Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments enrichment curriculum for reading for advanced ds8

I would appreciate any information on how to enrich ds8 with higher scores in reading/writing- Is there any online curriculum or game for this that he can do at home? Ive only seen discussions for math curriculums and would like recommendation for english .

What are you hoping to offer, exactly? Afterschooling? Homeschool curriculum? Part time enrichment?

There are an almost overwhelming number of directions to go with this sort of enrichment-- but much depends upon your child's readiness, intrinsic motivation, and interests.

We've always just encouraged our DD to read freely, and that has been more than enough. We use ALA booklists, MENSA's booklists, and our common sense about what seems worth reading. We strew books in her path, and the BookMonster eats them up and talks them over with us. We are frequent visitors to our local library and bookstores, and my Amazon expenditures over the past decade are downright obscene.

For some kids that might be sufficient.

Others might want to explore other facets of literacy, like NaNoWriMo or it's offspring (there are junior versions of them), book clubs, writing workshops, explorations of dramatic works (this has been quite helpful to my DD, as well, over the years-- nothing like reading and seeing Shakespeare to hone vocabulary and an appreciation for rhetorical mastery).

Read it, see it, discuss it-- that seems to work very well for many kids.

1) Khan Academy, well-known for math, has instruction in reading and writing. Also on YouTube.
2) Gifted Homeschoolers' Forum (GHF) offers a list of resources which may be of interest http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/resources/favorite-things/favorite-things-language-arts/

I'm not sure about online enrichment- although you might try the "Well Trained Mind" community. Most are homeschoolers and have a lot of good ideas for curriculum. In fact they have an entire thread committed to curriculum.

I have found that reading a variety of books (fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels/comics) seems to help. We've recently had good luck engaging DS in a series by listening to the first book on audio.

The key seems to be the "just right" books. Not too difficult or too easy. I've found that when DS tries to read something too difficult, he struggles to remain engaged. Too easy means he's done with the book in a few hours.

If you have a recent DRA or lexile score it can be helpful in guiding. We usually choose 5 to ten points above a recent DRA score. Keeping in mind that "gifted" at least in DS's case means he's going to quickly exceed that number. So the score is only "good" for a short period.