Gifted Bulletin Board

Welcome to the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

We invite you to share your experiences and to post information about advocacy, research and other gifted education issues on this free public discussion forum.
CLICK HERE to Log In. Click here for the Board Rules.

Links


Learn about Davidson Academy Online - for profoundly gifted students living anywhere in the U.S. & Canada.

The Davidson Institute is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students through the following programs:

  • Fellows Scholarship
  • Young Scholars
  • Davidson Academy
  • THINK Summer Institute

  • Subscribe to the Davidson Institute's eNews-Update Newsletter >

    Free Gifted Resources & Guides >

    Who's Online Now
    0 members (), 167 guests, and 10 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    parentologyco, Smartlady60, petercgeelan, eterpstra, Valib90
    11,410 Registered Users
    March
    S M T W T F S
    1 2
    3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    17 18 19 20 21 22 23
    24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    31
    Previous Thread
    Next Thread
    Print Thread
    Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5
    #92316 01/08/11 09:40 PM
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 4
    P
    Junior Member
    OP Offline
    Junior Member
    P
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 4
    Were thinking about putting our daughter in homeschooling but we don't know much about it. She gets high scores in her class but doesn't seem to make friends and is almost never excited about going to school. We were thinking about putting her in a private school to. Does anyone know whats better?

    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    A
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    The answer to that question really depends on your particular family situation. Homeschooling has been pretty successful for our family. There are tons of resources available that allow your child to accelerate and engage with material at her own pace and level in a way that is a lot more flexible than most schools would be.

    Private school didn't work so well for us, as they didn't really have the resources to give our children what they needed in terms of supports for 2e issues, acceleration for giftedness, or even providing a meaningful peer group, but your mileage could certainly vary on that.


    Joined: Oct 2009
    Posts: 186
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Oct 2009
    Posts: 186
    We are using a virtual public charter school with our kids. The local school wasn't willing to help work with us for DS for this year so we opted to go with a k12 charter and ultimately ended up pulling DD5 out of the school and using it with her. They LOVE it and are learning a ton.

    They helped us out right away and DS6 started the 3rd grade math at the beginning of the year and we've been rapidly moving through 1st grade LA and will be done next week. I chose not to have him go to 2nd for LA because I thought the literature portions would be great for him - talking about what he read or listened to is not a strong point with him so I didn't want to skip over that.

    DD will be moving up to 1st grade LA and math in a month or so I think and they are both really really enjoying history as well. Who doesn't love to learn about pharoah's, greek gods, and the trojan war? smile

    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    I don't think they have it yet, but I read somewhere they're going to make a virtual school with a suggestion cloud like amazon has after you've bought something. "now that you've learned to count you might also enjoy adding, multiplication, and fractions". I can see it now. "computer, read me the next Shakespeare sonnet."


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    A
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    ALEKS math already does the suggestion cloud, in a fashion, anyway - after you go through an initial assessment, it offers a selection of topics you have the foundations to learn next, and you choose which one you want to work on. As each new topic is mastered, it opens up more choices.


    Last edited by aculady; 01/08/11 11:08 PM.
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Awesome. Cool

    Wow.

    Wish I had that when I was in school.


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posts: 487
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posts: 487
    We are homeschooling and it works well for us! Homeschooling is always more flexible and more 'customizable' but it does have some sacrifices (primary financial) A good thing to remember is that if it doesn't work out, schools will still be there.

    Do you have any particular questions?

    Joined: Jun 2010
    Posts: 156
    G
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    G
    Joined: Jun 2010
    Posts: 156
    Deciding between homeschooling and private school involves a lot of factors. Among them...your local resources, your willingness to devote a full-time schedule to this new job, your daughter's willingness to take this type of direction and independent learning from you, other children, social outlets, curriculum choices, financial considerations, etc etc.

    In our personal case, we feel that we have to homeschool because there are no other suitable options for our son. We've tried public school, and the top private schools still can't give him the challenge he needs. We're lucky to live in a community where hs'ing is mainstream, though, and there are dozens of resources for us, along with more than 100 families we now know who are doing this along side us. We have a charter that supports us and pays for all the curriculum (that I choose). I'm also one of those moms who loves my new role, devoting every waking hour to either planning, teaching, or driving the boys to some activity with other kids/moms. Without any one of these factors, I'm not sure that it would be the success that it is for us.

