He's way ahead.... (Full Version)

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3cappuccinosmom -> He's way ahead.... (7/20/2008 11:45:55 PM)

...but we already have the curriculum. I figured this would happen but the program directors discouraged testing out of kindergarten.

My son has just started to read, and the curriculum starts with learning the alphabet. [>:] That's about the level my 3 yo is working on. [&:] My son has been adding two digit numbers for a while and the curriculum starts with shape recognition and classifying objects ("Which is bigger? smaller? Shorter? longer?") [8|] Having looked through the curriculum it's only about the last quarter of it that will challenge him at all. [&:]

First grade work in some areas would be a huge challenge for him, but he'd get the hang of it. But rather than push it, should I just treat this like a review and let him blow through 20 pages a day in the workbooks (that took him all of 30 minutes the other night, he was on a roll!)? If he has mastered something should I even bother with teaching the whole lesson? It seems like such a waste of time and a great way to bore him out of his mind. [&:]

I could fill in and send the first three or four progress reports (it's Calvert) today, as he has already mastered everything they ask. We really worked hard with him over the last year, thinking he was going to need all the prep he could get for the academic level kindergarten requires. We hear all the time about children needing "school" younger and younger in order to "keep up". [8|] It's one of the main reasons people have issues with our children being at home full-time, even as toddlers. Seems I was wrong about where the bar is set??



cindybode -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 1:07:10 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: 3cappuccinosmom

If he has mastered something should I even bother with teaching the whole lesson? It seems like such a waste of time and a great way to bore him out of his mind. [&:]


I think you've answered your own question here.

That would be a collossal waste of time, and a sure fired method of making your little guy hate school. I am not a fan of boxed curriculums anyway, but if you're gonna use it, at least put him in a level that will allow him to actually learn something. This is why I'm even less a fan of things like Calvert - I'm sure they work for many people, but the "program directors" don't know your child, and if they're unwilling to let you customize the program to fit him, then IMHO you'd be better off doing your own thing.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 1:10:07 AM)

I would not make him do make-work, because I would be concerned that this would discourage true learning...which I see he has already mastered, lol.

Will they give you the next year's program? You are doing this through a public school program, right? Have you talked with your assigned teacher?

As I see it, you have two choices. Beg for the following curriculum, or take what you CAN use from this program and add on other things. I don't know how it works there. Here people who use these programs have a certain dollar amount to spend. So if you have leftover funds, I would add some more interesting and challenging materials.



BlessedMamaofmany -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 7:34:53 AM)

That sucks Maggie. What a drag.
I would highly discourage doing that as review...unless you add a lot to it to keep it interesting.
As a kid who learned easily and got bored quickly...that's a recipe for disaster if not challenged enough.
Even though the program directors "discourage" testing out of K, will they allow you too? If you can get him past K, and into the first grade stuff, I think he'll be very happy, and won't bore.
If not, I would second Jenny's suggestion. Supplement the 'review' stuff with your own work. If you don't want to spend money on extra work, you can always find tons of free things online...
Sandy



Sideways -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 8:45:09 AM)

Well, did he seem to be having fun with the review work or was he bored? If he doesn't mind it, then it won't hurt him, but do watch out for boredom.

I second Jenny's suggestion to talk to assigned teacher. Let them know where your son is, and see what they say about getting next year's curriculum. Your boy can't be the first kid to finish a year early. And if they don't have some way of getting him next year's work early, then you might need to look elsewhere for his curriculum.

But don't get ahead of yourself. Show the program people what he already knows and talk to them about getting him some more challenging materials. In the meantimes, sounds like your younger boy has a great head start on learning materials to work with. [;)]



sen10tious -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 9:28:13 AM)

Some of this you will just have to take in stride and realize that it is part of the package for choosing this type of educational option. If it were not Calvert, it would be whatever overseer you signed up with.

As long as his attitude is good, I'd let him "blow through" But With The Addition Of letting the program directors know exactly what kind of 'blow' conditions you are experiencing and Make A Specific Request that they reevaluate his placement. Keep telling them what parts are too easy until you and the directors find the spot of equilibrium.



cynthia -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 11:25:53 AM)

Maggie, This seems to be the "proof" that you have been doing fine in homeschooling and do not need to go through the system. Have you shown this to your husband and explained to him how this is not going to help your son to go through a program that will bore him? If your husband looks at the materials thoroughly and you two work through this, he may be ready to take it on a year by year basis. This seems like worse than a waste of time. It looks like it would create educational problems for your son.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 12:36:44 PM)

Thanks all. He didn't have a problem doing the worksheets. "Mom, this is baby stuff!" [8D] I am going to push for the next level up, I think. [&:]

Definately, though, the upside of this is dh seeing that independent hs'ing isn't so bad. We'll have to talk through this some more.



