Curriculum after leaving PS

[talantine]

Cross posted in k-8 curriculum

 

To begin with, thanks to all of you that have gone before me. This forum is so helpful but my head is still swimming. Also, I am new to forums so forgive my mistakes.

 

I am pulling moderately/highly gifted ds 10 out of public school to hs next year. He has not been accelerated at all at school. I was told it wouldn't be fair to the other children.

 

He does have a weakness in writing. I believe he has dyslexic dysgraphia (my younger son is dyslexic - 2E. Dyslexic dysgraphia affects the writing but not the reading). His reading level is very high but his writing is barely grade level. Spelling while writing is horrible but he doesn't have a problem with spelling tests. Hand writing is barely legible.

 

So I am really bad at making decisions and I am having a hard time with making curriculum choices. I have already posted a few questions and read a hundred threads but I am still at a loss.

 

At his current school he breezes through his work easily but I don't have any clue what levels to place him at.

 

For math we will go with Singapore and I know I can do a placement test for that.

 

For LA we will do MCT and I am going to a RFWP convertion so I hope that helps me set that area up.

 

For science, I am at a loss as to what would be appropriate. He is a very math/sciency kid - loves snap circuits, mythbusters, any show on science. I really need help here. I don't know what would be good for him and at what level to start. I want him to be challenged. We will spend some time on whatever interest strikes him at the moment but I also want a formal science program.

 

History I want to be fun but I don't really know what to do here either - there are so many choices and having a gifted child actually makes it more confusing.

 

So I could really use specific curriculum ideas and levels. I will also have a 3 yo dd at home and the carpool for the 7 yo ds so I don't have hours to prep.

 

Also, the 5th grader loves hands on work but also loves to read. Also loves logic.

 

Public School has been a nightmare for him this year as he sits around bored "learning" what he already knows.

 

Please help me help this boy before he loses his love of learning.

 

We are a Christian family. We will consider both Christian and secular curricula for history and literature but prefer mostly secular or neutral for science.

Edited May 31, 2011 by talantine

[AK_Mom4]

DD10 used the following:

History Odyssey from Pandia Press - she used Level 1 Modern this year for 4th and will be using Level 2 Ancients for 5th. This is literature-based history with lots of reading and some fun hands-on projects.

 

Real Science for Kids - level 1. We had a bunch of rabbit trails here as different topics would catch her interest and we would go off and learn more. Thanks to the rabbit trails, we only finished the Chemistry and Biology units this year. Next year, I plan for her to do the Physics module, then she wants to study space, so I will probably find some unit studies for that. BTW - all the RS4K experiments would probably be fun for your 3yo to "help" with. We had lots of fun with lots of hands on!

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: we pulled out DS(now 15) from public school part way thru 5th grade for the same reasons you described. It really made all the difference for his love of learning to be actually working with materials that were challenging for him. Definitely a Good Thing!

Edited May 31, 2011 by AK_Mom4

[matilda]

We are in a similar situation. I am also pulling my dd out of ps this year. I have decided to use TOG for history, because it contains all of the levels. I can have my dd start at one level and change to another later in the year, if necessary.

 

Science has been the hardest subject to find. I bought RSK4, but without the rabbit trails the pp mentioned, I'm afraid that it wouldn't last very long. I just got my Science Explorer books in the mail today, and I think that they will work well. The nice thing about SE is that we can choose our topic and then a few months later move on to something else. I was worried about feeling trapped in one discipline of science for a whole year when dd is this young.

[....]

Hi! I have a 9 yro. She also tested in the gifted range, but our situation is a little different. I homeschool 4 kids, so we do lots of combining and student interest-led stuff. I also suspect that my 3rd kid would test in the gifted range and she seems to be on the spectrum. Also, this is our 3rd year and we homeschool year-round. (So, keep all that in mind :tongue_smilie:). Here's what she's doing this year in its entirety (we started our new school year this week):

 

My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures

Reading thru the What Your 4th Grader Needs to Know book (this is her favorite, BTW)

 

LA:

 

MCT's Language Arts - Grammar Island level (she like this a lot)

portions of Intermediate Language Lessons

grammar stage writing per TWTM

Spelling Workout

Writing Tales

 

Reading:

 

MFW ECC

Sonlight's Core 3 Read-alouds and Readers (she like this a lot, too)

 

History/Geography:

 

MFW ECC

SL Core 3 History and Read-alouds

 

Math:

 

Singapore Math 4a, 4b + Miquon

Life of Fred Fractions (for January)

 

Science:

 

MFW ECC

Apologia Botany (about halfway thru now)

Apologia Land Animals (about a third of the way thru)

 

Latin:

 

Song School Latin (with her brother)

 

Art:

 

MFW ECC and Meet the Masters A

 

Extras (her choosing):

 

cow eyeball dissection kit

Intermediate Dissection Kit (perch, frog, starfish, etc)

DNA kit

Dog anatomy book

 

From my experience with the gifted kid so far, I think expanding out instead of forward is best (someone else on the board told me this once). My daughter has a ton of interests and will sit and read anything. She also does lots of "research" :glare: on different topics until she's an expert on it. Some of the things we've done for school...visiting a herpetological convention, pottery class, field trips, lots of hiking/nature study, science jeopardy competition at an enrichment center...lots of read-alouds (mine like read-alouds for some reason)...

 

Anyway, I hope looking at someone else's schedule helps. Also, my gifted kid could totally unschool and probably be at about the same level she's at now. Mine seems to be very driven to learn on her own and I try to leave lots of time for child-led interests.

Edited June 1, 2011 by starrbuck12

[8filltheheart]

I would take a radically different approach for science and history. I would let him select whole books on whatever science topics that interest him. They go into far more depth than textbooks and there is no limit to what he can select/read/process.

[HappyCamper]

We are also going to be new to homeschooling next year with my DD9. I read many posts before picking out history and science. I opted for History Odyssey and we are doing Middle Ages, Level 2. History is my daughter's least favorite topic, but I am hoping if it consists of reading books together and includes some fun projects maybe we can turn that around. We also plan to listen to Story of the World 2 when we are driving around in the car.

 

For science, I decided on REAL Science Odyssey because it was important for our science to be hands-on, secular, and engaging. I went for Chemistry because my daughter gets easily creeped-out by biology, etc.

I think its going to be a fun year for us and we are looking forward to it. Sounds like it will be a good change for you as well!

[NittanyJen]

We were in the same boat-- DS is 10, just finished 4th grade (was in 4th when we pulled him out in Feb, just started 5th last week) and DS7 (just finished 2nd, started 3rd).

 

For our DS10, who is also gifted, in history and science:

 

History: History Odyssey from Pandia Press, Ancients. We finished off fourth grade with 12 weeks of Greeks and Romans, so there will be some repetition here, but I love the look of HO. It does include reading real books, and uses a timeline and includes geography as well as the literature and other source material. I am adding in additional reading material (there is a HUGE amount of it available for this program). We are also adding in extra fun stuff, like the Thames and Kosmos pyramid, to learn how archaeologists have to document their finds, Lift the Lid on Mummies, and the Ancient Egypt and Heiroglyphics treasure chests, among others.

 

Science: Check out NOEO Science. The level 2 science curricula are great, and provide a full year in each field, based around real books and experiments. Because we are science nutcases, I am supplementing chemistry with the Science Wiz Chem+, DNA, and Solids, Liquids, and Gases kits (only $20 each) and the Thames and Kosmos C3000 kit (absolute overkill) and the textbook only from Real Science for Kids (very cheap) because it is really well-written and explains things very clearly and provides a good summary of what is being learned from the real books approach.

 

Good luck!

 

Jen

http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/