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What does an accelerated learner in the language arts look like in middle/high school?


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Hi! I'm looking for suggestions. My DD is a rising 4th grader, but asynchronous in language arts (not mathematics). She enjoys classical education Well-Trained Mind style for its language-centered focus. Looking forward to middle school and then high school, I'm wondering how I customize a middle/high school pathway that would showcase her language arts talents?

 

If she was talented in mathematics, it would be easier, I think -- algebra earlier, and then follow some variation on the typical sequence. But I'm having trouble thinking about something similar for language arts.  It's very clear that a student has completed Calculus, for example, but how does one show an equivalent level of accomplishment in the language arts? What goals am I aiming for here?

 

I feel as though the destination is out of focus, and if I don't know at least what continent to paddle towards, we'll end up in the South Pacific Garbage Patch. :)

 

MCT just doesn't speak to me, but I'll give it another look.  Suggestions? (cross-posted)

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My son showed accomplishment through writing poetry and placing in a national competition. It wasn't​ part of his curriculum per se. He ended up at a world top 5 university.

 

We used Galore Park, which uses good texts and not much drill. And he free read an awful lot.

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I found it really easy to handle my DD's English needs. It's much simpler than in math - you simply  have them read more complex and advanced books, have them write more complex compositions, give them plenty of time to read on their own. You don't have to follow a specific sequence and have a lot of freedom and fun.

 

My DD read at high school level in 3rd grade. She took upper level lit classes at the university when she was 16. In 11th grade, she unschooled English completely.

We never used any scripted curriculum; she would have been bored out of her mind with the busywork. She did not need spelling, reading comprehension, formal grammar, fill in the blank - she needed to be left in peace to read books and talk about books, and write what she felt like writing.

Edited by regentrude
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Hello,

I also find this harder to navigate than maths/sciences. What we do here is that per his request, math/sciences are at an absolute minimum and we double down on literature and more recently, foreign languages. This new regime is a fairly recent change, though. I also add things like philosophy and psychology and social science along the way. We also take a few more risks with literature; he is taking a 200 level lit class at local university I'm not entirely sure he is ready for but hope to be surprised:)

ds was around your DD age when he started homeschooling. We also used Galore Park and also online G3 heavily in the middle school years.

Edited by madteaparty
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We never used any scripted curriculum; she would have been bored out of her mind with the busywork. She did not need spelling, reading comprehension, formal grammar, fill in the blank - she needed to be left in peace to read books and talk about books, and write what she felt like writing.

 

My dd was similar to this...never needed spelling (for a few years ages 5-8, I'd give her a spelling quiz from a Spelling Power list at the beginning of the week and she never got any wrong so we went through all the lists then ditched spelling) or comprehension study (a friend finishing up her coursework as a reading specialist tested dd in the beginning of 3rd grade and she breezed through except for difficulty answering a few questions requiring more life experience to know the answer (she tested above high school level). She thinks it is fun to "edit" articles in newspapers and magazines as she reads them...grammar comes naturally as well.

 

Through middle and 9th grade (finishing up now), she has worked with a tutor who was an English teacher, then homeschooled her own kids, and is now an author/publisher. The woman has a wonderful love of literature and is so creative. She is perfect for dd. They read, write, edit, have teas, and do crafts (which dd loves). Dd reads for fun, we read together and discuss, and she writes in different styles (letters, proposals, blogs, persuasive, informative, fiction, poetry, etc...). 

 

This year, she began working on what started as a novelette but is becoming more like a novel. She has had to do a lot of research and is learning how much goes into novel writing. Her tutor has taken her to writer groups where adult writers discuss their own work and the works of others. Dd shared parts of her own novel yesterday for the first time (her tutor had taken a bit of her writing a couple months ago without dd) and got some wonderful encouragement and feedback. She is going to continue with the tutor next year but also, in the spring, will take the beginning college English course she needs to take a a pre-requisite for higher level college classes.

 

Because of the lack of a set "sequence" like math, advanced language arts can be more child/interest led. I have tried to link what dd is reading (for school) with her history sequence and added in a study of the art, architecture, music, and dress of the times (dd has an interest in fashion and art/craft so we follow that). 

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My DD, at her current age, does much better with a plan, as do I. She needs to make written lists and plans and schedules.  We're both "give me a list and let me be" type people. She enjoys diagramming like other children enjoy jigsaw puzzles. She enjoys comparing languages, and had my mother in stitches the other day by making jokes in Latin. She writes stories constantly -- she needs to create entire worlds in her mind. I am trying to support her strengths.

 

Here are my thoughts this morning:

If the four main parts of grammar-stage English language arts are spelling, composition, grammar, and reading, then the progression of those topics would be:

1) spelling graduating to etymology (programs such as English from the Roots Up) and then more languages 

2) composition would graduate to

a) technical writing (a rhetoric progression)

b) creative (short stories, novels, etc)

3) literature analysis is a field all its own

4) grammar would graduate into linguistics

 

So then, I think, my long-range goals for her, so that she can demonstrate mastery in those four areas are:

1) Continue to study Latin, possibly pick up Greek, and maybe pick up a modern. Demonstrate mastery in one or more language, possibly through some sort of national exam. 

