How does “Gifted” figure into our homeschool?

By the time my daughter reached 4th Grade, I was spending a lot of energy researching Gifted Education, and Education in general.  I’d done everything I could to advocate for her special needs in school, and I’d realized that our school district didn’t have the resources (or desire) to fulfill her needs in school.

Our school district provided a pull-out Enrichment Program, very loosely modeled on Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model, that gave Kayla a break from class for three hours, once a week.  During this time, she competed in Math Olympiad, and prepared to compete in Odyssey of the Mind.  Additionally, her classroom teacher was charged with differentiating the curriculum.  In practice, she wasn’t challenged or engaged most of the time, and she was far from working to her potential.

Bottom line, I had to enrich and supplement her education at home.

Enrichment At Home

Now, enriching her education wasn’t much of a stretch.  Our family loves to learn and travel, so enriching family activities and trips are just par for the course.  Outside of school, Kayla signed up for all kinds of classes and camps: dance, theater, science camp, zoo camp, cooking lessons, harp lessons, swim team, softball team, computer club, running club, etc., etc.  I’ve lost track of all the enrichment activities that Kayla has tried over the years!

Kayla also benefited from Girl Scout activities and trips that were thematically linked to the curriculum.  For example, when the girls were learning about New York in school, we organized field trips to local historical museums and to the State Capitol, and we encouraged them to work on relevant patch programs.  It just made sense to link academics and extracurricular activities.

Afterschool Home School

Supplementing her education was more of a challenge as I had to investigate what was available, and believe me, there is a staggering amount of educational material and resources available, even without looking at homeschool curriculum.

Soon, I was pawing through the Education bookshelves at Barnes & Noble and the Columbia University Bookstore, and following every lead in books like Karen B. Rogers’ Re-Forming Gifted Education: How Parents and Teachers Can Match the Program to the Child. (See Rogers on Gifted domains.)

I might have gone a little bonkers trying out new material.  That year, we supplemented with the following (but not all at the same time!)

Afterschool History

• I discovered The Well Trained Mind and our lives have never been the same.  My daughter LOVED the affiliated Story of the World series, even though I asked her to write about the readings.
• We also looked into the Student Research Awards sponsored by the New York State Archives.  Kayla wanted to do a project, but we couldn’t find the time outside of school, and there was no support for this in school.
• She did enter, and win, an essay contest about the American flag sponsored by Fort Crailo.
• Kayla visited the 4th Grade class taught by a family friend in southern California.  To prepare for the visit, she created a project on the Iroquois to share with the students who were displaying projects about Native Americans.

Afterschool Math

• Kumon Math – It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Just 10 minutes a day, and your child will be a math wiz!  Confessions of a Kuman Mom
• In school, Kayla was bored to tears with the spiraling Houghton Mifflin Math.  As far as she could tell, it seemed that they kept going over the same math taught in previous years.  At that time, I had no idea what spiraling was, but I had the bright idea to compare math textbooks by testing out the math textbook being used by friends in both a local elite private school, and the very highly regarded public schools in Montgomery County, MD. You guessed it, they were using the quintessential spiraling math curriculum of Everyday Math.  That was a short-lived venture as I couldn’t make heads or tails of the materials, and if it didn’t make sense to me, I certainly couldn’t expect it to inspire a love of math in my daughter!
• Highline Advanced Math Program – Kayla seemed to enjoy Math Olympiad, so I tried to help her prepare for the competition tests by reviewing this math enrichment program.  It was alright, but it certainly didn’t light a fire in her belly.
• Hey Math! – I paid for the online subscription because the program promised to “ignite young minds” with the interactive math program favored by Singapore Math students.  No, it did not ignite my daughter’s mind, but that was early in its development.

