Favorite Curriculums for Accelerated Learners

[imagine.more]

Okay, I've apparently missed out on a lot of the curriculum options for advanced learners. I've spent the past couple years researching dyslexia for my daughter and now that I've been hit in the face with just *how* accelerated my son is I'm trying to plan more conscientiously for him this coming year. 

 

I just discovered MCT Island Grammar and Vocabulary and that whole program. So neat, I bet my son would love that! And I just found out about the Art of Problem Solving and their Beast Academy this past year....another great option to know about. But I have 5 kids.....therefore no time to browse a bazillion past threads about every subject. Hence my 'cheater' request for a list of any curriculums you know of right here :)

 

So, what are your favorite curriculums for advanced learners? Or even just your favorite books/resources too?

[Jackie]

Honestly? A library card. I just can't seem to find anything for content subjects that can fit the combination of advanced academics and average fine motor skills, and DD complains that science and history resources don't give enough information until she's devoured a stack of books.

 

But to what you've learned of, I'll add the Ellen McHenry science units. The Elements was fantastic and we're halfway through Botany in 8 Lessons, which I'm finding dry but DD loves.

 

Horrible Histories books are another big hit here.

[desertflower]

My ds loves BA and MCT LA. I'll also say that he loves books from the critical company (mindbenders, balance math and more, math detective, smarty pants, dr. Doriddle) and prufrock company (primary logic and logic liftoff).

 

Hth

[cottonmama]

BFSU Science

 

As a supplement, we're finding Instant Challenges to be a lot of fun.  

 

MindWare Perplexors

 

The Ambleside Online booklist is a great resource for challenging and well-written books, whether you want to follow their program or not.

 

I've had such a hard time finding any curricula that I'm satisfied with for history in the elementary years.  Almost everything relies on narration or comprehension questions, but I want to engage my kids at a higher level, spend our time in the top levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.   So I'm writing my own challenging questions to go with An Island Story.  (PM me if you're interested, because I'm thinking of publishing it and would love someone else to try it out and give me feedback.)

Edited April 13, 2016 by cottonmama

[cottonmama]

I think anything with humor and creativity as elements can work well for gifted kids.  Horrible Histories, Mad Libs, Rory's Story Cubes, Caught Ya: Grammar with a Giggle (haven't started this one yet).

 

The Project-Based Learning approach could work well for many gifted kids.

Edited April 13, 2016 by cottonmama

[cottonmama]

I also like the look of Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus, but haven't used it yet.

[desertflower]

I also like the look of Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus, but haven't used it yet.

 

I've used this book.  I like it.  :)

[MotherOfBoys]

I like Beast but also Math Mammoth for the days he doesn't want to think. It's very cheap in the digital version and I'm trying to teach work ethics regardless of acceleration.

 

I like Mind Benders as well. Sometimes his logic on his own is so off it makes me want to :banghead: .​ He's a discuss aloud child so everyone has to hear these conclusions that didn't make sense to topics kids are not usually thinking about.

 

Magic School Bus DVD collection was good for the 3-5 age and Popular Mechanics for Kids on PBS from 5-7.

 

A library card for sure!

 

Snap Circuits and Knex for Physics and McHenry's The Elements for Chemistry. (Love the songs and websites it includes)

 

An all in one spelling program like Spelling Plus k-6. Basically any all in one program, lol. It's cheap and after going the expensive Saxon phonics and math route we learned quick.

 

I'll have to look into the MCT LA again, we currently use ELTL and WWE but it isn't the best fit. I read some past threads on MCT and it seemed a mixed bag so I quit.

[eternalsummer]

BFSU Science

 

As a supplement, we're finding Instant Challenges to be a lot of fun.  

 

MindWare Perplexors

 

The Ambleside Online booklist is a great resource for challenging and well-written books, whether you want to follow their program or not.

 

I've had such a hard time finding any curricula that I'm satisfied with for history in the elementary years.  Almost everything relies on narration or comprehension questions, but I want to engage my kids at a higher level, spend our time in the top levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.   So I'm writing my own challenging questions to go with An Island Story.  (PM me if you're interested, because I'm thinking of publishing it and would love someone else to try it out and give me feedback.)

 

an island story or our island story?  If it is our island story I'd totally buy it; DS and I are loving that book (we realize it's not 100% accurate historically but tbh that's part of the fun)

[eternalsummer]

we also like BFSU Science (not open and go, though) and TOPScience kits, and Horrible Histories

 

Personally I think Bravewriter is pretty good for advanced kiddos as it is quite user-adjustable and not slow and prescriptive like the WWE series

[cottonmama]

an island story or our island story?  If it is our island story I'd totally buy it; DS and I are loving that book (we realize it's not 100% accurate historically but tbh that's part of the fun)

 

They are two names for the same book.  :)

Edited April 13, 2016 by cottonmama

[eternalsummer]

Hah, cool!  

[SanDiegoMom]

Our favorites: Ellen McHenry, BA, Aops, Bravewriter, Oxford U. Press for history, and we are doing BFSU for science next year (which will be lots of prep -- not necessarily materials- its all done through discussion and discovery which means more parental involvement. But I'm still excited about it -- I think the my kids will really learn a lot more through this method).  

They learn the most through just books, documentaries, and we have just started some of the easier teaching company courses (Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt -- they love it).  

 

They also enjoy creative writing (we do WWS twice a week and creative writing twice a week).  So we use Unjournaling, Rip the Page, or even just a squiggle drawing where I draw a little squiggle and they complete the drawing a write a story about it. 

 

They enjoy MCT materials.