2) Composition: 

a) Continue and complete a rhetoric progression. Demonstrate mastery, possibly through an AP English Language and Composition course and exam.

b) Continue creative writing and demonstrate mastery by being published (not self-published).

c) Begin and complete a research project in an area of interest with a substantial formal paper as part of the product. 

3) Grammar: continue prescriptive grammar, and then successfully take a linguistics class in high school.

4) Continue to read widely and deeply. Demonstrate mastery through something like the SAT II literature exam. Possibly take Am. Lit. and Brit. Lit. at a college.

 

Intermediate goals would then be:

1) Continue to study Latin, and possibly pick up Greek.  

2) Composition: 

a) Continue a rhetoric progression

b) Continue creative writing (and maybe get published in an age-appropriate place)

3) Grammar: continue prescriptive grammar

4) Continue to read widely and deeply, with required reading around the history cycle and for the study of literature analysis. "Fun" reading at her discretion. When emotionally ready, tackle more advanced themes.

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My DD, at her current age, does much better with a plan, as do I. She needs to make written lists and plans and schedules.  We're both "give me a list and let me be" type people. She enjoys diagramming like other children enjoy jigsaw puzzles. She enjoys comparing languages, and had my mother in stitches the other day by making jokes in Latin. She writes stories constantly -- she needs to create entire worlds in her mind. I am trying to support her strengths.
 
Here are my thoughts this morning:
If the four main parts of grammar-stage English language arts are spelling, composition, grammar, and reading, then the progression of those topics would be:
1) spelling graduating to etymology (programs such as English from the Roots Up) and then more languages 
2) composition would graduate to
a) technical writing (a rhetoric progression)
b) creative (short stories, novels, etc)
3) literature analysis is a field all its own
4) grammar would graduate into linguistics
 
So then, I think, my long-range goals for her, so that she can demonstrate mastery in those four areas are:
1) Continue to study Latin, possibly pick up Greek, and maybe pick up a modern. Demonstrate mastery in one or more language, possibly through some sort of national exam. 
2) Composition: 
a) Continue and complete a rhetoric progression. Demonstrate mastery, possibly through an AP English Language and Composition course and exam.
b) Continue creative writing and demonstrate mastery by being published (not self-published).
c) Begin and complete a research project in an area of interest with a substantial formal paper as part of the product. 
3) Grammar: continue prescriptive grammar, and then successfully take a linguistics class in high school.
4) Continue to read widely and deeply. Demonstrate mastery through something like the SAT II literature exam. Possibly take Am. Lit. and Brit. Lit. at a college.
 
Intermediate goals would then be:
1) Continue to study Latin, and possibly pick up Greek.  
2) Composition: 
a) Continue a rhetoric progression
b) Continue creative writing (and maybe get published in an age-appropriate place)
3) Grammar: continue prescriptive grammar
4) Continue to read widely and deeply, with required reading around the history cycle and for the study of literature analysis. "Fun" reading at her discretion. When emotionally ready, tackle more advanced themes.

 

Some of my kids have been eager and driven in the language arts.

Here is what we have done at ages close to your dd's:

 

1) Skipped spelling for my natural spellers. Used All About Spelling for those that need it. Etymology curriculum has been enjoyed. We use Vocabulary from Classical Roots. https://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Classical-Roots-Nancy-Flowers/dp/0838822525

It's easy for my 11 year old and he enjoys reading through the extensive lists of challenge words and reading the "nota bene"s. He incorporates as many obscure words as he can find related to the roots he is studying into his daily speech. Silly boy.

 

2) Ds on/off gets a kick out of Cover Story (from the same publisher as One Year Adventure Novel). A child could do the bare minimum with this curriculum and "get away with it" but it delights ds to be creative and he's learned a lot along the way. 

http://www.coverstorywriting.com/

This is a curriculum that you'd want to use sooner rather than later with a gifted kiddo. Dd was 13 when I tried to use it with her and it was too late (not enough for her and she was bored and felt talked down to -- ends up she much prefers more open-ended writing assignments and can spend hours a day for weeks creating her own). Luckily, I had other kids coming up and saved it for them. Ds was 10 when we started and it was perfect (part of this may be personality, too -- he gets a kick out of the author's approach).

 

3) Latin.  My boys have studied Latin for years. Translation texts have been much more of a hit than memorization texts. Ds11 likes Ecce Romani.

https://www.amazon.com/ROMANI-LEVEL-STUDENT-HARDCOVER-2005C/dp/0131163701

I got it used for cheap!

Translating the stories makes him *think* and not just regurgitate. Plus, the stories are entertaining (again, this may be his personality).

 

Mostly, we do tons of reading and some of my kids have done lots of writing.

Funny, my most accelerated language arts learners have also been my most accelerated math students. The ds I mentioned several times above just loves logic puzzles and has a appetite for math. My most prolific and natural writer is starting college for aerospace engineering in the fall and has taken a number of calculus classes at a university while in high school. I guess ya never know where they'll end up. (I always thought of him as a humanities guy.)

 

Hope this helps.