Afterschool Language Arts

• Inspired by Lucy Calkins’ The Art of Teaching Writing,  I tried to implement elements of the Writer’s Workshop. Since my daughter spent most of her waking hours outside the house, this wasn’t as successful as I would’ve liked.
• One of Kayla’s favorite teachers, who taught her in 2nd grade, “volunteered” to give her private writing lessons.  Actually, this teacher was not immune to Kayla’s big blue eyes, and the sweetness of her request, as my daughter visited her classroom and begged to be given writing lessons.  There wasn’t time for too many lessons, but they were much appreciated.
• Great Source Education Group publishes great textbooks.  Write Source: A Book For Writing, Thinking, and Learning is a great reference for scholarly writing at the elementary level.  Also, the series, Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing is a great way to introduce students to the mechanics of reading.
• Mother Daughter Book Club – This has been a source of joy, camaraderie, and even some learning since we started the group in third grade.
• Junior Great Books Program – I tried, and failed, to start this reading program which promotes critical thinking through an emphasis on Shared Inquiry at our school.  Our school library had all the materials, and the librarian has been trained to implement them.  However, it is apparent that she doesn’t really care for the reading materials.  In fact, she had several complaints. Of course, I went ahead and purchased the materials to use the program at home, and found that it’s better for a group setting where you can have book discussion.  One on one, it’s just not as much fun.
• That summer, I enrolled Kayla in an online writing program given by Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY.) The writing class was excellent, and Kayla was excited to share it with students from around the world, but she wasn’t too thrilled to have to do class work in the summer, especially when we went to visit friends.

My Poor Child, The Guinea Pig

Over the course of that 4th Grade year, my daughter did a lot of extracurricular class work.  Too much.  Mostly, I’ve learned my lesson, and don’t ask her to do much at all.

Nowadays, she’s s-l-o-w-l-y working through Danica McKellar’s Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail.  She’s also barreling through Painless Vocabulary at the breakneck speed of a glacier. No, she isn’t breaking any academic productivity records.

However, she is an avid reader, and she is challenged and engaged at school.  That’s more than good enough.

Making The Cut Into Our Homeschool Curriculum

Eventually, through all my research into Gifted Education, I came across a list, based on a survey of gifted students, that described their learning requirements, and I was struck by two items in particular:

• Gifted students want to study things that interest them and go beyond basics
• Work with abstract concepts that require more than simple thinking – such as creative, reflective, and analytical ideas

I’ve kept that in mind as I decided what would make the cut into my son’s Fourth Grade Homeschool Curriculum.

Homeschool History

• Story of the World worked out well with both of my children, and provides the framework for our homeschool curriculum.
• Now that he’s old enough, I will encourage my son to try to create a project for the Student Research Awards.

Homeschool Math

• None of the math programs that Kayla used in 4th Grade made the cut, but we may revisit the new and improved Hey Math! as a supplement to Singapore Math, which has worked out well for my son.

Homeschool Language Arts

• I continue to be inspired by Lucy Calkins’ The Art of Teaching Writing and the Writer’s Workshop, and we’re still reading through Ralph Fletcher’s books for young writers that is also in this same vein.
• This year we’ll finally use the Great Source material as more than a reference guide.  Alex will be working through the Write Source writing projects, and the reflections in the Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing.
• Book Club – It’s not the Mother Daughter Book Club, but Alex will continue to participate in a couple of book clubs.  One is a Homeschool Kids Book Club that seems to prefer Fantasy books.  The other is a very small group that is working through the material in Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading

Is That All?

No, there’s more.  A lot more.  I’ve been collecting books and resources for years.  And, there are a lot of opportunities, such as the local Math Counts Homeschool Group, that open up to older students.  It won’t be easy to cull through all the materials to formulate our Fourth Grade IHIP, but the real issue will be to see what resonates with Alex, ’cause “It Don’t Mean a Thing, (If It Ain’t Got That Swing!)”

What am I missing?  Can you think of any programs or resources that I should include in our plans for next year?  Please comment!

My 21st Century Education Plan Series:

• How Should We Educate 21st Century Students?
• Who’s Minding The Gap In Your Child’s Education?
• Moving Beyond Learning Standards

Related Articles:

• Does your school value the Gifted and Talented? – Lists learning needs of gifted students.
• One Step Ahead of the Train Wreck – One dad’s experience supplementing spiraling Everyday Math with Singapore at home.

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Tagged as: Everyday Math, Great Books Foundation, Great Source, Hey Math!, Kumon, Lucy Calkins, Ralph Fletcher, Singapore Math, Spiraling, Story of the World, Student Research Awards, Well Trained Mind, Writer's Work Shop