Sideways -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 12:42:32 PM)

Well, there you go, Maggie. Definitely a bright side. [:)] You and your husband see how he's doing compared to "standard" Kindergarteners. You'll both feel good about that. Go gently, though, when you talk to your hubby about independent HSing. Definitely talk about it, but proceed with gentleness.

Let us know how Calvert responds to your request for tougher materials. I'm 100% your kid isn't the first one to finish a grade faster then normal.



cynthia -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 1:00:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sideways

You and your husband see how he's doing compared to "standard" Kindergarteners.

This is true, but you are also seeing that the personal approach has been working well for him. You are teaching him simply and gently, at his pace and it has been working very well. He's not pressured or stressed. He is happily learning and growing.

I wrote a post for this thread, but think it's probably off topic, so I posted it here. It is about how we felt when beginning homeschooling and how it's worked out. This thread got me to thinking about it and how I felt when we first started homeschooling.



VisitorinWaiting -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 4:31:28 PM)

I have yet to get the Kindergarten curriculum for our son. We have to do that soon though. I, like you, have been concerned that he will know what he needs to know just to do the curriculum, so we have worked hard. We are using Abeka. I have heard that it is more "advanced," so I don't know how much of a comparison it would be...I haven't seen it yet. Anyway, the thought has crossed my mind..."What if we buy this and he knows everything that we've paid for?" Since we have to report to the homeschool group for him, I would let him go ahead and do the work...at his pace, whatever that turns out to be...and turn that in. If we finish early, then I would start on first grade work...stuff I could find online, or if we had the money, buying the first grade curriculum.

Thanks for your post though...glad to know that I'm not the only one feeling this way...and that you got a curriculum that seems to cover everything I've already been doing with him. :)



Jenny-Fair -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/21/2008 5:59:41 PM)

Visitor, doesn't Abeka have a placement exam available?



VisitorinWaiting -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 9:42:22 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jenny-Fair

Visitor, doesn't Abeka have a placement exam available?


Haven't seen one when browsing their site?!???



MrsTracy72 -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 9:52:30 AM)

3capps,

I am not a homeschool mom, but if you are working with the public schools, did they give you a curic. for a gifted and talented program or just the regular curic.? If they discourage kids skipping, then maybe you can get a gifted and talented program instead. We can do that here. I only know that because we have a very large homeschool population in my city.



judii1 -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 11:03:11 AM)

quote:

But rather than push it, should I just treat this like a review and let him blow through 20 pages a day in the workbooks (that took him all of 30 minutes the other night, he was on a roll!)? If he has mastered something should I even bother with teaching the whole lesson? It seems like such a waste of time and a great way to bore him out of his mind.


Do you have to go with Calvert? Since you already know where your child is in his learning ability, you should be able to design your own curriculum!!

I looked up the prices for Calvert, and you should be able to get tons of supplies for what they charge.. (Sorry for being so nosy, but Dh sent Ds to Christian school last year and after paying close to $300 a month, Ds said that the school "watered down" the curriculum and didn't even do 1 science experiment!! We just could have done a lot more at home if we had that money to spend on homeschool supplies! Ds also said that he would have liked to have covered things in greater depth than what the school did.)



Sideways -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 11:30:13 AM)

Maggie doesn't pay for Calvert, she gets it through her public school system.

And there are also the wishes of her husband to be considered in all this. At this point in time, cyber-schooling is the best compromise between Maggie and the wishes of her husband.



OneOfHisJewels -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 2:15:27 PM)

quote:

I looked up the prices for Calvert, and you should be able to get tons of supplies for what they charge..



Actually, considering that Calvert provides all the extra supplies (pencils, erasers, etc, their prices aren't all that bad). It's still WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY cheaper than any and all of the christian schools I ever attended.



cynthia -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 2:45:05 PM)

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OneOfHisJewels -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/22/2008 3:48:46 PM)

Maggie, I'm going to have a little bit of a different answer here than most. I don't think it is necessarily bad for your son to do some reviewing. It might be good for his confidence to do some things that are easy for him. Also, to some extent it is, in my hopefully humble opinion, good preparation for life. In every school year I was ever in there was always some review in the beginning, and in every job I have ever had, there has always been some tedious and boring requirements. You might also ask the teacher you are working with if he is allowed to do some of the review orally.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/23/2008 7:26:01 AM)

quote:

I am not a homeschool mom, but if you are working with the public schools, did they give you a curic. for a gifted and talented program or just the regular curic.?


