Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments HomeSchool Curriculums For Gifted

I'm going to go and read all 6 pages of Bronx Mom's post on homeschooling in a minute - and pull out all the resources people mentioned. However, do we have a list of 'curriculum' or 'non curriculums' on the site yet in one place? Perhaps we could build one somehow and have the moderator eventually post one post?

We are leaning toward the home school option more and more and I'm finding very controversial reports on HomeSchoolReviews.com from varying parents on varying curriculums we were considering. Then there are even more reviews on Amazon.com. Spelling Workouts A and B from Well Trained Mind's Curriculum seem to have their up and down side. Good for phonics, maybe not so good for word organization. ABeka's curriculum seems to be critized both for being too easy and too hard depending on who's doing what. I'm just realising how hard it is to gauge from looking at ABeka's site what's going to be too easy for a gifted 6 yr old v. a non-gifted. Given that its hard to get hold of the actual physcial books - does anyone have tips on choosing?

It sounds like many of you have used a very free approach - and for stay at home moms with a bit more time - I'm sure that's the way to go in many cases - each child being an individual. Others are using online sites/curriculums. Perhaps we could come up with a Top 12 curriculums as well as Top 12 psychologists. Also does anyone have a non-religious option for those that wouldn't want that?

I would recommend going to Homeschooldiner. The website owner has everything broken down by categories, religious, nonreligious, by subject, LD, etc. It is really well put together. I met her too and she is just great! I pm'd you too...

My best advice is to buy nothing your first year! Or at least as little as you can get away with!

Your first year is a learning year, and there's a very good chance that whatever you buy will be the wrong thing. Rather than wasting your money, buy nothing/very little. Check books/textbooks out from the library. Borrow from friends. Use the Internet. Figure out what your child needs before you spend a dime.

I followed this advice--by far the best advice anyone gave me about homeschooling!--and I'm absolutely certain that it saved me a bundle of cash!!!

Less is more.

If you absolutely *must* buy, buy only one book in the series, or buy only the workbook and check out the textbook, or choose the curriculum based largely on what's the cheapest. Skimp!

You'll be glad you did!

Paticularily when you're homeschooling a GT, boxed curriculum just don't seem to fit the bill. Just like school, the child is going to need different levels for different subjects. The point of h/s is to have the flexibility and if you go with "school in a box" you're back where you started.

When you read the last thread, you'll see that I posted "learning on a line". That worked absolutely great for us. We followed wherever it led and spent very little.

We have really enjoyed "Moving Beyond The Page" this year. The person who wrote the curriculum is a previous GT teacher who now HS. We just finished up the 7-9 ages unit. DS really enjoyed it, and it was a good fit. The great thing was that it was all planned out for me, but yet you don't have to keep to a schedule. Plus if we wanted to go deeper into a subject, we could take the time to do it.

Another way to go on the cheap and cover your state GLCE's (I worried about that with this year being my first year) for science and history/social studies is studies weekly. If you go to www.homeschoolstudiesweekly.com you can by the whole package for around $35. My daughters breezed through them and we went on from there but you can pull your state information to see how it measures up. For us it was between 95-100% for those subjects. It was a quick way to help with what I needed to cover. We then took that and expanded everything. My oldest DD even used them as a "review" since she is way ahead there but still loves reading them. They have additional worksheets and test you can print from online for older grades.

Also check out your state department of education website. Ours for example lists all the GLCE's and even has parent friendly versions of math and ELA so you know what you need to cover and can look for materials from your library that fit.

I am now becoming more confident and am relatively sure my children won't be going back/attending more public school so I can deviate from their "schedule".

I think Singapore math and ALEKS math are really big on this site and great for GT kids. We use both very successfully for our kids. Real Science 4 Kids is another and we use that with Studies Weekly. ELA is a tough one here now that my younger girls are progressing at very different levels, so I will be interested to see what people have to say there.

GLCE's - I'm guessing something about learning standards one has to meet? Anyone got more to say on that. I heard there were 2 routes in VA.

a) You have to submit a curriculum to your County and get it approved

b) You take the relgiious clause about believing that you have to educate your child yourself (wehther you are religious or not)and as long as you have at least a Bachelor's, no curriculum is required. However, I think maybe you do have to keep records, journal of work completed but heard that even Lego buildling (!) and photos of that counted (Scary!) You know there are a ton of people with no business doing this taking that option!

No, there are several options for HSing in VA. Most choose the "have a high school diploma" option. And at the end of the school year, you have to submit a test that shows "proof of progress". Most use the CAT test. The child only has to score 25%. More info here: http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/

You DO NOT have to get approval of curriculum.

I got some very good advice from a veteran HSer when I was a nervous newbie. She told me not to worry about my children learning exactly what other kids were learning at the same age and same school year. That can vary from state to state, city to city, school to school, and even classroom to classroom. For example, some elementary teachers do spelling tests, and others in the same grade/school, do not.

And I'll add my misfit/hippy/granola comment too: Why should the government have a say in when and what my child needs to learn.

Is that the "score in the 25th percentile," or "get 25% of the questions right?"

Those are 2 different things...