talantine Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 After considering homeschooling (and reading this forum) for years, I am finally making the leap with my oldest child - my 10yo son. He is completing 4th grade in ps and it has been boring him to tears. I knew going into this that choosing a curriculum would be very difficult for me as I have a hard type choosing from so many options. I would love some advice on where to start. My son is a fast learner, "gifted" ( I hate typing that word) intellegence, and hates repetition. He loves to learn - be engaged, question, challenge and be challenged, make connections, etc. He does not like busywork. Loves mind puzzles, logic, building. Strong mathmatical and verbal reasoning. He loves to read novels, not so much when it comes to texts. He enjoys learning by doing more than watching or listening. He is a hard worker when engaged. He hates writing and struggles. I believe he has dysgraphia. There are so many options and I feel so overwhelmed. I starting to find myself awake at 2am thinking about this! Thanks in advance for any help! Tammie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I was in the same boat a few months ago. Honestly, I read a few books to determine which style of homeschooling I wanted to follow. I am doing mostly classical with some CM thrown in (especially for history, literature and nature study). The next thing you need to do is decide if you want a boxed curriculum or you want to piece something together yourself. I thought I wanted a box curriculum, but ended up piecing things together because there was nothing I could find that I absolutely loved everything about. The biggest thing about a gifted child is to keep him excited about learning and keep him challenged. I don't know if you pray, but this would be a great time for that as well. I would order lots of catalogs. There are people on this board who use every program out there so whenever something looks interesting to you, you can find out more. Also, I wouldn't buy things right away. Look into LOTS of options before buying. You might think you know what you want and then change your mind. Try to go to a convention if you can. That REALLY helped me. Just know that there are lots of great curricula out there so you really can't go wrong. Congrats on your decision to homeschool. You are going to love this journey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Welcome to homeschooling! I think there is a gifted section to this board, you might find some help there. I agree with the poster before me, order some catalogs to look through, it's a bit less overwhelming to sit with a cup of tea and look through catalogs -than to sort through different websites. a few I would recommend: Veritas press catalog - I don't follow their curriculum guides, but I love, love the books they list and often add on a book or two onto whatever subject we are studying. I have used a few of their comprehension guides with a classic here and there,also. Songlight catalog I would suggest you read The Well Trained Mind. :) If you son really enjoys novels, Sonlight might be the way to go. You do not have to buy the whole set-up. We are now using Sonlight for History and Lit only but pick our own math, science, grammar etc. Sonlight is very heavy on historical fiction. It does not have worksheets, which might be great for you (not kill a love of learning) your child reads the selections and/or you read some aloud, and then you discuss them- Sonlight gives you questions in the Teacher guide to use. This actually frustrates me, because I am a worksheet person...but I sometimes type up my own questions and/or I use the Activity guide for Story of the World which has lots of worksheets/maps. MCT curriculum is targeted for gifted children, it is Language Arts (grammar) I am using it with my non-gifted kids, just at a lower level and so far I find it enchanting. Again, welcome to homeschooling :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Tammi, I almost forgot, I was going to suggest Writing With Ease for writing. I have 2 boys that do not like to sit for long and write, I'm finding that WWE has short lessons that the boys can tolerate. I also like that she views the mechanical part of writing -and learning how to write correctly, punctuation, form - as a separate skill from creative writing. It helps. Writing With Ease -peace hill press Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talantine Posted May 21, 2011 Author Share Posted May 21, 2011 Thanks for the help and advice! T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 You mentioned that your ds likes reasoning, puzzles, logic and the like. You might check into the Critical Thinking Co. That's their specialty and they have standards-based books related to most subjects. http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 After considering homeschooling (and reading this forum) for years, I am finally making the leap with my oldest child - my 10yo son. He is completing 4th grade in ps and it has been boring him to tears. I knew going into this that choosing a curriculum would be very difficult for me as I have a hard type choosing from so many options. I would love some advice on where to start. My son is a fast learner, "gifted" ( I hate typing that word) intellegence, and hates repetition. He loves to learn - be engaged, question, challenge and be challenged, make connections, etc. He does not like busywork. Loves mind puzzles, logic, building. Strong mathmatical and verbal reasoning. He loves to read novels, not so much when it comes to texts. He enjoys learning by doing more than watching or listening. He is a hard worker when engaged. He hates writing and struggles. I believe he has dysgraphia. There are so many options and I feel so overwhelmed. I starting to find myself awake at 2am thinking about this! Thanks in advance for any help! Tammie I also started homeschooling when my oldest finished 4th grade. My biggest piece of advice is to take next year and start slow. Make it a light academic year and get used to the homeschooling, parent as teacher dynamic. I really wish I would have. It just takes getting used to not being in a school setting. That being said I would check out Singapore Math if I were you. Have your son take the placement test though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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