What would you do?

[4Kiddos]

I have been thinking over this past year and how our homeschooling has gone (partly due to the other thread on 2016 goals for accelerated learners). On the whole I think it has gone well but I am thinking about doing some things different. This is only my second year homeschooling and to be honest I never in a million years thought that I would have an accelerated learner. I kind of feel like I have been thrown in the deep end and can't swim. :) I feel like I am just figuring out homeschooling with two students and now I have to try and figure out how to meet his needs. Anyway, I was just curious what you all would do if you had a son like mine since you all are much more experienced and have a lot more knowledge of resources. So, here is some info:

 

- A 7 year old in 2nd grade

- I have only homeschooled

- Super high energy and really loud

- Has deep passions that he will exhaust all information on- currently it is WW2

- Constantly asks questions and sometimes I have to read up on stuff to answer them

- Has never been tested and I don't particularly care about it- should I?

- Is working at a 5th or 6th grade level of math depending on the resource- he cannot get enough of math and learns a new concept incredibly quickly

- He really loves problem solving and figuring out puzzles or hard questions

- Reading with full comprehension and good narration at a high school level

- He devours books and I feel panicked trying to keep him in books- he reads widely too

- He is really critical of himself and I am not sure what to do with that except to try and encourage him

 

So, what would you do if he were yours? Is he just "bright"? What resources/curriculum would you use? How would you structure your days? If you could pretend that I am just starting homeschooling (which I feel like I am) I would appreciate it.

[Jackie]

Others more experienced than me will likely come along, too.

 

I've found a few things that work for my kid:

- No all-in-one curriculum. There's just no "grade level" that fits. For everything she wants to learn or I want to teach her, I have to evaluate options separately.

- No curriculum or only non-traditional curriculum for science and history. Nothing aimed at her age will go nearly deep enough, and library books serve her much better. Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding gives me a good sense of how to teach concepts, but I've had to jump ahead in it quite a bit.

- Logic games. She hasn't been interested in chess, but that would certainly be one. Currently we have Qwirkle, Rush Hour, Gobblet Gobblers, Logic Links, Kanoodle, and some others that aren't popping to mind.

- Heavy use of the library, including both browsing shelves with her and using the online reservation system.

- Loading up on independent resources. BrainPop, The Happy Scientist, Prodigy Math, Dragonbox, Lightbot, Tynker, DuoLingo.

 

We've played with a few options for structure. Something will work for us for a while, then not so much and we switch it up.

[4Kiddos]

Jackie,

 

 Thank you so much for posting as it gave me some reassurance and new ideas. I have been officially homeschooling for two years but I guess I have been surprised with my son working ahead. I just thought it was normal for kids to ask endless deep questions (fluid dynamics today with DH) and read early. But I just feel exhausted and unsure of myself I guess. :) And how do you deal with the wide scope in reading? Yesterday my son was reading Harry and the Lady Next Door and giggling over it with his brother and then reading and talking with me about The Last Lion- a three volume biography of Winston Churchill.  I definitely don't use an all in one curriculum because now I can't even imagine trying to make that work. We also definitely use higher level resources for science in particular but also history. Logic games are a huge hit around here but some of the ones you mentioned we don't have. Unfortunately, the library here is horrifying but we have invested heavily into a lovely home library. Thank goodness for used books! And I haven't heard of any of the independent resources you mentioned. So thank you! I am off to go look at all those games and independent resources.

Edited December 29, 2015 by 4Kiddos

[Jackie]

The wide scope in reading...

 

First, I find that fiction and nonfiction levels are vastly different for my kid. And if the fiction relies on humor, that's even more different. (For us, nonfiction *can* be understood on a high school level with her preference being for maybe 5th grade level, fiction is 3rd-5th grade level, and fiction with a heavy humor component more like 1st-3rd grade.)

 

Mostly, I have slowly chilled out. Because she can read something doesn't mean she needs to. It also doesn't mean she shouldn't. At this point, I just let her read anything she wants. She'll sometimes flip through piles of "baby books" and sometimes read something very complex, with the majority of what she reads a couple years ahead of her age but nothing extreme. she loves to read and that is what is most important to me.

 

Regarding the independent resources - many of the ones I listed that have subscriptions. Some of them have discounts through Homeschool Buyers Co-op if you are interested.