This is not a boast; this is a financial emergency. DD has finished this terms's math curriculum in just 3 weeks! At $150~ a unit this is not good news. Plus she has finished the year's English & science as well. We still have two terms of this school year to go & I am about to start her on her high school curriculm! She only turns 12 on Saturday & we barely manage 5 days out of 10 schooling for academics due to her music curriculum. She has NEVER gone through curriculum so fast before & yes, she's testing high. What would you do?
I would change her curriculum and start using resources that provide her with a challenge. If you continue to buy curriculum that is underchallenging her, she will just keep topping it out at lightening speed. I would caution against staying on this path as in some cases, but certainly not all, children who learn this way have great difficulties adjusting to a challenging curriculum down the road. They become so used to flying through what they are doing, they've not developed the habit of working through difficult work. My 12 year son has not touched a math curriculum in five years. Before he was seven he finished up through grade six math. It was silly. Every time we had a new curriculum, he just whizzed through it. He's just now researching what he wants to do and learn. He could not do anything for at least a few more years and not have any gaps. He's currently reading the Life Of Fred books and enjoying those. He's read Harold Jacob's books as well. For science, does she have a particular area of interest? It sounds as though she must have an excellent base of general knowledge, so how about go deeper into one topic for awhile? I believe for any gifted learner, the important thing is go deeper and wider, instead of just flying through years of seemingly meaningless work. Anything that can be done in such a short time does not have deep, long lasting meaning, in my opinion. Those are just my ideas. I think so much of it depends on what type of learner your daughter is, what her areas of interest are and how she feels about her current educational process. It sure seems a waste when they fly through expensive curriculum, doesn't it? Michelle
Thank you for your insights. I am changing her English & science curriculum seeing as we have finished what she was doing. The English I hope will prove more challenging. I don't want to change her math currilculum as I am 'mathamatically challenged' & my child is now working unaided & this curriculum works for her. We have had problems with other math curriculum as it did not teach in a way either my daughter or I could grasp the concepts. History we have always done 'differently' & it is the only area we are still using the same guide in. We give a lot of time to music & art as these are my daughters areas of excellence & as of next year dd will be studying for her music exams. She is not going to find that particularly easy but as she loves her music will persist. I am bound by state guidelines to teach certain subject areas regardless of my daughter's level of interest or ability. Although she is competant dd has little interest in academics so I am walking a fine line between bogging her down in order to 'challenge' her & her work being too 'easy' so that we have enough time for her true areas of giftedness. I think I am having a 'freak out' moment here. I don't want to get it wrong & I'm not sure that I've got it right.
I agree with Michelle. I don't have a child that age, my dd is only 6 1/2. But the main reason we ARE homeschooling is because she wasn't being challenged in ps. I bought curriculum that I knew wouldn't just challenge her, but would make her look things and learn them in a different way. Only thing that isn't challenging her at the moment is science. I'll be ordering a new curriculum around Christmas. But I wanted her to have a good base. I have to work hard to make it interesting to her because the curriculum itself is somewhat dry- got it at a consignment shop for 15 bucks when it costs 80 new. Anyhow, I think Michelle has some wonderful advice. One thing I'm learning right now is to push her past what SHE thinks she can do.
That a bit a tough spot when you have to teach the topics assigned by your state. I think you can take those topics deeper though, if she likes. However, that would be forcing someone to study a topic at length that there may not be interest in! I can certainly understand your frustration. I think compacting for math is not a problem. Although if she is doing two curriculums in one year, I'd stop at that and use some real life math before moving onto a third. Or check out some Harold Jacobs books from the library for something different? You'll have your state's requirements done after one curriculum is completed, so perhaps you can be free at that point to explore a bit, without informing the state? Does the state have to know the timeframe in which the curriculum is completed? Other than that, you may have to get really creative to create some challenge while still working under the guidelines imposed on you. Maybe the board could collectively come up with some ideas if there are specific areas that you could mention? Otherwise, vent away!! It sounds like you are doing a great job. Speedsters can certainly be a challenge. Michelle
What curriculuim did you use? My dd went through her grades fast too in earlier years, so I can relate to that! I would look for soemthing a little harder for her, what I am wondering is why you chose it and all that, was she like this the year before... how long did she work each day.. and all that?
For math we are using Math~U~See. We have just finished the Delta book which is long division. We had a slow start as I can't do long division & dd was having trouble with the concepts. This curriculum works for us as it teaches to the way we both learn & once dd 'got it' she just zoomed through the tests. I do not see the point of doing endless exercises once she has grasped the concept. It is fractions next but she seems to have the basics down pat already & I can see her working quickly through the next book also. We do a lot of practical math because, as I said, I am mathamatically challenged & started with math I actually understood. For English we were using LLATL which we both hated. DD could, & was, doing a week's work in just a couple of hours & bored although she was working a grade ahead. Everything needs to have a purpose & be 'real life' or she really fusses. Not fun. Getting her to apply her grammar & punctuation outside the workbooks is interesting so we do a lot of 'real' writing to people & companies. I am moving her onto Sonlight as she is a very good reader, has good comprehension & is a visual/spatial learner. I am hoping this will be both more interesting & more challenging for her. She enjoys science but we are moving from Abeka to Apologia's General Science. I have actually gone without a text book this term to allow her to explore the marine biology she was interested in using library books, the encycopedia & the net. This is only the 2nd year we have used our curriculm of choice. Previously we used a state curriculum at dh's insistance. It was truely aweful but now dd seems to have adjusted to the change & is working well & happily ~ just fast.
