How do you go about picking curriculum for your accelerated learner?

[nancypants]

My oldest son just turned 8. He is just one year ahead of schedule for math and I am never at a loss as to how to pick that curriculum for him. We use MUS and are very happy with it. We also know what we are doing for history. We are just going through SOTW and chugging along with that, which he loves. I have opted this next year to just forego the coloring/activity pages as he just prefers to read the chapters like a regular book.

 

With everything else though I feel like I'm sort of shooting in the dark. He really doesn't like stuff that is meant for his age level. It's just too easy (and though I didn't put this in his head, I think he finds the "cartoon pictures" insulting.) I really hate to give him busy work and don't mind letting him work as far ahead as he feels comfortable but I realize that in doing so he may miss some fundamental things.

 

It's mostly in the areas of grammar/spelling/science, etc... He writes fairly well and has a very high reading level for his age (is whizzing through LOTR and will read smaller books of various genres in one sitting). He also spells remarkably well, which I'm sure just comes from reading a lot as we've only ever done one year of spelling instruction.

 

So I want to make sure he knows spelling rules, grammar rules etc. but I don't want to torment him with a ton of ridiculous busy work that he dreads (since he otherwise typically loves school and is very self-motivated). I think I have settled on just skipping the levels that seem to be stuff that comes almost inately to him (did I mention that I was nothing like this as a child? He gets his enormous cranium from my husband.) and go right to the stuff for higher grade levels. From what I can tell, I think he may do well with the 7th and/or 8th grade levels of the Spelling Workout books and the Daily Grams. But in skipping up to something that is a bit of a challenge to him as opposed to (his words) "boring boring boring" is he going to be missing too much foundational stuff or should I just get over it and deal with the fact that some people come out of the womb being smarter than their mothers? :tongue_smilie:

 

I also don't know how to pick his next science curriculum. I'm thinking of just letting him decide what he wants to study and going from there. He is interested in physical science but most of the texts are 8th grade level texts and while I know he reads really well, again, I don't know how much (if any) foundational stuff that he will not have enough of a grasp of in order to "get" everything at that level.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

In short- pre-testing. If you pre-test before doing the lesson, you will know if he has mastered the material before you skip it.

 

There are two kinds of boring- 1. this is too easy and 2. this is not something I'm interested in. So, when my child says something is boring, I ask questions to figure out which of the two she means. If she says it's too easy, I give her the opportunity to show mastery and we leave it alone. If it is #2 boredom, I see if there is a way we can make it more interesting, but sometimes we just have to do things that are "boring". In those instances, I try to explain the big picture as to WHY we are doing it. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, it is a matter of making a note, "we didn't cover xyz," and re-introducing it at another time.

 

Basic skills are easy to fill in and often, a child will fill them in on his own when he needs to know for a purpose important to him. Sometimes, moving ahead can actually motivate a kid to learn some skills that were "boring" to him before. Something that can get frustrating with moving ahead in science is that in high school level + courses, the math skills need to be there IMO. You shouldn't have a problem with middle school level courses or if your child picks up math easily.

 

I don't even look at levels on books anymore. I just determine if I think it would be a good fit for my child and then let my child look at it to see what she thinks.

[Mama Anna]

Have you looked at Spelling Power for spelling? The entire curriculum (with TM) comes in one book, there aren't any pictures, and pretesting is key to the curriculum. If he finishes it, you can be pretty sure that he's accomplished a high school graduate's grasp (speaking in the positive sense, here) of spelling.

 

(Note: I'm just looking at beginning with this next year - I have no actual experience with it yet.)

 

Mama Anna

[SkateLeft]

I find that what works best for my dd is researching a number of different options with her, letting her have a considerable amount of input into the end decision. I look at what's out there, present the options to her and she chooses which approach appeals to her.

 

As far as the rest, our language arts program consists solely of Latin and composition. :D My kids learn grammar, spelling and vocabulary through Latin. My older daughter has no patience for workbook-based busy-work, so this works very well for her. :)

[chai]

I have the most luck with programs that are meant to cover multiple grades. Spelling Power and Natural Speller are good examples--they cover all grades in one book. With these, you can work quickly through (or skip) portions until you find the right level. I use Classical Writing because you can go as deep as you want to with any model. It can be completely customized to meet your child's needs.

 

I also find that doing history and science the "WTM way" works really well. Again, the work level and books used can be customized to your student.

 

I do think that if you skip workbook grade levels you will probably be okay because there is so much review in them. If something is missing, you can always take a time out and cover it separately.

[JennW in SoCal]

I'm thinking back to what we did when my boys were 8 as like your ds, neither of my boys were big into materials geared towards their age, and I also have always avoided busy work.

