So, I've spent the last several months up to my eyeballs in anything I can find related to giftedness, gifted children, and gifted education. The drive to know more, learn more, keep reading... It's intense. I mean, this is my son. He has particular needs, and it is my job as his parent to make sure his needs are met. I've now gone through three websites, two forums, and eight books on the topic. Since mid-March. So, I like to think I've learned a thing or two.
Truthfully, I'm glad I've gotten as much done as I have, and I'm glad we got the assessments run. Both the parental survey of dates that assessed how ahead LP is, and the OT assessment at preschool. They told me things I really already knew (that LP is very ahead, and that he has no business being in a full-day classroom in the fall), but it gave me the oomph to take on the research, and to start planning for his educational needs. Right now, LP is working on a grade 1 reading curriculum, and flying through a kindergarten math curriculum. Even if he slows down to working on one grade level per year (as per public schools), he will likely be a minimum of two years ahead of his age-mates. These kids won't be his peers, not truly. And since our district "doesn't do" acceleration, if I send this child to school, he will spend the entirety of his school career bored out of his skull. They don't have formal identification until grade 3, which means a minimum of four years before the district even considers meeting his educational needs. Needless to say, that's not acceptable. And, since the district won't accelerate, they won't meet his needs even when he is formally identified.
So what now, right? At this point, I'm certain that homeschool is the best option for LP. It meets him where he is, and will allow him to work at his own pace, keeping him challenged without having to languish for years to get there, if he ever gets there at all. This is also, however, one of the scarier realizations I've had. Knowing what I do about our son, I can't put him into public schools in good conscience. I can't do it. But that means that suddenly, we need to succeed at homeschooling. That "oh, if it doesn't work, he can always go to public" option isn't really an option. It'd be like sending a third grader into kindergarten. It's wildly inappropriate, and the child already knows everything - it's a recipe for "behavior problems" and failure to achieve to potential. But... that means I don't have a backup plan any more. Granted, I probably haven't all along, but now more than before, I feel the distinct lack of a safety net, and am really awed by the enormity of the undertaking.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Well, I'll be.
After spending the past week or so fighting me tooth and nail about "reading words" (while simultaneously screaming that "I WANT TO LEARN TO READ, MOMMY!!!"), today LP flew through his lesson. He has been reading one line of the practice each day for the last week and change - be it the "review" or the "practice." Today, I put the book in front of him, and he went through two lines of words, only stumbling over one. Now, granted, he's still reading "/sh/-/e/-/l/, shell!" and not reading each word straight up, but I'm of the opinion that fluency comes with time, and he'll learn it as we go. ^_^ As long as he's not forgetting everything he learned to get here, I'm fine with it. He is now watching his Hooked On Phonics lesson DVD, which he loves. Today, we watch the unit introduction, the first lesson (which is what he blew through today), and then the second lesson twice (he will start that probably on Friday, as Wednesday and Thursday are our weekend). This is usually about 20m of TV time, which is totally within 'acceptable' and doesn't see my kiddo bouncing off the walls.
Days like today, I really wish we were able to have the basement set up as a schoolroom. Today, at 10 am, it is already 75* outside, and I suspect that we will meet or exceed our predicted high temp of 86*, and with my not wanting to face the ridiculously high electric bill that would come from turning the air on all day? Yeah, I wish we could work in the basement, where it's nice and cool. We have a plan, though. We will ask MIL and her boyfriend if they "have any advice for us" on how to build this wall thing. With any amount of luck, this will end with a practical lecture that I can use to take to Home Depot and actually assemble a wall that will hold up, have a door, and be cat-proof. Or, perhaps, some ideas on how to divide up the basement for the purpose, and moving on from there. We'll see how it goes.
Math, I expect to see go rather well. I have to rearrange a little, as I forgot to put up the big calendar last night, and my only other calendar isn't a "standard" calendar (we use Sandra Boynton's Mom calendar), and we're supposed to cover days of the week. The rest of the lesson, with the exception of needing to write tally marks, looks like it will be fairly easy for him. I am still carrying forward "numbers in order," though. We have squares that have tally marks, finger representations, and abacus representations on them for the numbers 1-10. It is to be LP's job to put them into order, whether it's 1-10, 10-1, evens/odds, or whatever. He is having a hard time with it. He knows all the numbers, all the representations, and the order in which they go, but he is having a hard time putting the cards into any discernible order. I suspect this is because he doesn't care what order the cards are in, so he's not trying, but I'm carrying on as if he doesn't know it until he demonstrates that he does - I don't want him to miss that skill.
Anyhow. A bright and beautiful, albeit HOT, day ahead of us, and school has gone swimmingly thus far. LP is even requesting to watch his lessons, which is a nice change from "No, I don't want to... Oh, THIS? We can watch THIS?!? YAY!!!" o.O;;
Days like today, I really wish we were able to have the basement set up as a schoolroom. Today, at 10 am, it is already 75* outside, and I suspect that we will meet or exceed our predicted high temp of 86*, and with my not wanting to face the ridiculously high electric bill that would come from turning the air on all day? Yeah, I wish we could work in the basement, where it's nice and cool. We have a plan, though. We will ask MIL and her boyfriend if they "have any advice for us" on how to build this wall thing. With any amount of luck, this will end with a practical lecture that I can use to take to Home Depot and actually assemble a wall that will hold up, have a door, and be cat-proof. Or, perhaps, some ideas on how to divide up the basement for the purpose, and moving on from there. We'll see how it goes.
