Top 10 Gifted Education Blogs
Here is the link to Online Degrees.org top 10 Gifted education blogs.
Change and Growth Are Good, Right?
2 years ago
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
My son "Z" before school
Z is my first child. So, everything he did I thought was normal for his age and when I compared him to the carts I thought the carts where wrong or the bare minimal for that age level. It was until 2 months b4 he turned 2 that I even considered that my son was gifted or ahead of his peers.
Z was a normal baby. I was induced 3 weeks early because of high blood pressure, but he was fine and healthy. In the beginning I actually thought he was delayed. He didn't start crawling as soon as my other friends kids nor walking. However, he would sit and play with a toy longer than my friends kids, watch TV longer, and just look at books longer. He also started talking sooner then my friends kids. I just told myself that they where developing their gross motor skills while he was developing his verbal skills and that they would all even out later.
Z did eventually start walking at 16 months but nothing by that time was even so I just said later. The other kids were all climbing and running and he was just starting to walk but he could talk very clear.
Then about 2 months before he turned 2 he did something that really shocked me and made me question that he was possible gifted. By this time he knew all the basic and a few more colors, he knew all the basic shapes and some not so basic like trapezoid and he was counting to 20. He also enjoyed doing mazes and workbooks. I believe this all normal but then one day out of the blue he counted to 100 the only thing I did would to call out 30,31 and he would take it to 39. I would then say 40,41 and he would go to 49 we did this all the way up to 100. After a week of doing this he was counting to 100 by himself. I knew then that wasn't normal. That was when I started researching gifted kids.
When he turned 2 we got Leap Frog's DVD's Letter Factory series. After 2 weeks he knew all the letters and their sounds. By the time he was 2.5 he was sounding out 3-4 letter words and when he turned 3 he read his first book. During this time he also started correlating counting objects with the corresponding number. By the time he was 3 he was beginning to do simple addition and subtraction.
This was when I started considering home schooling him because I knew by the time he was age ready to enter Kindergarten he was going to be way ahead of his age peers. However, my husband said that he really wanted Z to go to public school. I wanted to honor my husbands wishes but I also wanted to give my son the education he wanted and was hungry for. So, I purchased Abeka's curriculum for 3 year olds and decided to not let my son move so fast. However that was more difficult to do than say.
I quickly decided that the 3's curriculum was way to easy so I purchased Abeka K4. He enjoyed the workbooks except for the handwriting. So, we only did the readiness skills, reading skills, and math skills. Most of it he only had to circle the answers. After a bit the K4 was to easy again. So, when he was a late 3 year old I moved him up to Abeka K5, Kindergarten curriculum for 5 year olds. He really loved this curriculum. At the same time he was also doing Singapore math for Kindergarten.
I slowly moved this this grade level with him and didn't allow him to start 1st grade stuff until he was a late 4. However, it didn't matter what I was doing because his knowledge was growing even without me.
When was was 4 we had his IQ tested and he did fall within the gifted range.
I will continue with the next phase of his life in a different post. The school years to the present.
Z was a normal baby. I was induced 3 weeks early because of high blood pressure, but he was fine and healthy. In the beginning I actually thought he was delayed. He didn't start crawling as soon as my other friends kids nor walking. However, he would sit and play with a toy longer than my friends kids, watch TV longer, and just look at books longer. He also started talking sooner then my friends kids. I just told myself that they where developing their gross motor skills while he was developing his verbal skills and that they would all even out later.
Z did eventually start walking at 16 months but nothing by that time was even so I just said later. The other kids were all climbing and running and he was just starting to walk but he could talk very clear.
Then about 2 months before he turned 2 he did something that really shocked me and made me question that he was possible gifted. By this time he knew all the basic and a few more colors, he knew all the basic shapes and some not so basic like trapezoid and he was counting to 20. He also enjoyed doing mazes and workbooks. I believe this all normal but then one day out of the blue he counted to 100 the only thing I did would to call out 30,31 and he would take it to 39. I would then say 40,41 and he would go to 49 we did this all the way up to 100. After a week of doing this he was counting to 100 by himself. I knew then that wasn't normal. That was when I started researching gifted kids.
