Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion First Post - Intro

I just found this forum and thought I would introduce myself.

I'm still trying to figure out how to change the way I'm teaching these kids of mine. We homeschool and this is the first year I've looked for something beyond just teaching at grade level, with grade level being defined as one above where the public school would place them by age.

My daughter, now 9, was a "precocious" child as a preschooler. By the time kindergarten registration came around, she was reading chapter books (Magic Treehouse) and able to do addition and subtraction with multiple digits. I knew kindergarten wasn't the place for her so I tried to convince the school to enroll her into 1st grade. When they refused, I decided to keep her home. I continued using resources that were just one grade level ahead until we received her MAP scores last year. Her RIT scores last year (age 8, 3rd grade) were above 10th grade for language usage, 9th grade for reading, and 4th/5th grade for math. So, I started to make some changes to her curriculum.

My son had a totally different beginning. At age 2 years, 4 months he was diagnosed with severe learning delays, primarily in speech/language/communication. He entered special ed preschool at age 3 where he didn't make much progress the first half year. That summer, I did an elimination diet and discovered lactose intolerance despite the gastroenternologist telling me his lactose intolerance test was negative. I dealt with the lactose intolerance and he began improving by leaps and bounds (ie. went from barely putting 2 words together to several complete sentences with three months). He graduated from preschool slightly ahead of the game academically but still needing speech therapy. He graduated from speech therapy last year. His RIT scores this year (age 7, 2nd grade) came back at 4th grade reading and 5th grade math. He's scheduled to take the secondary MAP test because we think he hit the primary test's ceiling.

So, I'm trying to figure out what to do with my kids. My daughter is lazy and unmotivated when it comes to school. I never challenged her until this year, and then only a tiny bit. She hated school before this year, and is slightly more tolerant of school this year. I realize that our early years didn't help her attitude any so I'm trying to slowly undo that damage and increase the rigor/expectations. My son has a generally good attitude about school; he doesn't care a whole lot about language arts subjects but LOVES math and taekwondo.

I also have a very active 2 year old with advanced large motor skills. He looks academically normal compared to my daughter at the same age. He knows at least half of the alphabet, single digits numbers, and most colors. His speech is starting to take off, although he has all kinds of weird ways of saying certain words (ie. hoosh=shoes).

I'm due with my 4th in July.

I'm looking forward to gleaning whatever I can from the experience of those who've already been where we are.

JoAnn

Welcome, JoAnn and congrats on #4!

What an amazing story about your figuring out your DS's lactose intolerance and his subsequent turnaround. Wow! I'm as impressed with you as I am with your children.

I'm especially in awe of my son's progress. I wonder where he'd be if he hadn't been delayed those first 3 1/2 years.

Welcome JoAnnQN,
Great to have you here. I think that age 9 and 7 are young enough that you should see wonderful growth this year and perhaps reverse some of that underachievement.

If you daughter is an audio learner, you might try some of the audio programs from 'The teaching company' or some audio books that are high school level, just to wake her up to the idea that there is a whole world out there. My son, age 12, just listened to Obama's 'Dreams of my Father' and I'm not sure how much he got out of it, but I know that he got farther with the audio, and us stopping the program for me to explain the references, than he would have reading silently.

Do you have any summer programs locally that are meant for gifted learners?

Smiles,
Grinity

Welcome to the party

Welcome aboard! Since you're already homeschooling, you should be able to institute changes fairly easily to motivate your DD. I agree with Grins that it might be a good idea to have your daughter participate in something "grown up" to kind of shake up her brain. My DD14 was apathetic about school until we started on the civil rights movement, then all of a sudden, POW!

I have no idea. I don't know how to go about finding them. How do you find things like this? I could possibly look into it for summer 2010. We simply can't afford anything this summer.

Welcome! Have you checked your state's education website? Sometimes you can find GT resource links there. Some areas have active GT homeschooling groups too, with lots of events planned (e.g., twin cities area). Check museums too - sometimes they have classes that aren't too pricey, or they offer financial aid in some cases. Here's a link to Hoagies's summer programs page: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/summer.htm

Welcome JoAnn and glad you're here!

I hope you don't mind me jumping in to pick your brain about MAP testing.
How do you do the MAP testing as a homeschooler? I was curious since MAP testing been one of my cons for homeschooling and pros for PS. It's good to know MAP is available to homeschoolers. I'm also interested in knowing more about the MAP primary test ceilings.

Here in Washington, we have a couple of virtual academies, one of which is very homeschooler friendly. While enrolled students are technically public schoolers, we basically homeschool however we wish. The only difference between using the virtual academy and homeschooling is the requirement to check in weekly and monthly to verify progress towards the learning plan that we create and submit for approval at the beginning of the year. Annual testing is required and the virtual academy uses the MAP assessment. We are free to use any test approved by the state, but the MAP test is easiest because I just download it and log in on the day I scheduled with the school. The school's proctor then remotely connects to my computer to start the test and download the results.

So, while we are technically not homeschoolers, I refuse to give up that title since I'm still my kids' sole teacher, I still choose all of our curriculum, I still choose our methods/style, and I still chose our school hours, etc.

I don't know that the primary test has an actual ceiling and what it would be but I can tell you that my son received a RIT score that indicated that he was achieving at the end of 5th grade level in math. However, I observed his test and didn't see anything that I would call 5th grade math. The hardest problems he had were basic division facts. In fact, my son complained that the test was too easy and didn't test quite a few types of problems that he knows how to do (ie. area, volume, average, multiple digit multiplication, long division). So, we are retesting him using the secondary test in order to get a more accurate score.