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My dd was similar to this...never needed spelling (for a few years ages 5-8, I'd give her a spelling quiz from a Spelling Power list at the beginning of the week and she never got any wrong so we went through all the lists then ditched spelling) or comprehension study (a friend finishing up her coursework as a reading specialist tested dd in the beginning of 3rd grade and she breezed through except for difficulty answering a few questions requiring more life experience to know the answer (she tested above high school level). She thinks it is fun to "edit" articles in newspapers and magazines as she reads them...grammar comes naturally as well.

 

Through middle and 9th grade (finishing up now), she has worked with a tutor who was an English teacher, then homeschooled her own kids, and is now an author/publisher. The woman has a wonderful love of literature and is so creative. She is perfect for dd. They read, write, edit, have teas, and do crafts (which dd loves). Dd reads for fun, we read together and discuss, and she writes in different styles (letters, proposals, blogs, persuasive, informative, fiction, poetry, etc...). 

 

This year, she began working on what started as a novelette but is becoming more like a novel. She has had to do a lot of research and is learning how much goes into novel writing. Her tutor has taken her to writer groups where adult writers discuss their own work and the works of others. Dd shared parts of her own novel yesterday for the first time (her tutor had taken a bit of her writing a couple months ago without dd) and got some wonderful encouragement and feedback. She is going to continue with the tutor next year but also, in the spring, will take the beginning college English course she needs to take a a pre-requisite for higher level college classes.

 

Because of the lack of a set "sequence" like math, advanced language arts can be more child/interest led. I have tried to link what dd is reading (for school) with her history sequence and added in a study of the art, architecture, music, and dress of the times (dd has an interest in fashion and art/craft so we follow that). 

 

This sounds seriously awesome! *I* want to be tutored by her!

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I forgot to mention that we did multiple languages too.  Calvin studied Mandarin, Latin and French, and a little bit of Classical Greek.

 

Yes, languages here as well...Dd studied Latin in grammar school and is now studying French and Irish.  

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Any suggestions/recommendations for foreign language curriculum?  She's 11 but her most highly gifted areas are language arts.  

My daughter has been taking spanish (picked spanish first be her interest and her cultural background) but ready to pick up another one, maybe latin?  What about the vocab studies that include latin or roots?  

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Any suggestions/recommendations for foreign language curriculum?  She's 11 but her most highly gifted areas are language arts.  

My daughter has been taking spanish (picked spanish first be her interest and her cultural background) but ready to pick up another one, maybe latin?  What about the vocab studies that include latin or roots?  

 

I'm not sure if you mean for Spanish, or just in general, but our Spanish progression has gone like this:

 

1. Getting Started With Spanish

2. Duolingo

3. Homeschool Spanish Academy & So You Really Want to Learn Spanish

 

I'd probably skip Duolingo if I had it to do over again, there wasn't much retention.

 

For vocab studies with Latin roots, many people love Caesar's English. (We love MCT, but for some reason not CE)

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

My DD, at her current age, does much better with a plan, as do I. She needs to make written lists and plans and schedules. We're both "give me a list and let me be" type people. She enjoys diagramming like other children enjoy jigsaw puzzles. She enjoys comparing languages, and had my mother in stitches the other day by making jokes in Latin. She writes stories constantly -- she needs to create entire worlds in her mind. I am trying to support her strengths.

 

Here are my thoughts this morning:

If the four main parts of grammar-stage English language arts are spelling, composition, grammar, and reading, then the progression of those topics would be:

1) spelling graduating to etymology (programs such as English from the Roots Up) and then more languages

2) composition would graduate to

a) technical writing (a rhetoric progression)

b) creative (short stories, novels, etc)

3) literature analysis is a field all its own

4) grammar would graduate into linguistics

 

So then, I think, my long-range goals for her, so that she can demonstrate mastery in those four areas are:

1) Continue to study Latin, possibly pick up Greek, and maybe pick up a modern. Demonstrate mastery in one or more language, possibly through some sort of national exam.

2) Composition:

a) Continue and complete a rhetoric progression. Demonstrate mastery, possibly through an AP English Language and Composition course and exam.

b) Continue creative writing and demonstrate mastery by being published (not self-published).

c) Begin and complete a research project in an area of interest with a substantial formal paper as part of the product.

3) Grammar: continue prescriptive grammar, and then successfully take a linguistics class in high school.

4) Continue to read widely and deeply. Demonstrate mastery through something like the SAT II literature exam. Possibly take Am. Lit. and Brit. Lit. at a college.

 

Intermediate goals would then be:

1) Continue to study Latin, and possibly pick up Greek.

2) Composition:

a) Continue a rhetoric progression

b) Continue creative writing (and maybe get published in an age-appropriate place)

3) Grammar: continue prescriptive grammar

4) Continue to read widely and deeply, with required reading around the history cycle and for the study of literature analysis. "Fun" reading at her discretion. When emotionally ready, tackle more advanced themes.

 

Sounds like a great plan. It's very similar to what I'm doing with my dd.

 

ETA: You might also consider competing in your state Latin convention or getting involved in speech tournaments.

Edited by OnMyOwn
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