Suggestions for filling in gaps?

[dmmetler]

What I'm noticing as I start to really look at my DD (young 5) in planning homeschooling for next year is just how out of sync she is. As I mentioned on the brag about your kids thread, this is a child who is creating multi-equation algebra problems (without realizing it) and adding multi-digit numbers in her head, but struggles if you ask her a single digit addition problem (and you can substitute almost any basic operation for that). She tends to use correct spelling and grammar in her writing, but cannot explain WHY, beyond the most basic level (what has been covered in parochial school K, on starfall, or on Between the Lions).

I honestly don't know where to place her. On placement tests she tends to do extremely well-but she has such obvious gaps, especially when I look at what is supposed to be learned in the grammar stage, and I hate for her to miss those fundamentals.

But, at the same time, it is that focus on the fundamentals that has driven her crazy in kindergarten, and is driving us to homeschool. And I don't want to make the same mistakes and replicate what hasn't worked.

Based on testing, she's at least EG, maybe PG, and Ruf's book backs up the test scores.

Any ideas?

[KarenAnne]

My daughter, too, was doing algebraic equations before she could count out the birthday candles for her cake and before she knew her addition facts. She learned to multiply before she had adding down. Same with reading and writing -- full speed ahead with larger abilities, earlier skills left in the dirt half-completed or completely overlooked.

I think this is the way many, many gifted kids work. They are drawn toward abstract and/or high level concepts. My approach has been to work with this rather than against it: let my daughter challenge herself and pick up/fill in the basics through practicing or working with more advanced concepts. It can be done; she now is a very able calculator plus has a very good ability to judge whether her answer is correct from years of mental math and manipulating numbers in different ways. The groundwork will be filled in piece-meal and later than with a structured, incremental program. But believe it or not, it can be done perfectly well.

David H. Albert has written several books dealing in part with his profoundly gifted daughter (The Skylark Sings With Me; Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery). Some things about them annoy me, but one of his main points is that a child who is drawn to high-level work will be willing to do what is necessary to be able to do that work. This may not be true for every child, but it has certainly proved to be the case for mine as well.

Particularly if your daughter was already chafing against repetitive practice of the basics and this was your reason for beginning to homeschool, I'd continue to build on your instincts about how she learns best and what motivates her.

[EKS]

It took me two years to place my son properly. It was worst when he was in kindergarten. Finally in January of his K year, I had him take the K12 placement test for language arts where he placed in their 2nd grade program. We did that for 4 months, all of the strands, and even though it wasn't the most inspiring curriculum in the world, it helped me get an understanding of where he was in the various areas of language arts. The next year, I used levels of each strand--literature, spelling, grammar--that seemed to be appropriate based on what I saw the year before. The levels were fairly good, however the approach was not right. For example, I had him do GWG 3. He is so good at recognizing patterns that when there are ten exercises on a page and he has to do the same thing in each one, he will frequently see the pattern instead of actually understanding the underlying concept. GWG fed this difficulty. We moved to MCT this year, still two years up, but a *much* better fit.

Math has been similar. We had a rocky few years in K and 1st where he would speed through things and then hit a wall. We started in Singapore math, went to RightStart, then back to Singapore, on to Saxon, and finally he is well placed in Singapore, where we've stayed for over a year. Sometimes we have to compact things (he flew through 3A, and I'm anticipating that he will do the same in 4B) and sometimes things get hard for a bit, but in general he is now at a level where he is learning new things but it's not *too* challenging. In fact, I would venture to say that it's mostly not challenging at all, but he doesn't seem to want too much challenge in math.

Anyway, my point here is to expect to do some mucking about while you find what works. And once you find something that works, it might not work for an entire school year.

[Bird Girl]

I went through this same issue when we began homeschooling, in my DD's first grade year. I used Sonlight's Core 1, which was a great fit in terms of history and literature (I subbed SoTW for Sonlight's recommended CHoW) but it was pretty much a disaster when I tried to use their language arts program--it called for writing skills that were more advanced than the student's reading skills and we had the opposite situation. I found, for that year at least, that letting her read as many books as she wanted, and simply having a few friendly book chats was the right kind of L. A. instruction. This year we've used MCT's Island level, and it is so, so perfect. It's very deep and socratic, so she can get out of it whatever she puts into it.

We use Singapore for math. We've hit spots where she's been conceptually ahead of the topic, but needs the practice on mechanics, and that's frustrating for her. But I do want her to develop some ability to "plug and chug" so to speak, so as long as the frustration is only in one subject area, I let her go ahead and finish the more boring topic before moving on. This approach seems to be working, and now, at the end of her second-grade year, she's ready for more depth than ever.

[nmoira]

She tends to use correct spelling and grammar in her writing, but cannot explain WHY, beyond the most basic level (what has been covered in parochial school K, on starfall, or on Between the Lions). I'd recommend taking a look at Island level MCT materials. I'm not sure you'd want to progress beyond that immediately the next year, but it would be a good start. You could also consider teaching grammar basics in the context of foreign language instruction.

For math, I'd give her tables for basic math facts and have her to an assessment test for Singapore, just to get an idea of where she is. Singapore (with IP and CWP) or EPGY might be a good fit.

[LisaDSB]

Personally, I wouldn't rush into MCT at her age, even if she is PG. It can wait a year or two. I have an EG possibly PG kiddo who reads at a grade 8+ level (age 7), but I'm holding off on Grammar Island with him until next year, in part because, unless he's passionate about the subject he doesn't seem to retain the necessary detail, and MCT materials get pretty complex very quickly. I'd personally rather start them when I know he'll be ready to move into the next level without a significant gap in time. YMMV

[nmoira]

MCT materials get pretty complex very quickly. This is true, but the Island level is fun, highly engaging, and requires a minimum of writing -- in fact, the entire level can be done orally. There's no need to commit to following a yearly progression.

[EKS]

You could also consider teaching grammar basics in the context of foreign language instruction.



Yes--this is a good point. The combination of MCT and Latin this year have really made grammar pop.