Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

Educator, Coach, Life Strategist

Curriculum Quick Picks

quick picks

I am always running across products I think are worth sharing.  These are either brand new, or just new to me.  Or, sometimes, they’re names I neglected to include in previous posts.

So, today, I am sharing links to products I think may be worth checking out for your homeschool.  Don’t see anything here?  Be sure to click on any of the tags you see at the bottom of this post to keep searching for additional ideas.

Curriculum Quick Picks:

Cover Story: Middle School Writing Curriculum (from the makers of One Year Adventure Novel) is a new program for 6th-8th graders.  It looks quite thorough plus a whole lot of fun.  I wish this existed when my children were in middle school!

Knowledge Quest isn’t new, but this company releases more and more great titles all the time.  Connect with them and you’ll receive great freebies from time to time, as well. KQ’s  Map Trek is my personal favorite.

Also not new, but certainly noteworthy, are the Trail Guides to Learning created by Linda Fowler and the beloved Debbie Strayer.   These take a unit study approach while covering periods in history.  How fun to be able to teach and learn this way!

These resources for gifted learners could be just what your family is looking for.  Check out both EPGY courses from Stanford University and CTY Online from Johns Hopkins for a complete list of course offerings for your academically gifted student.

I learn something new every time I flip through one of Jill Dixon’s guides.  The Diagnostic Prescriptive Assessment can still be found on the pre-owned market, and many others can be sourced on Amazon as well.  These aren’t for everybody, but if you have a child in grade K-5 and thinking about testing options or understanding diagnostics, this book could be worth a look.

Moving Beyond the Page delivers science, social studies and language arts in comprehensive curriculum packages available for students ages 4-14.  Samples available online show just how this product will delight a hands-on, creative, or gifted learner.

Never having studied Greek, I cannot comment on the accuracy or effectiveness of this product, but several families have recently recommended the Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek system.  If you try it, please leave a COMMENT to let my readers know what you thought!

Marie-Claire

 

 

Homeschooling gifted students

Suspect your child is gifted?  Already know s/he is?

Homeschooling is an excellent alternative for gifted students.  It’s the only alternative, in my opinion.  There isn’t an AP class, IB program, Honor’s curriculum or other “advanced” or “gifted” program that compares to a parent educating a gifted student at home.  I hear this from other parents, too.

But, not all parents feel this way.

Surprisingly, many parents of gifted kids feel their students are better served by the public, private or charter system.  By talking with these parents, I have come to understand their thinking — that teams of specially trained “experts” exist at these schools who possess secrets to unlocking the gifted child’s potential.

Truth or fiction?  Let’s look at the facts.

Schools make many promises when it comes to gifted programs.  Districts typically lead parents into thinking they know best, their specialists know exactly what they’re doing, and no parent could ever possibly understand what it’s like to educate a gifted student on their own.  Gifted programs are so beneficial, parents think, they’re worth changing schools or driving the extra distance to get kids there.

Do specially trained personnel actually exist in these schools?  In some of them, yes.  Some schools really do employ teachers who have completed coursework in gifted, hold gifted endorsements and/or have worked with gifted youth.  Some are in “regular” classrooms and others are assigned to work solely in gifted programs, if they exist.  Some have extensive experience, too.

However, districts do a great disservice to students by luring parents into believing that unlimited numbers of these individuals are employed by  every school and that extensive program resources exist to serve every single child.  That part isn’t always true.  But, it helps explain why parents imagine experts taking every child by the hand, giving them the special attention only afforded by favorable student-teacher ratios, providing endless educational opportunities and challenges, and responding to each and every one of their distinctive learning needs.  Sadly, those images are usually fantasy.

The assertion that parents are unable to raise gifted children on their own is preposterous.   As parents of gifted (parents of any child, for that matter), we must see through and fervently object to this way of thinking.  Parents absolutely can school gifted students at home — with great results.  Lots of parents are doing it right now.

I advocate homeschooling gifted students whenever possible.  Homeschool gifted is not new, thus, many resources exist to help those who feel lost at first (some listed below, but many others to discover).  Since nothing can replace a parent’s own caring, investment and intuition when it comes to their own kids — parents really have the upper hand.

Take, for instance, the claim that gifted students are “easier” to homeschool than other kids.  Surely, these children are “so smart” they must teach themselves, no?  Not so fast.  In reality, the opposite can sometimes be true.  (Because of some gifted students’ overexcitabilities and peculiar sensibilities, homeschooling these children can be nothing short of exhausting. ) However, there is no other way to allow a gifted student to reach full potential, receive the time and space they need to exercise their active minds and interests, blossom exactly on their own time frames, and have the support of individuals who cherish and appreciate them as they are, than via homeschooling.