    I think the first thing you might want to do is check all your local homeschool resources (charters? co-ops? homeschool meetups or support groups?). Try to map out what you would truly need to make this successful, and make sure it's all available to you. IMO, even introverted children (not to mention Moms!!) need to get out of the house with other kids at least 1ce-2ce/week, so make sure you have the ability to do that.

    On the other hand, if you have a gut feeling and you're both ready to jump in, I say go for it! The great thing about either decision is that you can change your mind at any time and try the other.


    HS Mom to DYS6 and DS2
    aculady #92903 01/16/11 10:34 PM
    Joined: Jan 2011
    Posts: 7
    S
    Junior Member
    Offline
    Junior Member
    S
    Joined: Jan 2011
    Posts: 7
    Originally Posted by aculady
    ALEKS math already does the suggestion cloud, in a fashion, anyway - after you go through an initial assessment, it offers a selection of topics you have the foundations to learn next, and you choose which one you want to work on. As each new topic is mastered, it opens up more choices.

    That sounds really good...I hate overly rigid sequences. I mean, yeah, you need to know electrodynamics and complex analysis before you tackle quantum field theory, or algebra before calculus, and so in these subjects that have many prerequisites, you'll see a long chain...but for any given subject, often there are multiple paths. I think if I had homeschool from a young age (or at least middle school), then I would be academically much farther than I am now.

    Shift #92976 01/18/11 08:37 AM
    Joined: May 2007
    Posts: 982
    L
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    L
    Joined: May 2007
    Posts: 982
    Originally Posted by Shift
    That sounds really good...I hate overly rigid sequences. I mean, yeah, you need to know electrodynamics and complex analysis before you tackle quantum field theory, or algebra before calculus, and so in these subjects that have many prerequisites, you'll see a long chain...but for any given subject, often there are multiple paths. I think if I had homeschool from a young age (or at least middle school), then I would be academically much farther than I am now.

    I am homeschooling my son who is 12. He went to kindergarten at age 5 and was reading at a 5th grade level. He could read his lines from Alice in Wonderland in his musical theater class at age 4. He had been reading since he was 2 1/2. At school all they cared about was that he didn't color in the lines very well. We were told to homeschool. Multiple paths are not tolerated in our public school. There is one path, involving lots of coloring in the lines.

    I think he could be really good in math but he learns math differently than most. When he was tested the month he turned 7 he was working at a 4th grade level. He had learned what he knew from playing games that he found online, but he has motor dysgraphia so he refused to use a pencil and paper during the testing and only used mental math to get the answers.

    I tried to make him do things the way our math books showed it done but he said it was easier when he used his own methods and showing his work was hard because of the mild writing disability that makes his hands tire faster than most people's. I have had to figure this out on my own, with a little help from my friends on message boards, but nobody has a child exactly like mine. Sometimes I think those early years of insisting that my son do math the way the school would require made him hate math and I am trying to undo the damage.

    When my son and I race each other to get the answer on his online math, my son is twice as fast as I am, but only if allowed to do it his way, which is by doing as doing as much mental math as possible and only writing what is absolutely required for him to get the correct answer. I am limited to the way I was taught, which until I had this child, was what I thought the only way of doing things. I have to write everything out to get the answers.

    But there is another problem much harder to deal with than the mild motor dysgraphia. It is his migraine headaches which he gets an average of 4 or 5 days a week when there are a lot of weather changes. I have trouble doing math as quickly and accurately when I have a migraine and so does he but when he was tested by a neuropsychologist she said she didn't think his headache could affect the results of his tests.

    Joined: Jun 2010
    Posts: 156
    G
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    G
    Joined: Jun 2010
    Posts: 156
    Hi Lori,

    My DS6 was very simliar to yours in K. He's now 6 and at about a 4th grade level, including in EPGY math. We had similar math issues starting up. DS wants to do it all in his head and skip the usual process, and he's resistant to learning the "slow" way. Many gifted educators have told me that this is extremely common in these children because they see it differently than most kids do. (For younger ones, I've also been told that PG kids tend to hate manipulatives, b/c they see it in their mind vs in their hands, like most little kids need).