 

They are each taking an online class through GHF this year.  My dd's is mostly just enrichment without a lot of required output, but my ds's requires weekly computer science hw and is definitely challenging.  He enjoys it tremendously. 

 

They love Joy Hakim's books -- the U.S. history ones and the Story of Science trilogy.  They are wonderfully written. 

 

We tried MBTP, but I found myself cutting out so much of it, it wasn't worth it.  Too many worksheets.  We've done RSO twice but the kids aren't huge fans. We've done Bio 2 this year and It's been great to serve as a spine, but we get more out of the supplementary videos and library books I pull to support it. 

 

We use Crash Course Videos a lot. They love his sense of humor.  There's a little bit of humor that might be questionable for younger kids, but it's not a lot.  

 

So yeah, just a hodge podge of stuff and a lot of impromptu skits, projects, build a board game, etc. 

[Dmmetler]

My DD loves SD Accelerate. She was part of the beta, and then I set up a local group buy for it to share a lifetime 10 student subscription (which took the cost down to being reasonable for each person). She's finished all the classes they have available.

 

Prodigy Math-I wish this had been available earlier. For now, it's a fun, free review.

 

On the curriculum side, Galore Park seems to generally be a good fit.

 

Great Courses, especially if you can get them from the local library.

 

 

 

[gmc24657]

My 5 children are now all officially graduated last Fall. We home schooled the first all the way through high school and the next 4 attended either part time or full time at the Stanford Online High School. I highly recommend it and they also offer single course enrollment, which is helpful if your student needs advanced coursework in a particular area. We needed advanced math and science for our son who first attended there as he wanted to go to eventually go to medical school (which he did).

 

If anyone has questions regarding the "OHS" as it is referred to, I am happy to give details. Check out their website: http://ohs.stanford.edu/

[ondreeuh]

For now, my 3rd grade son is using typical textbooks a couple grades ahead. I like this method as it builds a strong foundation without holes. Often what I see recommended for accelerated kids are creative, supplemental type things, but I would rather adapt a comprehensive program by cutting out unnecessary review, combining lessons, using extensions, etc. I really like Math in Focus (5); it fits my kid much better than Beast Academy. We like Science: A Closer Look (5), The World and Its People geography (middle-school), and Growing with Grammar (5). Moving Beyond the Page is what we use for lit, but while they say they are designed for gifted kids, I really don't think they are. The content is OK but the writing is high, which seems backwards from what most gifted kids need. He is using 8-10 which is not a challenge intellectually, but a challenge for output.

 

He loves watching Nova episodes on PBS streaming, and Crash Course videos on YouTube. He listens to a ton of audiobooks - biographies, fiction, history, composer studies, etc. He would rather listen while playing with Lego than sit still and read with his eyes. I really like the "A Little History of ...[science, Philosophy, Religion, the World]" series. He reads National Geographic History magazine and often reads the newspaper. He plays Civilization on the computer, and is always saying, "Oh yeah, I learned that in Civ!" LOL.

 

I considered and rejected MCT LA because of the cost and structure. I am happy with GWG as far as teaching how words function in sentences. And I know my son and I - we are much more successful at getting school done if what we use is broken into sequential lessons for us. Anything I have to self-pace or flip between books ends up getting set aside.

 

Next year (4th) I plan to use a few Ellen McHenry science units. I am nervous about it, because I can't tell how open & go it will be really (even though I own the programs already). We will take a break from grammar and dive into a language - either French, Spanish, or Latin. We will use MBTP 9-11 for lit/composition and grammar review. We'll read through the History of US condensed books (all 4). For math we will do MIF Course 1 (grade 6) with Math Minutes 6.

[Tumbatoo]

We are currently using and enjoying MCT LA (all my kids love it) and Beast Academy math. I also really like Singapore math leading up to and alongside BA. We use Prodigy occasionally as well. We're using Sonlight for my youngers for history and lit. It keeps us in books and also from going too fast.

 

We tried Life of Fred, and while I liked the idea, it just wasn't enough and one hated the stories. I also tried and was not impressed with MBTP. My 5 yr old was doing 6-8, and the content still seemed easy and not very deep, but had lots of busy work.

[EndOfOrdinary]

One thing to keep in mind is that many gifted kids grow in bursts. Dh exploded at around 3-4 until about 6. Then he calmed down and we could use a standard curriculum. Around 9 he took off again. We have hit a groove at 12, but I know it will not last more than maybe a year or two. Then he will be off again.

 

So your son might be just frantic at one point, eating up anything you can give him (workbooky stuff often helps here to tread water, Khan Academy helped, Easy Grammar, Great Courses, Audible) and then settle into a curriculum mode where you can round up new long range resources.

 

We used:

LOTS of classical literature, initially children's versions but very quickly the full adult versions of Shakespeare, famous epics, religious texts, short stories, & poetry.

 

Memorizing lots of lists: bones of the body, periodic table, basic physics formulas, quadratic formula, primes up to 500, squares up to 500 (as the answer), sight words in Spanish & Latin, counting to 30 in Spanish & Latin, Books of the Bible in order, Classical Conversations Timeline song, states and capitals, famous poetry selections, circle of fifths, chord inversions, countries of each continent, whatever he could possibly find.

 

Getting Started with Latin (and Spanish, and French), Great Courses Plus, VP History & Bible Cards, Mapping the World with Art, Stack the States & Countries, Roadtrip USA, Presidents vs. Aliens, In the Beginning (and basically anything by Joseph Campbell), Roman Roads

Edited February 10, 2017 by EndOfOrdinary