 “…gifted children develop cognitively at a much faster rate than they develop physically and emotionally, posing some interesting problems.”

Homeschooling is a parenting choice, a lifestyle and a labor of love.  Can anyone do it better than the parent of that child?

Far too much has been written about homeschooling the gifted student to repeat it all here.  That is why I advise parents to begin by conducting basic research on their own and then join a great network to connect with other parents like them.

I also advise following instincts instead of relying solely on “experts”.  A personal anecdote may help illustrate this point:  I had a student tested for gifted some years ago.  (I knew the child was gifted but wanted to read the results.)  After a few moments of initial questioning, the child was returned to me, having flunked the test.   I later learned (by the teacher’s own admission) the test administrator had taken 7 attempts to pass the teacher certification examination herself, and did so only by guessing correctly the 7th time around.    Though I am not fond of tattle-taling, I use this story to caution those basing school-related decisions on “expert” testing alone.    I hear similar stories about students who don’t score high enough for gifted programs or “just miss it” by a point or two from many of the families I meet.

“Parents are a key, perhaps the key, in identifying gifted children,”
says Dr. James T. Webb, co-author of A Parent’s Guide to Gifted
Children.

There is tremendous satisfaction and great joy in bringing a gifted child home and directing the education via homeschooling.    Gifted students may not always thrive in school environments the way their parents think they do.  Sadly, many gifted students are merely assigned petty classroom roles like tutor or teacher’s helper, for lack of other challenging coursework in the classroom.  Yet the choices available at home are limitless and without boundaries, in contrast to the limitations placed on gifted kids confined to classrooms with dozens of other kids (many who actually prefer to work independently anyhow).  Some gifted children are not particularly high achievers in the classroom, anyhow.

I have a saying I use when talking to families who are on the fence about homeschooling.  It is, “Anyone can homeschool, but not everybody should.”  Parents of gifted (of any child they homeschool) must be willing to put in the time and must be ready for the twists and turns the path the gifted child may decide to take.  In my opinion, any parent is qualified to allow a gifted student to develop on his/her own at home.  But, the choice is always up to the family, given individual circumstances, financial considerations, and so much more.

Homeschooling gifted students from the beginning, or withdrawing gifted students from school to work at home is not just possible, but highly recommended.  Check the links below, then find others on your own to help make the decision.

Useful links:

National Association for Gifted Children

Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

Hoagies List of Resources

Gifted Homeschoolers Forum

A2Z Homescool Resource List

Homefires List of Resources

Marie-Claire

 

Disclaimer:  I am not an “expert” in gifted education, at least not by common definition.  I am, however, the parent of gifted students, an advisor to families with gifted, and a college professor and school teacher who has encountered many gifted students in my many years in the classroom.  Nevertheless, readers are advised to use the information and advice in this article with caution, and to seek the services of trained professional if in doubt.

One child. Different grade-levels in different subjects.

Based on his age, your child would be in 4th grade at the local school.  At home, however, using just 4th grade materials wouldn’t be the right fit.

You have seen him reading WAY above 4th grade level.  And though you never had him tested, you suspect he could easily read and understand the poetry, novels and plays usually assigned in high school.

On the other hand, based on the placement tests he has taken, your son’s math skills put him around 3rd grade.  Sometimes even a little lower, depending on his mood, the curriculum tried, and other factors you still haven’t figured out yet.

Your son’s spelling and vocabulary fall right in line with his reading level — higher than most his age.   But give this child a pencil, and he can hardly draw a straight line.  And his handwriting is hardly legible to anyone but you.

Sound familiar? Do you have a child with an interest or aptitude in one area who is “behind” in another?

Perhaps you have wondered if it is alright for one student to use materials for several different grades?    You may worry about the risks of allowing children to progress at different rates in different subjects.

Let’s begin with some analogies.  Remember the time you bought a new video recorder and tried to use it?  Remember when you first started a blog?  Or learned to program the recorder on your satellite television?

How about the first time you made lasagna?  Fixed a leaky faucet? Changed the oil in your car?

Do you even recall how long it took to sew a ruffled skirt?  Figured out the new diet or exercise routine?  Learned to crochet?  Studied the Periodic Table?

How long did it take for YOU to learn something new?  Minutes? Days or weeks?  Even longer?  If you’re handy and you like that sort of thing, you learned it quickly, right?  But some things took quite a bit longer — correct?

