New here--need advice!

[TandLMommy28]

Hi! I'm new around here and super excited to finally find what I was looking for when it comes to home school theory. The Well Trained Mind is EXACTLY what I want for my kids.

My daughter is, so far, fairly advanced compared to the other kiddos in her preschool class (she attends pre-K at our church using ABB PreK curriculum but we will begin home school in the fall). I'm not ready to label her gifted at this point because from what I can tell she seems to just WANT it more than the average kid (I was in the gifted program in elementary through high school, so it's not a far-fetched idea, I guess, but I'm trying really hard not to expect my kids to live up to a standard I set. I want them to be who they are). For example, She came to me the week of her fourth birthday and said, "I am four now, I need to know how to read." And that was that. She was reading in weeks. But she doesn't just GET IT the first time -- she has to try and work at it, if that makes sense. She's doing some basic addition and subtraction now, nothing at the super genius level, but more than most of the kids in her class can do.

Anyway, I was looking at so many Kindergarten programs and it just seems like she is beyond most of it. I'm not spending $300 on books so she can count pictures of ducks and practice writing the letter "B", ya know? That's why we are home schooling, so she doesn't have to sit through that in school.

We are planning on an eclectic curriculum (ABB for math, phonics and handwriting, Answers In Genesis for science, thinking about Story of the World for history, and completely unsure for writing because A Beka really falls short in that area plus she'll be in gymnastics, dance, 4-H and Bible Quiz team). Right now the plan I am considering is to jump ahead to first grade curriculum. BUT, the plan is to go super slowly with it and take two years to complete the first grade stuff, unless she really takes off and runs with it. That way if she sort of "levels out" at second grade, we will end up right where we need to be. If it seems like she can handle keeping pace and doing the first grade in one year, I will follow her lead. But if we need to take it slowly, we will.

Does this make sense? I don't want to push her too hard but I also fear holding her back--that is what happened to me until the 5th grade when I FINALLY got put in a program that suited me. I am thinking this may be a way to test the waters without putting too much pressure on either of us.

[starrbuck12]

Hi! Welcome to the forums!

That's why we're homeschooling, too. My daughter went through the gifted testing in public school. She didn't really seem unusual, or ahead, etc...at the time. Now, it's obvious.

The only info I have on the gifted thing...one of the teachers at the ps was trying to tell me that there are different categories of gifted children - like you could be gifted in math, gifted academically, etc (don't know what the categories/criteria are - sorry). But, the school told me that my daughter was gifted in the Creativity/Artistic category - and, yeah, I'm sad to say that I'm not sure what that means exactly (I was a biology major in college, darn its). I'm assuming it means that they aren't always accelerated in everything - like my daughter is not very good in math (in fact, her little brother is passing her up - Doh!)...but she plays several musical instruments, writes music and we've got her spending Friday afternoons now with an artist at her studio...

You could browse Hoagies - that seems to be a good website for gifted topics...and also there was a thread earlier recommending books for parents of gifted children (and I need to get in gear and order some of them).

Good luck with your journey! I've never been so confused in my life! :glare:

[MaMa2005]

Don't buy too much curriculum until you see at what level your DD is actually working. If she is accelerated, you will see it pretty quickly. I didn't have too much curriculum with DS, but I did have too many enrichment/remedial books/activities that I had picked up before the school year started. He flew through curriculum so quickly that I never needed the other stuff. I have so much to sell at our co-op's used curriculum sale this year that has NEVER been opened/used.

Just a way to help keep the budget in check :001_smile:

[Gratia271]

I would be judicious in spending money on curricula for a while. I wouldn't invest much if any money in an out-of-the-box curriculum. After wasting thousands of dollars on different curricula, I have learned several things. First, a well stocked library of books/classics in all subjects for all ages, abilities, and interest levels is the single most important facet of education for my gifted children. Second, out-of-the-box curriculum will always leave me disappointed because it always falls short (in our experience). There is simply not enough rigor and way too much "busy work" for my children. Even when you accelerate three or four years, it is the same dreadful repetition... just 3 or 4 grade levels extended... not more depth nor an accelerated pace. I truly wish I had known this before wasting literally thousands of dollars. This is obviously just our experience, and others may have encountered the perfect curriculum. That notwithstanding, workbooks, worksheets, and the like play a very limited role in our education.

Don't allow people to lead you to believe that you are setting a high bar for your daughter. Children need to be challenged in order to thrive. For gifted children, this looks vastly different from a traditional program. Be sensitive to your daughter's cues. She will communicate in one way or another if it is too much or not enough. Based on my experience, I would be more concerned about holding her back than pushing her forward because these children can quickly become de-motivated underachievers if everything is easy for them.

[KC in KS]

Yup, I'm going to echo what the others have said. Sounds like my DD is a near copy of yours. I've had to skip right over most of the K curriculums in favor of picking and choosing just the right books in just the right subjects.

For example, we're doing Explode the Code 3 because although she's reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level, she taught herself so it's almost all sight reading. We're having to go back and learn the phonics rules.

We're starting a 3rd grade comprehension program, because while she can read the sentences, she has a tough time putting together the meaning of long passages.

Still, we're doing K/1st grammar/mechanics, because she doesn't have any idea WHY certain things are capitalized, etc.

We've jumped up to a 3rd grade Bible program, because she's way past the K Bible storybooks - she's trying to figure out the *why* behind the stories.

Math... I've got no idea. We're doing a K/1st book, but she's suddenly trying to figure out addition and multiplication, so I might have really under-guessed that one.

But we're doing a second year of K handwriting, because she needs way more practice.

Overall, it's called asynchronous development - some areas zoom ahead, others lag behind - which makes buying a package deal really tough.

[2smartones]

We also skipped K...but only after I'd bought a K5 kit thinking I'd be accelerating a K4 child with it. :lol: I wish I'd known back then that there were placement assessments available (either through publishers or places like LetsGoLearn.com). I wasted a TON of money getting started. We ended up all over the place, so a boxed curriculum wouldn't have worked no matter what. Accelerated children tend to be on different levels for different subjects. I don't know many who are on the same level across the board naturally (although there are some whose parents work some areas harder and hold others back to assure their child is on one level ... and that's their choice.)