Posted on 10/03/2007 10:42:03 AM PDT by Blueflag
I seek the advice of FReepers on home-schooling an academically gifted 8 year-old. We've had it up to 'here' with Creekland Middle School in Gwinnett County. (Georgia)
How to get started? Best Curricula? Best web sites? Ideas? Challenges? Risks?
Just graduated my two homeschooled boys.
Best advice? Try and find a curriculum fair, and a homeschool group. Even if you have to travel out of state to visit a fair, it’s worth it. All the vendors carry all the curriculum around with them, and you can pick and choose.
If you can’t find curriculum and aren’t sure, just buy a few booklets or such to start. I’ve never known hardly anyone to finish using their first choice. Find experienced homeschoolers in your area. They will help you. Usually they have a coop or support group with helpful women.
Just not that some support groups can center in on some strange beliefs. You do have to be aware of that.
thx — I’ll check those out. She is a whiz at math, science and verabl skills. Not so much a history buff, but has a photographic memory when she’s interested. In fact her older brothers used to resolve arguments by saying “Let’s go ask J___!”
rocksolidinc looks interesting.
yes, that would be the *P*SATs. :-)
HEr older bro’s did fine at Collins Hill, as they are truly good at handling gifted students and pointing them into the right courses/teachers AND early enrollment classes etc etc. Not so worried about HS, but middle school is driving her nuts. And worse than that, she’s bored with her gifted curriculum.
Saxon and Alph-Omega sound promising. Good FReeper creds ;-)
We can check out virtually all content from UGA, GGC and GSU (all reasonably local to us) because my dad is a retired prof. (NCSU)
My daughter swims with Swim Atlanta, a large private swim club/instruction/practice in the area. She’s already “lettered” (based on times in meets) for HS times, and lacks 1.2 seconds to qualify for Sr High State times in Freestyle and Backstroke. (her biggest bro was 2-time Ga state champ in 50/100 Free.)
You might look into distance education classes too. I know that LSU offers advanced level high school and college classes through correspondence or online. The courses are well designed and with parental assistance I would think she would be more than capable of doing that level work. They offer a large variety or coursework, and they are relatively inexpensive. 3 college credits for $229, and one high school class is $88.00. My son has taken a couple of them, and I was impressed with the level of instruction. You can check out the program at http://is.lsu.edu/.
I have a degree in computer science, and I love math.
My daughters use Saxon math in their private school, and we all agree “WE HATE SAXON MATH”.
It’s too repetitive and boring. It might be good for a kid that is poor at math, but it is way too repetitive for a gifted kid.
I don’t really have a recommendation on middle school math. My son likes his math that he uses in middle school. He’s in the advanced class and is taking Geometry. I think he likes it more because he has a good teacher and he all the kids are gifted at math and motivated to learn.
My third son is in ninth grade, a year ahead of her. Here is what we are doing with him this year. FReepmail me for any discussion. I’ve hs’d a boy to UCLA, have another in “11th”, and have two girls in the elementary ages, so I have some experience.
Math - Saxon Algebra 1/2 or Saxon 87 if she’s not ready
English - (Spelling) Spelling Power
English (Grammar and Literature) Writing and Grammar 8, A Beka
Science - Exploring Creation with General Science, Apologia
World History - History Of The World In Christian Perspective (A Beka) If she is an enthusiastic reader, supplement with good biographies, or if she is tv oriented, good movies.
Foreign Language - The Learnables
Art - History of Art by How Great Thou Art
For an elective let her pursue an interest (sports, scouts, veterinary medicine, botany, home ec, wood shop, whatever)
Most if not all of these texts available at 1 800 Christian, no I’m not a rep, just giving you the info!
I liked that Saxon goes up through Physics and Calculus. My daughter thought AP Physics was easier than Saxon.
I know there’s a lot of repetition so I never made them do everything, even though you’re *supposed* to. I learned a lot from Saxon myself and found it very easy to use for someone who was weak in math to begin with.
My kids have scored very high on the SAT tests in the Math section. So, anyway, we loved it and found it useful.
Yes, you will love it. DO NOT buy a lot of curriculum. We did, we seldom used any of it. Pick up a book on this, do a project on that, read read and read. Teach her math — we like Saxon at the Algebra level, liked Straight-Forward math too. Talk to other homeschoolers. They will be your best resource.
Have fun. It is a great adventure. I HIGHLY recommend it.
I suggest contacting the local Mensa group at: http://www.georgia.us.mensa.org/ . They have a Gifted Childen Coordinator, (as we do in Memphis) who can direct you to other resources. Mensa accepts scores from over 200 standard tests of general intelligence for admission, and administers 5 of these tests in the field at frequent intervals. However, the minimum age for all of these field tests is 14, so we could not test your daughter yet.
Local libraries usually have a lot of information and home schooling group references.
Check out the website k12.com. You have a virtual charter school (online charter school) available to you in Georgia. You are very fortunate to live in a state that offers this option. The curriculum is based on the Core Knowledge sequence. (Formulated by E.D. Hirsch author of the series of books “What Your ? Grader Needs to Know”.) Your child will take a pretest to determine her placement. She’ll be placed at the appropriate level based on her pretest. A certified teacher will be assigned to you to mentor you as you teach the material.
