Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Hothousing- did you, didn't you, will you?

St Pauli Mom,
I don't think that the skill of reading needs to be pushed at age 4 - his little eyes may not be ready to handle much at this time. Or he just may not be that interested in that level of book - after all, what do you read when you read to him? I would continue to play games that use the intellectual skills of reading. What do I mean?


sort of take reading 'apart' in your mind and ask what kinds of activites have the same skills as parts of the reading process - here's my quick list to get you started:
Spelling Games,
Ghost,
The game where the last letter my word becomes the first letter of your word.
Charades
Make up your own story
Worksheets at a variety of grade levels when you need him to be busy.
Word-search puzzles
Educational CD rom games
Audiobooks at 2nd through 5th grade level, or beyond, if he has an interest.
Leap-pad? ((Shrug))
He may be interested in writing (handwriting without tears has terrific products)
What about writing and preforming plays? Let him use the camcorder!

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Alee,
I'm not suprised that you find your situation puzzling! Raising a child with this kind of LOG puts you way way outside the know territory. You are on the part of the map lable 'Here be dragons' - no wonder you are unsure of your way!

If you are purchasing anything, you may want to try a 3rd grade curriculum - there is SOOO much repetition, just skip the parts he isn't ready for. I hope you have local homeschoolers as they often have tag sales where you can buy stuff cheap, or atleast try before you buy.

At age 5 I don't think that developing work ethic is an issue, so follow his joy, but don't worry about what level something is rated at - golly it's like a shoe size - totally not related to something real. As you get more experienced with him and with the role of homeschooling, you'll be better able to start developing that kind of learning that requires 'Character.' But by then you will know where his 'readiness level' is, so he can develop those good study habits with material that give him something back. Make sense?

If you are able, join the Davidson Young Scholar Program, as they have an active and helpful homeschooler list.

Best Wishes,
Grinty

Thanks Grinity. DS has said he doesn't like to read "pages with too many words," so maybe it's an eye thing. Or a level of interest thing. I don't know. We're in a strange world right now where DS commonly chooses (for us to read to him) Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew & The Oobleck or other long Seuss books, Jan Brett books, Magic School House, Geronimo Stilton, and Mr. Men books. (He picks the Oobleck one because he knows DH and I are sooooo sick of it!) And I've waited his whole life (so very long, wink, wink) to read The Hobbit to him, so I read the first chapter of that the other day and he loved it. Last summer, he was in love with the Magic Tree House series, and that was all we were allowed to read until we were finished with all of them. I keep searching for new books that will get him excited like that again (back then he offered to read all the titles), but I guess I should just back off. maybe i'll pull out magic tree house again. (i did order some moomintroll books on ebay though...)

I love your ideas, esp. Ghost and audiobooks. I'll have to try those. We do make up a lot of silly songs throughout the day. We do worksheets sometimes too, and educ. CD-rom games (although lately he is completely obseesed with tower defense computer games, which i am starting to feel like i need to limit. But it's kind of fun to hear him spout off about the intricate details of the game whenever he finds an adult who will listen.)

sorry. this got long and rambling. Thank you for your advice.

Kriston,

You are SOOO correct to point out how basic a typical kindergarten program is. Makes me shudder to think that I would force him to sit through 6 hours a day of that if we sent him to public school! (No half-day public programs around here.)

Thank you for the advice. I very much appreciate it. I have started some of the things you suggested. We purchased a math book from Horizons math a few months ago, just to try it out a bit. It's kindergarten level, but I was told by several other HSers and the book store that it is more in line with first grade math. I thought it would be interesting to just see what he knows. While we skip over the majority of it, there have been a few little things I might not have thought about, such as counting tally marks, that were fun to learn. I also purchased Handwriting Without Tears, which I've read so many great things about. Haven't tried it yet but looking forward to using it.

The "curriculum" I'm looking at is Sonlight. It is loosely Christian-based, primarily because of Bible courses available,and is highly customizeable. Just seems like a one-stop shopping place, which, for me, takes some of the stress out of the whole experience. While I am not looking for anything affiliated with Christianity, per se, I am not opposed to it, either. My main interest in the program is its focus on reading - and there's a lot of it. There are books for the children to read aloud, and books for parents to read aloud. At a certain point, I believe it's third grade, the readers are integrated with the history, language arts, and some other components of the program. The books are typically award-winning children's classics - a rich list of literature, NOT books written by the curriculum's developer. It seems like a nice balance - not really a unit study design, yet a lot of the major components are integrated in certain ways. Not just a bunch of boring textbooks. And certainly not a box of workbooks. Ugh. I can't imagine how boring some of those programs must be!

