Hi there!

First: Happy New Year to all

So, we went to Spain and saw the psi that tested DD. She (DD) seems to have goten over the bad experience with the optometrist. I followed as well the advice of Grinity and I have started to do some simple exercises in front of her and it is working. She shows curiosity and tries to do it We are going to see another ophtalmologist who is familiar with eye exercises, so this seems in a good track now.

About the school... DD is less and less happy about it. Psicologist told us that the best is to 'hot-house' her, get her to do the eye exercises and once she is reading and counting then push for acceleration.

She told us to do some afterschooling in order to keep the loving of learning in DD alive.

On the other hand she told us that DD will have to get used to the school situation because for the time being is not going to change. Her teacher will not modify her curriculum, not because she should not, but because she simply will not do it (this was the words of the psi, I have not talked to the teacher yet).

I think the psi wanted to be realistic, but it sucks anyway.

After that, here at home I had a chat with a friend who is Professor at the University and she told me that the standards of education here are falling down and recomended that we put DD in an international school with a high educational standard.

She told me as well that Dutch society is very egalitarian and that I should be very careful in announcing to the teacher that my child is gifted.
She told me as well, that as far as she does not speak a perfect Dutch, they (teachers in general) will hold this against her and think she is 'stupid' (well, I think she meant not intelligent).


Speaking about the teacher, it is clear now that she does not believe that DD is gifted at all. Bright maybe, but as well she thinks she is quite spoiled.

So we are looking at alternative school now, but we have not taken yet any decision.

Now my question, at the end so it idoes not get lost with all this rambling:

Can you recomend a good website for home/after schooling that I may use as a guideline to make a 'curriculum' at home. It can be in English, since I can then translate the activities into Spanish. TIA.

Rambling over.

Try this link, I just found it at another forum and haven't thoroughly checked it out, maybe it will work for you.

http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/

For math it seems singapore math works for a lot of the children here. They have pre-tests you can print out on the website that tells you which book to start at.

Good luck,
I

Incog,

I have chechked the link and I have discovered that one has to pay for the curriculum

I think I will just do my own, for free!

About the singapore books, they look quite interesting. Their exercises look similar to one series of spanish workbooks.

Well, that website doesn't provide curriculum, per se. It offers links to resources. Some of those resources are free, some are not.

We're using Singapore Math, our local library and free sites on the Internet for our curriculum. (Just double-check the sites for accuracy--remember that anyone can post anything on the Internet and claim that it's true. That doesn't mean that it is!)

Our costs are very low, and we can be sure that the material is both interesting and sufficiently challenging for DS. It's not as easy as tossing a workbook at him, but it is a lot more varied and interesting, as well as a lot cheaper.

I recommend that you check out E.D. Hirsch's "What Your __ Grader Ought to Know" series. Pick the grade level you want, and follow his basic outline. The books are available used for cheap on sites like Amazon.com, and they're very useful. It's my guide for curriculum and coverage.

Sorry people, it appears I have prematurely posted!!!!!!!!
I

This sounds lovely! I'm really glad to hear that she is willing to do the eye excersises, and that she seems to be getting over her bad experience.

As for afterschooling there is this idea "Unit Studies" that many homeschoolers use - pick a topic and related everything to that topic. Check hoagiesgifted.org for more specific ideas on everything. Are you looking for a 'teach your child to read' type program?

A new school sounds like a fine idea. Sorry about the teacher.
Grinity

Good point, Grinity.

My take on unit studies: if you have a kid who wants to know EVERYTHING about ONE subject, it's heaven. But if you have a kid (like mine) who wants to know a LITTLE about MANY subjects, then it would be torture. My child prefers dabbling with lots of different things, depending upon his mood.

It's all about your kid. Hoagies and Giftedhomeschoolers would be the sites I'd recommend starting with to decide which would best suit your child.

This is very sad. I hope you find a better school for her. Is homeschooling possible there?


I could see where she is coming from. People often equal the ability to speak foreigner language with intelligence. From my own experience I can tell that one gets treated very differently if she cannot speak the local language well enough. Hopefully your daughter's Dutch will catch up with her classmates soon. Kids at this age usually do amazingly well.

Good luck

Hi!

Thanks for the suggestions!

I think I like the SIngapore maths books best

For reading, I already have plenty of spanishs books+methods.

I just wanted to organize a little bit more ideas for extra activities in science, history etc. and as well check on basic knowledge that DD should/could have, like telling the time etc.

About homeschooling, this is completely illegal here, especially if your DC has been once to the school.

About the languages, I do not think that people will think that DD is stupid if her Dutch is not as good as her Spanish, especially when they learn that she speaks three languages, but I am certain that they will not see her high ability.
As well, I fear that her behaviors at school are a too happily atributed to not undersdanding enough Dutch. For example, when the teacher reads a story book to the class, apparently some time in the middle of it, DD gets distracted.
Both teachers (school and private) say that is because she cannot follow it, but I suspect that she will still do this if the book is not interesting to her.

I think somehow he have to finish this year at this school and get her eyes fixed and help her with the reading and maths, plus some afteschooling.