Unfortunately, our program doesnt' start gifted and talented until 2nd or 3rd grade. They have another curriculum available, which was designed specifically for the school, but I wanted to go with something more traditional and time tested to start with. And less interaction with the online teachers and more interaction with me. [:)]

And yes I know that choosing cyber school limits our options. It is my only option right now, as it's the only way dh will consider homeschooling for the time being.

At the rate we're going, he'll finish in a few months anyway and they'll have to start him in first grade. [8D] I know he'll enjoy the science and art part of the curriculum, and we can practice his reading, and I've still got higher level math workbooks to keep him sharp in that subject.



shadowspring -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/23/2008 11:10:54 AM)

WARNING" ANOTHER OPINIONATED POST FROM SS[sm=icon_smile_blush.gif]

3 capps,

I have home schooled a gifted student (Slosson Intelligence Scale 164) all the way through high school and let me assure you, you do NOT need a special program with the label "Gifted and Talented"!!!!

All that Gifted and Talented programs at schools do is try to give your gifted child hands-on learning experiences and real-world learning experiences in a variety of subjects so they might find something they enjoy and can excel at. You can offer this every day of your life.

It is so simple. Buy lots of art supplies: real stuff not cheap kiddie versions if they show any interest in going in that direction. If they like to build, collect K'nex and Legos by the hundreds: look at garage sales and ask families of older kids if they are done with theirs yet. We just recently gave away tons of Bionicles to another home school family.

Go to the library weekly. Pick out picture books on a wide variety of subjects. I got them twenty at a time. Pick them at least two grade levels below where your child is now reading, to encourage fluency.
Go every week and change them out.

Do crafts projects. Ranger Rick, Children's Highlight and even women's magazines are loaded with ideas. Family Fun is a newer magazine that's great. Make a big to-do of gathering supplies, planning out your project and then creating it.

Do real world projects. Help Dad and/or Mom fix things. Plant a butterfly garden and get a filed guide to butterflies from the library and try to identify the kinds your plant has attracted. Ditto with birds. But a field guide to trees or wildflowers and go on walks to see what you can identify. Take a magnifying glass to look at insects. Buy or borrow form the library a field guide to insects. Try to find the ones you see in the book.

When teaching a gifted child, never put them in a grade ahead! They will suffer burn-out eventually. Instead, more thoroughly investigate any thing they are interested in until they are "done" with it. Did he think the study of the moon was interesting? Make a model of the moon, get books about the moon from the library (include fanciful make-believe as well as science books!), figure out how much you would weigh on the moon, talk about (and eat if you can find them!) moon cakes from China and why they give them out on Chinese New Year.

If a public school had the money and budget to assign a dedicated teacher to each gifted child, that is what they would be doing. G and T courses are the best they can offer, but they are NOT the best there is to offer!

You, Maggie dear, are the best there is to offer! Guide and direct your gifted son to fully explore the world around him, all the while teaching him to honor the amazing God who created it. Home schooling (private dedicated adult tutor who recognizes the child's gifting ) is the best education there is to offer the gifted child!

Your computer school is not the limits on your child's education, it is a sturdy and proven springboard. [:D] I used boxed curriculum myself. Just keep in mind it is the starting point and the foundation of his greater educational curriculum- the world around him. [;)]



misaham -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/23/2008 7:50:05 PM)

Wow! Great advice!! I will definitely be utilizing this with DS!



MrsDC -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/25/2008 2:39:22 PM)

Copy and paste Shadow's post here! (I love when Cindybode and Shadowspring beat me to a thread. I hardly have to write anything!!!)

The one benefit we've found to reviewing is that it is a good morale booster for the kids. It can be a real encourager to hear "Wow! You remember a lot from last year!" or "I'm surprised this is easy for you! You're smart!" Hey, it's ok to stroke the ego a little bit. It's kindergarten!!! [:D] If he starts dreading it and acting bored. Move on.

Just my 2 cents!

-- Rebecca



goodnsimple -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/28/2008 5:44:26 PM)

My girls started kinder in ps and were way ahead...and bored to tears. I specifically didn't work with my boys so they would be at grade level. LOL and really at the time I thought it was the best way to go. sigh.

It doesn't make much sense to do hs, so you can meet your sons individual needs, and then slog through a box curiculum, however, I understand the husband comprimise thing... (I have one of those too.)

Best advise so far (my opinion) is too add to the stuff he finds interesting. Make sure to point out to dh how much "extra" he is doing! And what a great experience it is to have that kind of flexability.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: He's way ahead.... (7/30/2008 2:47:29 PM)

Thank you shadowspring. I need the affirmation sometimes. We are already doing many of those things. Lots of library books, lots of extra stuff to challenge him, life-learning, etc.

I did get confirmation from the school that we can focus on just doing the "test papers" so he should be done with Kindergarten by October. [:)]



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