also a must. Some gifted kids think it is torture at first, but it makes ALL the difference in what they get out of teh book, whether they read it slowly, savoring and reflecting as they go, or swallow it whole in an afternoon. Add MORE books if they are not reading enough, not the same book more quickly.

If your child progresses so quickly that you begin to have trouble finding deep enough books to keep him busy that have too-sophisticated themes or material, then you need to diffuse that intellectual energy with something else. Try chess, logic games and puzzles, science experiments, music lessons, etc. Remember that emotionally your child is still a child. My kids were capable of doing a lot of real science at early ages–they could understand the concepts. But weren’t always mature enough to know when to get mom, like before they tried to blow something up. 🙂 Stay involved, even if you feel you are always chasing speeding brains. LOL

Another common gifted difficulty is perfectionism. Keep up with character and habit training, but be on the lookout for this. Many gifted kids will totally beat themselves up, or give up, if they cannot do something perfectly at first. This is a common tendency, but it is also rooted in pride, and needs gentle rooting out. 🙂

Here is a great site for parents of gifted kids:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/

There used to be an Ambleside email forum for parents of gifted kids, too.

One other thing–use caution in explaining to your child his differences. I rarely discuss my sons’ giftedness with them unless I think it would help them cope emotionally with something. The less time they spend thinking they are different or ahead, the better, IMO. It will begin to dawn on him sooner or later that everyone else doesn’t think like he does, but I really stress at that point that the Lord gave this ability for a purpose, and that purpose involves serving and helping, and not becoming puffed up. In my own travels through life as a “gifted” kid, I wish I’d understood that sooner. I’d have messed up less. 🙂

OK. Strap on your helmets and hang on for dear life, this will be a fun ride! LOL Enjoy! Use his own cues to tell you when to “bump up”–you’ll soon find out what they are.

Michelle D

My 2nd child is also pretty gifted. She also taught herself to read at 4, and barely needed phonics. She is turning six today and has already read most of the suggested reading through grade 5 on SCM. I try to hide books from her to use later but it usually doesn’t work lol.

We just did her “kindergarten” year in which she really did 1st -2nd grade math, 4th grade level reading, she also wanted to learn cursive, and she spent a lot of time in favorite chair reading poetry and literature books years ahead. She narrates fluently and copiously.

I tell her she is in kindergarten and then we just go go go as much as her appetite takes her. At her age it was not formal schooling but request based. This next year we will add structure and assigned reading to her days a bit but I am inclined to let her keep going. She often picks better books than I would 🙂

My oldest is very advanced too, but his primary area is math. Again, we said he was in second grade but really he was much farther.

My mother chose to keep me in my actual grade growing up, even though the public school I attended wanted not only to skip me ahead but send me to a gifted school. I was pretty bored but I don’t know if I could have handled the older kids emotionally. I decided to try the gifted school once. I went for one day and came and announced it equally boring and went back to where my friends were at least.

When my mother started homeschooling me it was like being invited to a banquet after existing on dry bread lol!

I stayed in my age appropriate grade until high school. I had enough credits to graduate at the end of my sophomore year. I elected to have a fun junior year of electives only while I waited on God to show me which direction to go. I graduated that year.

I second to leave them in their normal grade for appearance sake but work ahead as they want. Close to high school you can evaluate if early graduation is right for them.

And please, whatever you do, don’t let them get bored!! LOL!

Tara