Math, I expect to see go rather well. I have to rearrange a little, as I forgot to put up the big calendar last night, and my only other calendar isn't a "standard" calendar (we use Sandra Boynton's Mom calendar), and we're supposed to cover days of the week. The rest of the lesson, with the exception of needing to write tally marks, looks like it will be fairly easy for him. I am still carrying forward "numbers in order," though. We have squares that have tally marks, finger representations, and abacus representations on them for the numbers 1-10. It is to be LP's job to put them into order, whether it's 1-10, 10-1, evens/odds, or whatever. He is having a hard time with it. He knows all the numbers, all the representations, and the order in which they go, but he is having a hard time putting the cards into any discernible order. I suspect this is because he doesn't care what order the cards are in, so he's not trying, but I'm carrying on as if he doesn't know it until he demonstrates that he does - I don't want him to miss that skill.
Anyhow. A bright and beautiful, albeit HOT, day ahead of us, and school has gone swimmingly thus far. LP is even requesting to watch his lessons, which is a nice change from "No, I don't want to... Oh, THIS? We can watch THIS?!? YAY!!!" o.O;;
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Odd day.
Today is an odd day.
School went swimmingly. LP flew through both reading and math, and there are a few games he's not quite getting that we'll work on as we go, but aside from that, he's still flying through the lessons. This is always good news.
I've been debating putting in a temporary wall in the basement. That way we could have a little schoolroom, even if we might not use it all the time, that wouldn't have the disturbances that the kitchen table does - the kids outside, the weather, cars or trucks... All that stuff. But, I need a room that is free from cat-interference, too. Last thing I want is LP's work on whatever project he's doing to be scattered to the four winds, or worse, peed on. So, I was thinking of putting in a temporary wall. I don't know how well such a thing would hold, though, so I'm a little leery of it. We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, I'm irritable about the neighbor kids. I really dislike that they're so poorly behaved (seriously, they come by the backyard to taunt or shoot squirt guns at LP with only a very rare few saying "why would you do that?") that I can't send LP out to play unsupervised in the backyard. I can't, for example, leave him in the yard to put my clothes in the dryer. Why not? Because the kids come by and encourage him to climb over the fence. If we weren't within 100 feet of a major thoroughfare, I wouldn't be keeping such a close eye on him, but we are. So his hopping the fence is a big deal. I also can't just let him run and play, because these same kids are jerks enough to egg him out into traffic, and as he's THREE, the promise of "I'll be your best friend!" holds a lot of weight over a social only child. I'm very glad we have play dates on the near horizon with the girls next door, a girl from homeschool parents' meeting, and hopefully a park hop coming up nearby with a LOT of other kids as well. He needs the positive outlet (he's glommed straight onto the WORST POSSIBLE KID - yes, the stalker child - as his new buddy), and I could use a break from having to constantly tell him no, these kids who throw rocks at each other, swing tree branches at the door, spray things at him, and teach him how to make "MUD BAAAAAALLLLLLLS!" in his sandbox can NOT come into the yard. >.<;; I really wish we had our back fence completed.
Anyhow. No more griping, I'm done with it! On to my positive day!
School went swimmingly. LP flew through both reading and math, and there are a few games he's not quite getting that we'll work on as we go, but aside from that, he's still flying through the lessons. This is always good news.
I've been debating putting in a temporary wall in the basement. That way we could have a little schoolroom, even if we might not use it all the time, that wouldn't have the disturbances that the kitchen table does - the kids outside, the weather, cars or trucks... All that stuff. But, I need a room that is free from cat-interference, too. Last thing I want is LP's work on whatever project he's doing to be scattered to the four winds, or worse, peed on. So, I was thinking of putting in a temporary wall. I don't know how well such a thing would hold, though, so I'm a little leery of it. We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, I'm irritable about the neighbor kids. I really dislike that they're so poorly behaved (seriously, they come by the backyard to taunt or shoot squirt guns at LP with only a very rare few saying "why would you do that?") that I can't send LP out to play unsupervised in the backyard. I can't, for example, leave him in the yard to put my clothes in the dryer. Why not? Because the kids come by and encourage him to climb over the fence. If we weren't within 100 feet of a major thoroughfare, I wouldn't be keeping such a close eye on him, but we are. So his hopping the fence is a big deal. I also can't just let him run and play, because these same kids are jerks enough to egg him out into traffic, and as he's THREE, the promise of "I'll be your best friend!" holds a lot of weight over a social only child. I'm very glad we have play dates on the near horizon with the girls next door, a girl from homeschool parents' meeting, and hopefully a park hop coming up nearby with a LOT of other kids as well. He needs the positive outlet (he's glommed straight onto the WORST POSSIBLE KID - yes, the stalker child - as his new buddy), and I could use a break from having to constantly tell him no, these kids who throw rocks at each other, swing tree branches at the door, spray things at him, and teach him how to make "MUD BAAAAAALLLLLLLS!" in his sandbox can NOT come into the yard. >.<;; I really wish we had our back fence completed.