    There seem to be some good PG math programs out there for the upper grades. I'm hoping a parent of older ones will step in here to help, since we're not there yet. We like EPGY, but I see a lot of rave reviews about The Art of Problem Solving classes, and I think there's another one that incorporates music. (Anyone?) With EPGY, my DS likes it because he doesn't have to write out the problems, so he can figure them out in his head however he wants. It also keeps from spiraling, which is very burdensome for these kids in the regular math curriculums.

    I'm so sorry about his migraines. I am certainly not medically-trained, but I find the neuropsychologist's findings odd. When I get a migraine, I can barely make a pot of coffee, much less answer a math problem. I very much hope something can be done to alleviate that for him.


    HS Mom to DYS6 and DS2
    Lori H. #92988 01/18/11 09:33 AM
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    A
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    Lori,

    You can tell that that neuropsych has never had a migraine. Migraines can absolutely impair cognitive functioning.

    http://www.diseaseamonth.com/article/S0011-5029%2807%2900027-2/abstract

    Last edited by aculady; 01/18/11 09:36 AM.
    Joined: Mar 2007
    Posts: 3
    M
    Junior Member
    Offline
    Junior Member
    M
    Joined: Mar 2007
    Posts: 3
    Originally Posted by gratefulmom
    Hi Lori,

    There seem to be some good PG math programs out there for the upper grades. I'm hoping a parent of older ones will step in here to help, since we're not there yet. We like EPGY, but I see a lot of rave reviews about The Art of Problem Solving classes,
    We have used Art of Problem Solving classes for the Intro levels. We are currently working through some texts from them on our own, but will probably return for higher level Number Theory and perhaps Calculus. My dd loves the books and the classes. However, the classes can be fairly time consuming and intense.

    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 1
    M
    New Member
    Offline
    New Member
    M
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 1
    Where did you find these classes? did you just google it?

    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    We are not homeschooling, but I am going to get our daughter through high school and receive an education. Our schools here are not very good, but she loves their music program. We have a (fairly bad) community college. I work at it so I know which classes for her to take.

    One huge problem in Colorado(and probably elsewhere) is the lack of British Lit courses. Where do homeschoolers take this course?

    Ellipses #95662 02/27/11 12:01 PM
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    A
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 1,040
    Originally Posted by Ellipses
    One huge problem in Colorado(and probably elsewhere) is the lack of British Lit courses. Where do homeschoolers take this course?

    At home. wink

    Here are some resources if you are interested in creating an AP Brit Lit course at home for your child:

    http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listaplitma.html

    http://www.collegeboard.com/html/apcourseaudit/courses/english_lit.html

    http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/english_lit/samp.html?englit

    Or you could just enroll your student in FLVS's online AP English Literature and Composition course.

    http://www.flvs.net/areas/flvscourses/Pages/APCourses.aspx

    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    I am really looking for British Lit. She will be going to Britain in the summer.

    mudgrlmom #95702 02/28/11 09:10 AM
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 86
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 86
    Originally Posted by mudgrlmom
    Where did you find these classes? did you just google it?


    You can find the information from their website:
    http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php?


    Ellipses #95731 02/28/11 12:13 PM
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Originally Posted by Ellipses
    I am really looking for British Lit. She will be going to Britain in the summer.

    Have you checked with The Open University for coursework in literature? That might be a good place to start.


    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Originally Posted by mudgrlmom
    Where did you find these classes? did you just google it?
    Originally Posted by Lori H.
    I am limited to the way I was taught, which until I had this child, was what I thought the only way of doing things. I have to write everything out to get the answers.
    Lol, kids will do that to you. smile husbands too smile smile

    So, what would you want out of homeschooling anyway? (not you Lori, yours is born of necessity and a mother's love). Would you be wanting a better education? Are you currently afterschooling at all?
    Would you be wanting more free unstructured time and less repitition? You could teach to the test like the schools do and work only in the mornings and do two years cirriculum per year and have earned that extra half a day free time every day.

    Howler Karma, you mentioned elsewhere the distinction between gifted who specialize well vs those who generalize well; I wanted to ask you, having been there, for one who naturally should end up specializing eventually would you recommend guiding them twords resources and mentors throughout their childhood or do you think it's better if they are left alone to find their own?