Now, imagine somebody told you that you’d need to learn each of those separate skills, each with different tools and different ideas, each in exact same amount of time.   No way, right?  Ah ha!  You get it.

This is what traditional education does to our children.  Without thinking, we parents are often guilty of it, too.

Homeschooling is the solution to requiring students to learn different things in the exact same time frame.  Looking at learning in this way, one can easily see that children will learn some things more quickly than others.   It’s normal.  Through homeschooling, students may move “ahead” when they are ready.  Nobody else can decide how long it takes.  Only them.  Or YOU by watching them.

Like programming the TV recorder, learning may come easy.  Or it may never really take hold.   Like baking lasagna, it may come out perfectly the first time, or may take many tries before getting it right.  And crochet?  Well, this may never be a skill you can master — ever.  Or maybe you can — but never perfectly.  Perhaps you’ll decide crochet just isn’t “your thing” and knowing how to do it doesn’t matter much anyway.  Or crochet might become something you dabble with the rest of your life just for fun, but never anything worth spending too much time on.

Getting back to schooling, it is important to understand that grade-level learning materials are labeled this way to help those who must classify large numbers of students into groups.  Classrooms full of same-age students must be held to the same standards, lest some could be short-changed by not receiving the same instruction, and left behind the rest of the pack.

Homeschoolers are not required to learn with the same-age pack.  Homeschooled students may learn what their same-age peers are learning, or spend time on what their peers did last year, or skip ahead to what their peers might be learning several years from now.  Learning has no limits, and may happen whenever the learner is interested and ready.

No parent would ever criticize a child for reading a book at bedtime.  Why, then, would a parent limit a child from reading any book he chooses during the school day?

The are no risks — only benefits – to allowing students this freedom to learn.  When compared to other children the same age, obviously children taught this way may appear “ahead” in some areas and “behind” in others.  But when viewed as a natural, desirable thing, this isn’t really a problem, now is it?

Perhaps the only difficulty in allowing children to progress at their own pace is when anticipating the end results.  Naturally, parents of homeschoolers may worry if their children have learned “enough” or have the skills and grades to enter college or a career.  But so long as the cumulative experience adds up in 12+ years, which skill was acquired during which grade does not matter.  Gathering up all of the learning at the end is what parents must focus on by the end — not which subject was taught each and every year.

You are invited to COMMENT with your thoughts on learning this way.  SHARE your fears or concerns about not sticking to grade-level materials during homeschool, on using a variety of grade-level materials with the same child, and about changing materials when children are ready to move on.

Readers love to hear what you have to say!

 

Out, not up

One of the things that homeschoolers love is having the power to control their child’s education.  Or not to control it, depending on the approach taken.  But nevertheless the ability to allow their children to learn in freedom, without the restrictions placed upon kids in traditional classrooms.

While chatting with a kindergarten teacher from a public school not long ago, I asked about something written on her lesson plan.  The instruction had to do with center activities, specifically the center containing the building blocks and die-cast cars and trucks. 

Her plan, in so many words, stated that children in that particular center were allowed to build whatever they wanted.  But, not really (I thought).  Because the plan also said that the children should be encouraged to build out, not necessarily up.  In other words, she didn’t want children only stacking blocks atop each other and building giant towers.  She wanted them to build larger, wider, stronger structures to avoid frustration and make less of a mess.  She also didn’t want them getting hurt by asking to stand on chairs to build higher.

This really got me thinking about the freedom to learn in its simplest form.

Though I understand the constant need to keep kids safe (no disagreement there), I thought about the idea of telling the children how to build safer and stronger structures.  This is a lot like what many parents do by sheltering children or continually reminding them how to do everything, instead of allowing the kids to discover things on their own.

Isn’t there more to be learned by building a tower and having it topple over on its own?

Does a teacher always need to be there, reminding a child when to stop building or suggesting how many blocks it might take to tip over?  Couldn’t the builder figure that out on his own, and wouldn’t that be part of the fun and fascination?

And what if different children had steadier hands or different techniques than others, and were able to build even taller towers because they had stacked their blocks differently or more neatly, getting an entirely different result than the child working beside them?

And so what if the tower fell down anyway?  Apart from the noise or element of surprise, what exactly was the big deal? Is anyone suggesting that a child could never recover from a broken block tower?

Surely the “mess” could be cleaned up in a matter of seconds.  And wouldn’t it be fun to see how far the pieces scattered after the tower fell anyway?

What are your thoughts after reading this post?

[Photo of Dr. Drew’s blocks: Moreau]