We are mving away from A Beka Science this year, too. I like it but it doesn't have enough. The last few years Ems completed the book very fast so we expanded on the subject. I believe A Beka's Science covers only a semester of school, so I used some other books to take us through the year. I want to try somethinf different this year so I can compare. Patty
I just noticed something I didn't catch her age the first time around. She is just turning 12! I would fully expect her to be zooming through Delta with MUS. My gifted just turned 12 year old is breezing through his 2nd year of Algebra at lightening speed at the moment. Not suggesting that your daughter does not have a talent with math but I would expect a child who is entering grade seven to be starting the year at Zeta. The normal course would be pre-algebra for grade eight and Algebra 1 for grade nine. Although it is not uncommon that someone would be at pre-algebra for grade seven. I would recommend looking a really good grade seven math course, such as Teaching Textbooks. It will provide a review of the elementary years and then zoom into preparation for pre-algebra. I would think this would provide your daughter with more of challenge and eliminate the need to buy curriculum so frequently. Teaching Textbooks provides a step by step, guided narration for every single exercise. You and your daughter can watch the same lesson 10 times if you like. The explanations are fabulous and although the system is a bit pricey, I think it's pretty cool. Teaching Textbooks is not popular for gifted students but it is the only other program I can think of that offers detailed instruction delivered to your computer. Maybe check it out? If not that, I'd check out a higher level of MUS in detail as each level has a certain amount of review of previous learned skills. Michelle
Celtic Rose, we have similar issues. For math we completed yr 6 twice over with 2 different texts, by the end of term 1, lol. We have now moved onto yr 7 maths, which is proving much more challenging and has slowed her down somewhat. But for other subjects we are simply exploring other topics. We have covered the state required stuff, so now we are doing what's interesting. We are almost finished with a weather unit for science, next will be natural disasters and then electricity. We are going to do apologia general science too, but will hold off unitl next year (I am sooo excited, lol). We have just finished a unit on newspaper writing, and dd has written her own newspaper, (complete with ads!). I think next we will learn essay writing, but haven't quite decided. Earlier in the year we looked in depth at poetry. I am happy to lend you the books I used for newspapers and poetry if you want - I won't need them again until next year. We are also doing lots of Australian history (not really in our curriculum, but I don't care), medieval histroy etc I could rave on and on, but basically we have been exploring, and it's really fun. We also do lots of hands on projects which increases the interest level. There is so much to learn, i figure we won't run out of material.
Lots of help & advice. Thanks so much ladies. I should have mentioned we are filling gaps the state curriculum left in the maths. It is a subject we can ditch in another couple of years so I'm not fussing at the level she's at. I do want to make sure she's got the basics. Thanks for the curriculum suggestion. It's one I haven't heard of so will check it out. Basically so far this term we have just been doing what interests us in more depth while I decide what to do for her high school curriculum. I will start that next term so she has adjusted before the music program I have planned kicks in. That will be full on because of our location & a major challenge for both of us. Aussiemum, let us know what you have for poetry but I majored in English Lit & my shelves are sagging under the poetry overload.lol. We have always read a lot of poetry aloud but a study of the techniques could be interesting (for me at least!). We are persuing a humanities path ( I wish they wouldn't keep changing everything; it confuses me. 5 kids & our state critea has been different for all of them!) I will slew it more towards the fine arts where dd's major strength lies. I am still learning & just when I think I've got it all sorted dd warps on me!
I think she could easily use TT7 I have it in front of me. Looking back over the table of contents, I think it would encompass everything that may have been missed previously and then also as a prep for pre-algebra. Their stuff is pricey but you can have it shipped free from their site or from Sonlight. I think TT7 would cover the next few levels that MUS offers without having to spend the money on each year's curriculum with MUS. Teaching Textbooks has great samples on line. Another I like about the program is that at the end of a few chapters there will be a chapter titled: Fractions in the Real World or Decimals in the Real World. The kids take what they've learned and real world example are given in which to apply them. It's really quite fun! Michelle
It's just a really simpe book called how to write a poem. Basically it shows how to write different sorts of poems. I thought it was great b/c dd loves poetry, but I al hopeless at it (much better at math, lol). But if you studied English lit at uni, then I am sure it is all stuff you know already. Still, you can have a look if you want.
Here is what I would do. I would teach units on library and online research. I would then outline lessons and have the student do research to find and create lessons to fulfull the assignments. For example, you could select a few math websites that you trust, then write lessons that instruct the student to locate and print out 5 exercise sheets of math problems with x,y and z criteria in them. You could out line a topic and then have the student find 4 or 5 books on that topic at the library then write a paper or a list of things they learned about a,b and c as found in the lesson instructions you gave. In this way, you can challege your student and take them to another level without spending alot of money on curriculum.