    The well trained mind forum is the big one for homeschooling cirriculums. I also like to browse the reviews from amazon for Cirriculum books/softwares that look interesting. You could always google around and post a link here asking about curriculums you might like. Do you want the cheapest way to go? Do you want the richest content? Do you want it very tailored, or is the public school stuff fine as long as you can go at your own pace? I'm a window shop-a-holic for curriculum right now. I don't even think I'll end up homeschooling so the kids can be fully ingrained by their culture here. But I'll still teach them stuff. :P


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Thanks for the Open University tip. They do offer Shakespeare, but not a real British Lit course.

    Ellipses #95909 03/02/11 12:42 PM
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    IME, "British Literature" doesn't really exist as a discipline in Britain. That's way too broad. (Does "American Literature" exist in the US? Maybe, given that the literature of the US is so young.)

    If you can say a bit more about what you're looking for and with what aims, I may be able to help.


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Ellipses. Darn.

    I suppose one could do a British Poetry course relatively easily on one's own.

    Let me cogitate on it further, as this was my dad's real passion and he, er... inculcated me reasonably well in spite of myself. I know that somewhere I have this massive TOME that he passed down to me which is a British Literature sampler/survey of sorts.

    _______________________
    Quote
    Howler Karma, you mentioned elsewhere the distinction between gifted who specialize well vs those who generalize well; I wanted to ask you, having been there, for one who naturally should end up specializing eventually would you recommend guiding them twords resources and mentors throughout their childhood or do you think it's better if they are left alone to find their own?

    Hmmm. Well, it's certainly an interesting question. I tend to think (personally) that the specializers are more-or-less born with a particular destiny that they then merely need to find in order to ignite a life-long passion for it. Like a greyhound is born to run, these people seem born to a particular passion, too. Physicians and artists are familiar examples of this-- where the exposure to the subject of specialization is really the only 'push' that they need. It's like they discover the great love of their lives.

    That's not to say that 'specialists' like that are necessarily one-dimensional. I know a fair number of them, and they tend (at least the HG+ ones among them) to be people that have surprising and oddly unrelated areas of passionate expertise: a cardiologist who builds his own vacation home and paints in oils... a physicist that writes poetry and is a licensed pilot, a tort-attorney that is a respected regional expert at viticulture; that sort of thing.

    Honestly, I think it probably depends on personality alone. For some kids, any attempt to 'steer' their destiny is going to backfire, and for others, they WANT to be led. For some people, investigation and exploration seems to be a solitary pursuit, and a mentor relationship isn't really helpful.

    My own strategy is to let my DD try a lot of things, and see what catches on the sticky spots. laugh Where she seems likely to develop a passionate interest, I'm willing to offer additional enrichment... but I'm being guided by her interests.

    What I don't agree with is allowing self-guided specialization too early (as pure unschooling can with those who have a specialization destiny)-- because we aren't the same people at ten as we will be at thirty, and learning how to approach a subject is an important thing. Therefore, I tend to think that the basic notion of kids learning a broad survey of subjects/disciplines as students is a good thing-- regardless of whether they'll be 'specialists' one day. Everyone needs to have some exposure to the thought process of historians as well as linguists, artists, poets, and architects. Even physicists should know a little something about sociology, economics and psychology. This allows you to live a more contented and fulfilled life as an adult, because all that exposure gives you a chance to find your own sticky-spots and adapt to new ones throughout your life.

    It also enriches you within your specialty, though that is something that most of us don't truly realize until we are into middle age. I'm a MUCH better scientist for my life-long interests in history, though that isn't always an obvious source of insights.


    Generalists, of course, learn that way to begin with, and seem to need a vast canvas of information and exposure to make sense of it all. If generalists are developing knowledge like a lake deepened over time by melting snow and rain, specialists seem to do better with a model that looks like a snow-melt fed river, with tributaries pouring into it from several directions, though it is definitely headed in one direction. Don't know if that analogy actually works, but it made sense in my head.





    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    ColinsMum #95913 03/02/11 12:52 PM
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Originally Posted by ColinsMum
    IME, "British Literature" doesn't really exist as a discipline in Britain. That's way too broad. (Does "American Literature" exist in the US? Maybe, given that the literature of the US is so young.)

    If you can say a bit more about what you're looking for and with what aims, I may be able to help.

    That's a great point-- at the high school level, there are survey courses, though it is often broken out by genre or period.
    "Early American Literature: Prose" for example, might include selections from authors through about 1820, and then additional coursework for poetry/dramatic works.