Just check out their site. There are sample lessons which you can see. The curriculum is quite good. Have fun checking it out. In my opinion, it’s outstanding.
It’s not easy finding the states that have signed up with K12 to offer these virtual schools. On their website, k12.com, look under the tab “Schooling Programs.” Then select “Virtual Public School (K-8) Overview.” The states are listed at the bottom of that page.
I strongly suggest that you check out the Robinson curriculum! From the Oregon Institute of Science and Math,if I remember correctly! IT is CD based and a self taught program. The Professor ran his kids through the curriculum and both scored over 1500 on 1st shot at SAT’s! The cost is 295 for the Cd’s! PM me if you need more direction! tajgirvan
I homeschooled for 10.5 years and am an area admin for a private ISP for homeschoolers.
That said, go to HSLDA and follow the trail for their high school information as well as state law/requirements for home education. If your daughter *is* gifted then there’s no reason to wait to begin high school work. In a couple years check on concurrent enrollment through a community college for some classes. Allow her some freedom to pursue interests aside from academics. Give her a couple months to ‘deprogram’ from a not-so-great situation.
Blessings to you...
I, too, am homeschooling an 8th grader here in N. Georgia (North Fulton). I was going to suggest the same as homes+cool, above, that you might want to check out the new K12 Virtual School option, which is newly available this year. I have heard wonderful things about this curriculum from fellow homeschoolers! The possibly convenient part for you is that it is still within the school system.
Our family, however, has been homeschooling for eight years, and we have chosen a different path, which you may like to explore as well. Our children attend a “hybrid” school (the school has 6 campuses in the metro area, including in Sugarloaf, Alpharetta, and Cumming), where they spend one full day per week in a classroom, doing language arts and humanities. It is a very extensive and challenging, nondenominational Christian curriculum. On a second day per week, the children have the option to attend a full day of class at a facility in Alpharetta for science and math. The math is through the school they attend, and the science is done through a partner school which is a science academy, with a very extensive and challenging science program, complete with labwork (They use the same classrooms and facility).
We find this to be the best of both worlds for us. The children get the experience of being in a classroom environment with their peers, and taking tests under time constraints, as well as meeting deadlines, and doing public speaking (huge in this school!), but they retain the flexibility that homeschooling offers as far as making our own hours the rest of the week, and allowing us to travel when it suits our family. (The school just gives us the children’s assignments ahead of time). Plus, the fact that the curriculum is accredited gives me a modicum of peace when considering college applications, which will be here before we know it! (A preponderance of the school’s graduates have received Hope scholarships).
If you’d prefer to completely homeschool, A Beka is a great option, and the Sonlight curriculum might also be of interest (the parent chooses and controls the books, for the most part).
There are two resources you might want to check out before making your decision:
One is the Homeschool Hangout (very near Rte. 9 in Alpharetta), which is owned by a family which has homeschooled or is homeschooling a very large family, and thus has experience with teaching every type of learner. They are very informative and helpful, and you can see and touch and explore all of the books at your leisure (its a very welcoming place, with lots of tables and chairs to linger in. They even have snacks).
The second is a publication called “The Old Schoolhouse” magazine, which comes out quarterly (available at the Homeschool Hangout or Barnes & Noble), which has been a huge help to me over the years, as it is a compendium of knowledge garnered from other homeschooling families, resources for homeschoolers, and lesson plans included in each issue for different units of study. I have kept most of my issues over the years, as I find myself going back to them as our needs and issues change. One issue each year is devoted to reviewing the “best of” the various learning tools available, as chosen by their staff and readers, and that is, of course, priceless information when you are feeling swamped with options! (Back issues are available at the magazine’s website, so you need not wait until this year’s review issue is published to find this information!)
Please feel free to freepmail me if there is anything you’d like to ask, I am happy to help! I really believe in what we do (and what you are about to do!), and I applaud you for being such a good and concerned parent. Good job!
My sister is in Gwinnett and has homeschooled both her children during Middle School. Her sentiments were similar to yours, the Middle School was the problem, HS seems to be going fine. (P.S. Her daughter swims also with Swim Atlanta.)
You say you only need a one year curriculum. Well, that may be so, but you may find this is something that really works for your daughter.
There are so many programs available it could make your head spin. I have heard good things about Apologia (science), IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing), and Teaching Textbooks (mathematics) to name a few. For history we use the WinterPromise programs, though Sonlight is also popular.
Do not stress out over programs too much. Take it easy, and find your groove. Pulling children out of school and then replicating school at home is not always successful. Everyone I know advocates learning through literature. Check out your local library and let your daughter pick out a subject and check out everything she can to learn about it. Then have her write (and present orally to you and your spouse) a report to show what she learned.
But, before you do anything, find out what you need to do legally. Your state may have requirements for you to homeschool. Every state is different.
Here is another thought. Here in Texas, we have an option of dual enrollment in college classes. If you can do this, your daughter will get both high school and college credit for her coursework. So, check out the local community college or university and see if they will accept her.
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