Tag Archives: gifted

Homeschooling Our Gifted Son: The Hunt for “Gifted Curriculum”

I have to first say that it’s not necessary to find curriculum specifically for gifted kids if you have a highly gifted child. But someone recently asked me a question about whether or not you should go deeper or wider when homeschooling a gifted child and what do you do about curriculum. (In other words, do you use ‘regular’ curriculum and just keep advancing grade levels. . .or do you take your time to explore grade level curriculum in depth with lots of investigation.) I think the answer depends on the family and the child, but I’ve offered some thoughts … Continue reading →

Hyperlexia: Autism with a Twist?

I’m still trying to decide whether I think that “hyperlexia” is really just autism with a remarkable (savant) reading ability, or whether it is truly a stand-alone condition, as some people insist. You be the judge. What is hyperlexia? Hyperlexics are said to almost always be boys, and their ability to spell, read, and pronounce words is markedly advanced for their age. Usually these kids have easily mastered letters and numbers by the age of two, and by three can read many words. They seem to have a far greater capacity for reading than for spontaneous speech. They may eventually … Continue reading →

Homeschooling the Creative Child: Science and Social Studies

In my first post on Homeschooling the creative child I talked about how my high school chemistry teacher helped me tremendously by making Chemistry three dimensional for me and allowing me to draw pictures all over my test paper. He would often see the panic on my face at test time and say “just draw it… if you can draw it, then I know you know it.” Needless to say, he was one of my favorite teachers out of the many I had. Here are some tips you can use to homeschool your creative child science and social studies: Dioramas: … Continue reading →

Homeschool Glossary (words homeschoolers should know) – F-G

Flexible Learning is a lot like unschooling. Actually, it is like unschooling under the umbrella of a private school. Some flexible learning programs will provide a diploma; others will just allow the homschooler to take classes. Clonlara Home Based Program, for example is a functioning day schools that work as a flexible learning school. Clonlara does administrative work for the parents. All the parents need to do is journal the activities of the child and submit it. The school turns the journals into a documented diploma. There are dozens more flexible learning schools especially in states like California where restrictions … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Talented Children: Allowing Talents to Evolve

In my most recent blogs I wrote about homeschooling talented children. I pointed out that when you homeschool talented children, you first need to identify their talents. Once your child’s talents are identified, you must then nurture their talents. In this post I want to talk about allowing talents to evolve. Many parents, including myself, become attached to their children’s talents. While my sons attachment to the computer was impressive, I was overjoyed when his piano teacher said he was a natural. I bought a piano, paid for lessons, and insisted on daily practice. He expressed that he wanted to … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Talented Children: Nurturing Talents

In my last blog post, I wrote about identifying the talents of your homeschooled children. I distinguished between what I believe to be gifts and talents, and explained that while small minorities of children are considered gifted, I believe that every child has a talent. Once you identify your child’s talents, it is your responsibility as a parent to nurture the talents of your children. Nurturing your children’s’ talents takes time and money. There is a huge debate right now that children are in far too many activities and are becoming exhausted. Homeschoolers however have a unique benefit in the … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Talented Children: Identifying Talents

There are gifted children, and there are talented children. I believe that every child has a talent or a gift. It is our duty as parents to discover and harness those talents and gifts. In schools, the terms ‘gifted’ and ‘talented’ usually go hand in hand. Schools like to categorize and label don’t they? There is however, a distinctive difference between the two. Gifted children have exceptionally high and measurable intelligence. Meanwhile, talented children may have a propensity or natural inclination toward a particular activity. This propensity may be clear or ambiguous. Valorie Delp has written a few articles on … Continue reading →

Update On Javits Funding

Last month in an article titled Gifted Kids Might Be Left Behind, I discussed the fact that the House of Representatives allocated no money for gifted education for fiscal year 2007. The Javits funding is the only funding at the federal level for gifted education. On July 20, the Senate appropriations committee met and allocated $5.25 million to fund all the current programs and the National Research Center on the Talented and Gifted. No new funds are available for innovative programs or different research. This is a significant decrease in funding from 2006, which was over $9.6 million. I think … Continue reading →

Gifted Kids Might Be “Left Behind”

The Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Act was originally part of the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1988 and is the only federally sponsored program that specifically seeks to help gifted and talented students. Funding for the education program goes through the normal federal appropriations process. Before the July 4th recess congress failed to vote on the Javits program. According to the National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagc.org), the Javits program has three primary components: (1) the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, which provides a forum for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and others to work together to design … Continue reading →

Angela Bassett: Gifted and Captivating

Angela Bassett was born in New York City on August 16, 1958. She and her sister, D’nette grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida where they lived with their single mother, Betty. A social worker, she stressed the importance of education to both of her children. Through the urgings of a high school teacher, Angela applied for and got a scholarship to Yale University. There she spent a total of seven years, receiving a B.A. in African-American studies in 1980. Three additional post-graduate years were spent studying at the Yale School of Drama, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts … Continue reading →