When he turned 2 we got Leap Frog's DVD's Letter Factory series. After 2 weeks he knew all the letters and their sounds. By the time he was 2.5 he was sounding out 3-4 letter words and when he turned 3 he read his first book. During this time he also started correlating counting objects with the corresponding number. By the time he was 3 he was beginning to do simple addition and subtraction.
This was when I started considering home schooling him because I knew by the time he was age ready to enter Kindergarten he was going to be way ahead of his age peers. However, my husband said that he really wanted Z to go to public school. I wanted to honor my husbands wishes but I also wanted to give my son the education he wanted and was hungry for. So, I purchased Abeka's curriculum for 3 year olds and decided to not let my son move so fast. However that was more difficult to do than say.
I quickly decided that the 3's curriculum was way to easy so I purchased Abeka K4. He enjoyed the workbooks except for the handwriting. So, we only did the readiness skills, reading skills, and math skills. Most of it he only had to circle the answers. After a bit the K4 was to easy again. So, when he was a late 3 year old I moved him up to Abeka K5, Kindergarten curriculum for 5 year olds. He really loved this curriculum. At the same time he was also doing Singapore math for Kindergarten.
I slowly moved this this grade level with him and didn't allow him to start 1st grade stuff until he was a late 4. However, it didn't matter what I was doing because his knowledge was growing even without me.
When was was 4 we had his IQ tested and he did fall within the gifted range.
I will continue with the next phase of his life in a different post. The school years to the present.
Skipping Grades
I know with some parents of gifted children there always comes a time in which you ask yourself, is skipping a grade level(s) the best thing for my child's education. This article address skipping grade level(s) and how that sometimes it is the best choice for the child and it will not hurt them.
http://www.creators.com/advice/sylvia-rimm-on-raising-kids/grade-skipping-can-be-best-choice.html
http://www.creators.com/advice/sylvia-rimm-on-raising-kids/grade-skipping-can-be-best-choice.html
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Funny Blog Post
http://laughingatchaos.com/2010/10/19/if-i-ran-a-gifted-conference/
This is a great blog post. It is so funny and true at the same time.
Enjoy.
This is a great blog post. It is so funny and true at the same time.
Enjoy.
First Post
I am hoping to share the adventure of raising gifted children. I have 2 children. One a 8 (almost 9) boy named "Z" that has been identified as gifted. The other a 2 (almost 3) girl name "B" who hasn't been identified because of age but is already showing gifted tendencies.
Z is 8 and will be 9 in Nov. For Z's education we have done brick and mortar public school, virtual public school and homeschool (not in that particular order). Currently Z is about to be placed into a brick and mortar public school for 4th grade (one year advancement). I will tell more about Z life growing up gifted in another post.
B is 2 and will be 3 in Dec. For B's education she is currently attending a preschool 2 days a week. For the other 3 days I am going to start working with her on Preschool/Kindergarten lessons. B's post will be a short and sweet post later on because she is young and the adventure is really just beginning for her.
I also plan on posting or reposting other blogs and articles that I find about gifted children. I would hope that my blog is a source of help for others that have gifted children too. I would be more than welcome to answer any questions that anyone has on raising gifted children and their education. I am not promising that I will have an answer all the time but I will try. The one thing that is unique is that I have had experience in public schools, homeschooling, and virtual schools.
Z is 8 and will be 9 in Nov. For Z's education we have done brick and mortar public school, virtual public school and homeschool (not in that particular order). Currently Z is about to be placed into a brick and mortar public school for 4th grade (one year advancement). I will tell more about Z life growing up gifted in another post.
B is 2 and will be 3 in Dec. For B's education she is currently attending a preschool 2 days a week. For the other 3 days I am going to start working with her on Preschool/Kindergarten lessons. B's post will be a short and sweet post later on because she is young and the adventure is really just beginning for her.
I also plan on posting or reposting other blogs and articles that I find about gifted children. I would hope that my blog is a source of help for others that have gifted children too. I would be more than welcome to answer any questions that anyone has on raising gifted children and their education. I am not promising that I will have an answer all the time but I will try. The one thing that is unique is that I have had experience in public schools, homeschooling, and virtual schools.
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