    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Yes, we have American Lit here. British lit has all but been banished here.

    I did not find the course that I was looking for - except at Ashworth. I am unsure of the school, but love the course.

    Ellipses #95916 03/02/11 01:21 PM
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    But what is it you want?


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Yes; what are the essential features that you were expecting to find in a good course?

    Broad time-coverage? Broad genre coverage? Deeper coverage of lesser-known authors? More thorough coverage of the best-known authors? Inclusion of complete works, or a greater number of 'excerpted' or shorter ones? (That matters, as novels are seldom going to offer the breadth of coverage in a survey course covering 500 years of literary tradition, but on the other hand, excerpting and short stories are not going to offer the in-depth look at the writing tradition, either...)







    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    I love the way you talk. It sounds so crisp and clear.
    So, either way, just watch your kids closely and give them the whole world to consume and digest. I guess the lake and river analogy means generalists will take in the local environment while savants or specialists will draw what they need to them.
    Ellipses, let me go google-fishing see if I can't find some Brittish lit curriculum. What age?- ish.


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Here's one:
    http://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/KeyStage3/KeyStage3English.html
    That's got a list of a few books they're reading.
    Be back. Shopping is my savant knack.

    actually, here. This is where I got that, cause that girl got more suggestions-
    http://malaysia.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100103020832AAYjP9n

    Last edited by La Texican; 03/02/11 02:35 PM.

    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Well shell. This just calls brittish lit stuff like Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, H. G. Wells, Animal Farm, and Oscar Williams poetry book. That can't be right, is it? I think my link in the last post was for brittish children and my link in this post is for American children studying brittish lit.
    http://www.lamppostpublishing.com/learning-language-arts-gold-british.htm

    Let me know how much of a curriculum do you want (like, am I looking for their Michael clay Thomas or their houghton mifflin? And what grade? Brittish grade. Hey, maybe there's a blog.


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Here's one of their textbook vendors:
    http://goodschoolsguide.galorepark.co.uk/textbooks.html

    K. I'm done. Gotta go cook supper. Cheerio


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    La Texican #95941 03/02/11 05:20 PM
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Originally Posted by La Texican
    I love the way you talk. It sounds so crisp and clear.
    So, either way, just watch your kids closely and give them the whole world to consume and digest. I guess the lake and river analogy means generalists will take in the local environment while savants or specialists will draw what they need to them.Ellipses, let me go google-fishing see if I can't find some Brittish lit curriculum. What age?- ish.

    Aww-- thank you...

    Yes, though I'd probably say it's more akin to channeling everything through a particular route/subject/filter. The rain water still covers the same watershed as for the lake-- it's just directed in a much more obviously focused manner. The specialist kids tend to be the obsessive immersion learners, or those for whom 'all roads lead to ______' (interest du jour).

    The generalists tend to see everything as interesting, but little as truly fascinating or obsession-inducing.

    My hypothesis is that the former develop greater "surge" capacity and can handle much greater information loads and cognitive demand. Like a higher wattage rating. It isn't that the generalists can't learn pretty much the same stuff-- just that they learn it differently and in the case of complex material, slow and steady seems to work better for them than drinking from the firehose. I think this leads to some limits at VERY high levels in specialized disciplines-- that is, I strongly suspect that there are topics in math, chemistry, and physics that are akin to that carnival game where you have to ring the bell-- repeated taps aren't enough... you have to hit it with a sufficiently high force or the threshold isn't overcome. In my way of thinking, that may be where the generalists hit a cognitive ceiling and the specializers do not.

    But that's my hypothesis, and it's not backed by anything other than my own peculiar observations, so far as I know. wink



    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2010
    Posts: 1,777
    Nice. As rare as that must be this would be impossible to find- do you suppose there are those among them there who can perform globally at that level? And is that high level you speak of theoretical ruminating or is there a job producing something that very few people in the end can be trained to do? I'm just being nosy, one of the reasons I love the net.


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 23
    Junior Member
    Offline
    Junior Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 23
    There are free online courses offered by many great universities. They offer the courses and the lectures, non-credit bearing, but with all the lesson plans, syllabus, materials etc. It may be helpful to you for Literature and other subjects. Here's a couple of sites:

    http://education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses.html

    For Berkeley, the entire lectures are recorded for literature:

    http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/1_Top_10_Universities_With_Free_Courses_Online.php

    hope this helps!



