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I’m Still Sort Of Really Qualified to Homeschool a Gifted Child

A big thanks to Andrea for letting me share our adventures with Alex over the past year or so. In case you’re just joining us. . .Alex is our son and he is a little bit smart. This is part 2 of a series about choosing curriculum for him. I hope you find it helpful if you’re just starting to navigate the road of homeschooling a gifted child. Mom Panics I left our story last by describing the first leg of our journey–where I panicked. Last year, Alex flew through three whole grade levels of curriculum. But it was the … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Our Gifted Son: The Hunt for “Gifted Curriculum”

I have to first say that it’s not necessary to find curriculum specifically for gifted kids if you have a highly gifted child. But someone recently asked me a question about whether or not you should go deeper or wider when homeschooling a gifted child and what do you do about curriculum. (In other words, do you use ‘regular’ curriculum and just keep advancing grade levels. . .or do you take your time to explore grade level curriculum in depth with lots of investigation.) I think the answer depends on the family and the child, but I’ve offered some thoughts … Continue reading →

My Son’s Science Project Is Out of Control

I could’ve just as easily entitled this: What to Do When Your Gifted Child is Smarter Than You Are. It’s an idea and a concept that many parents of truly gifted children struggle with because the reality is that gifted children are often smarter than their parents in something. I still have things to teach him, but he will surpass mine, and my husband’s knowledge in science and math before he finishes high school. I am sure of it. He’s already challenging my ability to practically apply chemistry principles that I’m well familiar with. So what do you do when … Continue reading →

Homeschooling My Gifted Son. . .When the Others Are Not Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about a conversation in which my oldest asked about whether or not it was okay to not be as smart as her little brother. While the twins are too young really to know what’s going on, the older three are intuitive enough to recognize that Alex is highly intelligent in this specific academic area. Conventional wisdom says that you should talk about how each one is gifted differently. Certainly this is true. My oldest is a very talented artist and considering she’s 7, takes some amazing photographs. My 4 year old speaks Spanish really well; better than … Continue reading →

Homeschooling My Gifted Son. . .When the Others Are Not

One of the biggest challenges in homeschooling our gifted son is our other children. They are bright. . .but not gifted. Perhaps it would be a little easier if our son was the oldest, but he’s not. My twins are too little to be homeschooled in the formal sense, and so that leaves Alex smack in the middle. The other day we were working on Math. Meghan, who is almost 4 is learning to recognize different coins. Lizzy, who is in 3rd grade, is working on making change. Meanwhile, Alex is contemplating other matters. He already figured out how much … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Week in Review January 22- January 28, 2007

It has been a busy house here are the homeschool blog at families.com. Here is what we have been up to: Monday January 22, 2007 We started the week talking about homeschooling for others and hiring homeschoolers with I Want to Homeschool Your Child, I Want You to Homeschool My Child, and Homeschool Tutors must Manage Expectations, by yours truly (Andrea Hermitt). Karen Edmisten wrote Read-alouds: The best and biggest benefit, which speaks to the benefits of reading aloud to children. This article was part of a series on read-alouds started the previous week. Learning with Food Network by Karen … Continue reading →

Homeschooling My Gifted Son: The Basics

I have to tell you that although my son can measure trajectory, play chess in his mind several moves ahead, and has a deep fascination with bioluminescent animals. . .he still has to be taught the basics. It is true that he intuits quite a bit of information. For example, when I was teaching my daughter subtraction, we had to go through each set of facts and review them over and over again. With my son, I didn’t even have to teach him all the facts. He caught onto the principle of subtraction and went on from there. Despite the … Continue reading →

What Do You Do When Your Kid is More Talented Than His Peers?

I feel for 9-year-old Jericho Scott. The young boy, who is an outstanding baseball player (with an arm most pros would envy), is being ostracized because his talents exceed those of his peers. The little leaguer’s story has made headlines around the world and just goes to prove that sometimes being too good at something has its disadvantages. If you haven’t heard of Scott allow me to get you up to speed: For starters the fourth grader has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. According to reports, the boy whips balls faster than males twice his age. … Continue reading →

Teaching Art When You Draw Stick Figures

I am an excellent artist. . .of stick figures. But I decided this to be good blog fodder because I think in essence, it begs a deeper question: how can you teach anything that you’re not naturally good at? My Philosophy on the “Specials” Really, you can teach your child anything you want–at least at the most basic level. I remember when my youngest daughter was four or five, she decided that she wanted to play violin. Everyone assumed that we would sign her up for lessons, but instead, I decided to teach her on my own. I don’t play … Continue reading →

The Opportunity to Respond to Life

I have always said that although we are Christians, we don’t homeschool for religious reasons. We homeschool because to send our children to our local public school would be akin to educational neglect in our minds. We homeschool because we have some gifted children whose needs would not be met. We homeschool because when we were first looking at the school, the teacher told me, “Oh no, the kids never handle books because they might wear them out.” However, being Christians, religion is not absent from our homeschooling. In fact, I would say it’s an integral part of our day. … Continue reading →