Then, one can choose from a variety of math programs (Singapore, Saxon, Horizons, etc.), writing programs, science programs (even with the all-inclusive science project kit), etc. etc. So...a kindergarten "curriculum" would actually be some really great readers that have some sort of broad history/world-awareness lessons, and likely would include traditional topics. Math, language arts, science, writing, music, art can all be highly customized. It's probably marketed to parents like me who would love to have one place with a LOT of options, reviews, placement tests - a way to simplify getting started. If you check it out online let me know what you think. I'm still new to this. Our state has a huge homeschool curriculum fair coming up in May. I've heard it's amazing. I would like to go and put my hands on these books and talk to some of the developers and really see what all is available that would be appropriate for my little sweetie.

I think almost all of my stress about what to do next is based upon maintaining that little spark. We were so thrilled to see it return, I don't want to lose it again.

Thanks again for the advice. Keep it coming! I'm very appreciate of input from those of you on this site.

Thanks,
Allison

Grinity,

Thanks for your words of encouragement. I will definitely look more closely at the 3rd grade level programs/books available. Since DS5 is our first, I have pretty much no exposure to what typical curriculums look like. And if there's that much repitition, yikes...I can see how some of you are flying through HS programs so quickly! Repetition equals boredom around here, as I'm sure it does with most of these children. You make a good point.

I will definitely apply to DYS. I have enjoyed hearing from others on another thread how many positive experiences they have gained from their memberships.

Thanks again for your encouragement. I am really enjoying this group.

Allison

st. pauli girl -- no specific info, but commiseration ... ds5 was reading things like Henry Huggins over the summer ... and now won't touch a chapter book unless there's *nothing* else to read. According to his WIAT in November, he reads with comprehension at a fifth grade level, and he *used* to enjoy those books ... and then nothing! I've been trying to figure out how to gently coax him back to material that's a little closer to his abilities, but he doesn't like "so many words" on the page. We had his vision tested and it's fine ... frustrating.

I'd give him time, and maybe see if he'd alternate pages with you. My ds will alternate pages in longer books with us and enjoys it, so maybe that's an option? And have you tried books that are really appealing to him? At 4, my ds was in love with Captain Underpants and those books really spurred him to reading on his own.

Giggles SPG! Can you imagine listening to MSH and The Hobbit in the same week? I can't! Three take home messages -
1) When one is ready to enjoy the Hobbit, it's hard to bother with Frog and Toad.
2) We are often the only ones who have a clue as to how advanced these kids are in certian ways - and we aim too low over and over and over again!
3) These kids have their own funny developmental path and we have to let them guide us, although we still have to maintain an independent perspective, re- video games, a push when needed, getting ideas from each other of 'what to try next.' You are in a very strange world, but if you stop comparining it to 'in my old school we were never allowed to visit the planets' (Magic School Bus reference) it's easier.

So - take him to the library, let him wander and fill up a bushel basket of books to have around. I suggest DK subject enclyclopedias, Dinotopia, Little house on the Praire, Magic School Bus, My father's Dragon, Mrs. Pigglewiggle, Phantom tollbooth, a book from the Oz series to sneak into the bag as well. Since you'll be reading to him, you can skip over really yucky parts if you wish. And do let him know that even when he is reading for himself, you will still read aloud to him.

BTW - loved those Moonintrolls!

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Cheers Allison!

It sounds like you are doing everything right! My DS7 wasn't really reading willingly at all before kindergarten. The year before kindergarten we read with him a bunch of longer stories. The ones I can think of right now are a bunch of magic tree house books, the narnia series, A number of Roald Dahl books, and The Hobbit!

Anyway - my DS wouldn't even call himself a reader until he could read a chapter book OF HIS CHOOSING (it had to be a good story!) on his own. Unlike my DD3.5 who will happily make something up if she can't read it and runs around saying she can read all the time.

Thanks for all the great comments. I think I'm still in the "gifted denial" stage. I know DD4 can read, but he's just not interested in it right now, so I should just let it be.

Mia - I'll try capt. underpants, I forgot about him. Thinking back, I introduced that to my 9-year-old nephew who didn't want to read... Seems so odd now, to give it to a 4 year old.

Too bad there aren't any books with Frog and Toad amount of words and Hobbit content! (Wait - maybe there are - don't they print some books in huge font for people with poor eyesight? Hmmmm.)

Grinity - thanks for the book recommendations. Some I haven't heard of that I'll check out. As for gauging DS's interest level, it's a very large range. Before bed last night, one of the books DS selected was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! He still thinks it's funny.

Kimck - I love how your son didn't call himself a reader until he chose his own books. It's nice to hear that he didn't really want to read until kindergarten. I have recently learned that my child is not normal (i.e., HG+), but now i get paranoid when i see he's not doing what so many other kids did. I know i'm crazy to compare, but I'm only human.

And I suppose he is actually reading quite a bit when he's finding and learning new games on the internet by himself. I guess i'd better monitor him a bit more.

Thanks again for the great support and advice. I love that I always leave here with a few concrete examples of things to try!