    Wisdom begins with wonder. – Socrates
    La Texican #95970 03/02/11 10:50 PM
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Originally Posted by La Texican
    Nice. As rare as that must be this would be impossible to find- do you suppose there are those among them there who can perform globally at that level? And is that high level you speak of theoretical ruminating or is there a job producing something that very few people in the end can be trained to do? I'm just being nosy, one of the reasons I love the net.

    Oh, I don't know. I've probably known a LOT of PG people in my life due to exposure to physicists and mathematicians and such. I've known a few of them that can have multiple areas of specialty-- but that does seem to be what it is. I don't think that it lends itself to "global" learning, because it's sort of the other style at that point.

    I also think those are two extremes and there is a lot of middle territory. I'm definitely a hybrid person. There are areas where I'm truly obsessively interested, and I tend to go on 'jags' where I learn everything there is to know about ______, but I'm also someone who is just plain interested in everything from politics to enology to animal husbandry to ancient stonemasonry...

    _____________________________

    Wow-- great links, mycupoftea! Thank you very much. smile


    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    The Ph.D's that I know have a specialty, but also have knowledge in most areas. You would never want to play a trivia game against them.

    They just store and access knowledge very well - almost a database.

    Ellipses #95993 03/03/11 09:49 AM
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    Originally Posted by Ellipses
    The Ph.D's that I know have a specialty, but also have knowledge in most areas. You would never want to play a trivia game against them.

    They just store and access knowledge very well - almost a database.
    Just saying, I have a PhD and nobody should fear playing a trivia game against me. I take inspiration from that bit in Sherlock Holmes where he castigates Watson for giving him the irrelevant piece of knowledge that the earth goes round the sun, and explains that he's now going to do his best to forget it.


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Oct 2008
    Posts: 1,167
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Oct 2008
    Posts: 1,167
    My DS learns in sort of a generalized specialist manner. Something catches his interest, and we are on total immersion until the well is full. Then he'll just as suddenly walk away and never go back. There hasn't been anything that has stuck to this point.

    I have considered that eventually one of these "sticky spots" will stay, but I wonder. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what he chooses.


    Shari
    Mom to DS 10, DS 11, DS 13
    Ability doesn't make us, Choices do!
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Yes, so far my DD11 is that way, as well, Shari.

    LOL.... I'm one of those PhD's that you never want to play trivia games with. My family (seriously) even refuses to play with me anymore. blush



    Mostly my database is miles and miles wide... but only a few inches deep in most places. I can seem like a globally 'smart' person, but I'm not. I know a little bit about a lot of things, but there are only a few areas where I know more than a "little bit." I'm just sort of curious about everything.

    DH and DD aren't as much like that as I am.


    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Ellipses #96405 03/08/11 11:17 AM
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 5,181
    Originally Posted by Ellipses
    Thanks for the Open University tip. They do offer Shakespeare, but not a real British Lit course.

    I think that I ran across something today that might be useful to you!

    The Great Courses has a few literature courses which offer exclusively British/English content. As I mentioned, they tend to break things out further, but the coverage looks good other than that, and you might be able to put together two or three of these to make up an entire indenpendent study course with the scope that you're seeking.



    This one is pretty lengthy and thorough:
    Classics of British Literature

    These seem to be a little more in-depth coverage but with a narrower focus:

    Lives and Works of the English Romantic Poets-- that one is only available as an audio download.

    The English Novel

    (Bonus-- that last one is on SALE right now... which I highly recomment with TGC/TTC by the way, as their materials are frightfully expensive when they are regular price, and they go on sale in rotating fashion throughout the year... I can also PM you the code for 99 cent shipping if you like.)



    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Feb 2009
    Posts: 407
    Thanks so much - this is great!

    Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5

    Moderated by  M-Moderator 

    Link Copied to Clipboard
    Recent Posts
    Testing with accommodations
    by aeh - 03/27/24 01:58 PM
    Quotations that resonate with gifted people
    by indigo - 03/27/24 12:38 PM
    For those interested in astronomy, eclipses...
    by indigo - 03/23/24 06:11 PM
    California Tries to Close the Gap in Math
    by thx1138 - 03/22/24 03:43 AM
    Gifted kids in Illinois. Recommendations?
    by indigo - 03/20/24 05:41 AM
    Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5