 

For grammar, we played Mad Libs, and did some simple diagramming of dictation sentences. As they have gotten older, I've used the editing process to work more with them on spelling, punctuation and grammar issues as they arise. My younger son is picking up quite a bit as we do Latin, and for 8th grade next year I'm planning on a formal year-long review of grammar. I don't feel like it has been a mistake to have skipped this -- we were so busy with other things, and they both write really well.

 

I mention this approach because there is lots of time to work on "basic skills" over the years. It doesn't sound like you will have huge language arts holes to plug in middle school if you continue as you have.

 

For science, I always have followed their interests and avoided formal studies until high school. We've done nature journals, did science kits such as building electric circuits and motors, growing butterflies, played with magnets, built simple machines, played with prisms and light -- you name it! We've spent hours at the local natural history museum and aerospace museum, and have watched countless episodes of NOVA, Nature and most anything on the Science and Discovery channels. We also picked up arm-loads of library books on whatever topic was their current interest. My oldest son has been fine in his high school level science classes.

 

I know it sounds very "loosey goosey", but my boys are turning out well. I think it comes from trusting that bright kids will pick up on many things without the tedium of workbooks or dry linear curricula.

[nmoira]

But in skipping up to something that is a bit of a challenge to him as opposed to (his words) "boring boring boring" is he going to be missing too much foundational stuff or should I just get over it and deal with the fact that some people come out of the womb being smarter than their mothers?

Filling in gaps can be an enjoyable challenge for gifted kids.

 

I also don't know how to pick his next science curriculum. I'm thinking of just letting him decide what he wants to study and going from there. He is interested in physical science but most of the texts are 8th grade level texts and while I know he reads really well, again, I don't know how much (if any) foundational stuff that he will not have enough of a grasp of in order to "get" everything at that level.

There is nothing in a K-8 science curriculum he will need to do high school science. A couple homeschooling families I know in a similar situation use, among other things, video lectures for science: Thinkwell, Teaching Company, Nova shows, etc.

[Old Dominion Heather]

What we have done for Science is pick and choose each year. #1 used Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 1 last year, #2 used pre-level 1. Ds loved it, but we still needed more and supplemented with library books and a book of experiments that he completed and wrote up on his own. If you haven't looked at that Chemistry book yet, I highly recommend it. I looked at NOEO science and I could tell it was just too Charlotte Mason for us. Ds does NOT like his science muddled by literature.

 

Math was his area where he was so far ahead, it was getting boring. We were using Saxon 76 for third grade, but I just switched him to Singapore 4 and he is enjoying the thinking skills involved though he is flying through it as well, but at least I won't be teaching Algebra next year... not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

Spelling... we are going to try either Spelling Power or Natural Speller this year. I really hate the busy work in the SWO books. Ds would do the lesson and still miss several words... he just wasn't learning them. Ideally, you would pull misspelled words from the kids writing and use those as your spelling words, but I have neither the time nor the inclination. :glare:

 

Grammar... we will do FLL 4. Ds really loves the diagramming. But much of his grammar he is learning through Latin.

[Storm Bay]

Some of it has been trial and error, particularly the first couple of years. I use MUS which has many pluses and is an American written program, but found it wasn't meaty enough for my now 10 yo, so we do both MUS and Singapore Math. If nothing else, I now can't say enough good things about Challenging Word Problems, and think they'd be a great supplement to MUS which is weaker in that area, although they do have some. A good book to go along with this is the one for parents, The Essential Parents' Guide to Primary Maths: Strategies for Solving Challenging Word Problems by Dr. Fong Ho Khoeng. This is great stuff for mathy kids and I can't recommend it highly enough to go with MUS. Then search for post on the forums by Myrtle who has done some good ones on teaching these things to kids.

 

Science varies. My eldest has great science understanding, mostly through her own reading. I am a new convert to Real-Science-4-Kids, although there's not enough in them to last a whole year. However, I've also realized my younger ones get too bored studying one science all year. I didn't like Noeo, but loved the experiments package I bought with it because it was almost all there without my having to organize buying most of the supplies.

 

As for language arts, my kids have to do some boring stuff if they don't have a full enough understanding of it. My eldest is a natural speller; Spelling Power was a good fit until she didn't need anything anymore. We do R&S English starting with Gr. 5, but not every single thing. My eldest doesn't do any oral work or any of the reviews. Doesn't need it. Before that we've done workbooky stuff with Easy Grammar and Grammar Songs. I liked Easy Grammar because the only trouble my eldest ever had in English was with prepositional phrases, and Easy Grammar starts with them memorizing a list of prepositions and then learning what the phrases are.

 

I have one child who isn't happy with most things regardless of the level (too hard, too easy, if just right in level, too boring.) I can't stop and fix all of that. We have found things she really likes in some subjects. In others, she has things she hates the least. At 13, though, I expect her to be able to do all the requisite subjects, even if modified for her ability level and learning style.