Anyhow. No more griping, I'm done with it! On to my positive day!
Friday, May 25, 2012
May is winding down.
Well, it looks like the Hooked On Phonics level we picked up is, in fact, accurate. LP likes for things to come easily for him, and doesn't care so much for having to actually work at new things. So, the "review" list, being in a new format, and not in sentences was not a favorite activity. I think that at this point, after going through it for a few days (different word lists each day, largely on an attention-span basis and not an ability one), it is patently obvious that when he wants to, he is perfectly capable of reading the words. Not fluently, but the book doesn't seem to require that he see "cat" and say "cat" straight off, as opposed to "/k/-/a/-/t/, cat!" so I'm not worrying about it. Tomorrow we'll actually start on Unit 1, lesson 1, and we'll see how it goes.
Math is another fun one. The concepts are things he knows already, which is nice, and makes for easy lesson time. The problem is that the actual application is tricky for him. So, "enter 9 on the abacus" is significantly more difficult than "show me nine on your fingers." I suspect it has a lot to do with how frequently we're doing each thing. We often review his numbers - "show me X!" but not his abacus use. Maybe we'll take a day this week and just use the abacus. Either way, the lessons are designed to be in two parts. What this means is that there's the first half of the lesson, which LP already knows, with practice at the abacus which he doesn't know, followed by a concept he doesn't know at all. Last lesson was ordering by size (which was easy for him), before that, triangles versus quadrilaterals, and today was parallel lines and planes. We'll use parallel at the park today, and keep moving along. So far, he's been whipping through the math, which I expected (I have levels A&B here), and the reading is steady, so overall, I'm pleased.
I also picked up a planner. I ADORE IT. It is entirely secular, and is up to me to customize however I want. I am SO excited to be using it, and once we hit the first full week of June, I can keep tabs on what's going on using the planner. I'm entirely too pleased about it, which is really just a level of my dorkiness, but hey. As it stands, there is very little that I don't geek out about, so hey. I'll take it. ^_^
Social stuff... is going to get harder. It looks more and more like our SpiralScout circle is going to be on hiatus. That's a big bummer, it was really fun for LP. However, if it does fold until the fall, I should be able to get LP enrolled in the local co-op, which would not only be more regular and frequent than SpiralScouts, but would also be significantly more kids, and across a broad range of interests. That, to me, sounds like a large potential win. I'm so glad I've been thinking about this stuff all along - now when things go pear-shaped, I have a reserve plan. Hooray!
Anyway, off to finish lunch and go to the park!
Math is another fun one. The concepts are things he knows already, which is nice, and makes for easy lesson time. The problem is that the actual application is tricky for him. So, "enter 9 on the abacus" is significantly more difficult than "show me nine on your fingers." I suspect it has a lot to do with how frequently we're doing each thing. We often review his numbers - "show me X!" but not his abacus use. Maybe we'll take a day this week and just use the abacus. Either way, the lessons are designed to be in two parts. What this means is that there's the first half of the lesson, which LP already knows, with practice at the abacus which he doesn't know, followed by a concept he doesn't know at all. Last lesson was ordering by size (which was easy for him), before that, triangles versus quadrilaterals, and today was parallel lines and planes. We'll use parallel at the park today, and keep moving along. So far, he's been whipping through the math, which I expected (I have levels A&B here), and the reading is steady, so overall, I'm pleased.
I also picked up a planner. I ADORE IT. It is entirely secular, and is up to me to customize however I want. I am SO excited to be using it, and once we hit the first full week of June, I can keep tabs on what's going on using the planner. I'm entirely too pleased about it, which is really just a level of my dorkiness, but hey. As it stands, there is very little that I don't geek out about, so hey. I'll take it. ^_^
Social stuff... is going to get harder. It looks more and more like our SpiralScout circle is going to be on hiatus. That's a big bummer, it was really fun for LP. However, if it does fold until the fall, I should be able to get LP enrolled in the local co-op, which would not only be more regular and frequent than SpiralScouts, but would also be significantly more kids, and across a broad range of interests. That, to me, sounds like a large potential win. I'm so glad I've been thinking about this stuff all along - now when things go pear-shaped, I have a reserve plan. Hooray!
Anyway, off to finish lunch and go to the park!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Moving right along
We are well underway with reading and math. We haven't added anything else in, just gone ahead with our general plan to get him ready for the start of the "School Year." As a brief aside, the implementation of a routine strip into our day has helped enormously. Things run much more smoothly around here, and I don't have to keep repeating myself. Love it. Best. Idea. Ever.
Anyway, our reading plan has been modified - he is reading Dr Seuss (thank you Jen!) for practice, and we are using Hooked on Phonics for actual instruction. I thought the DVD component of the HOP plan would help LP significantly - he seems to be a very visual boy. We are now working on whether or not we have the appropriate level of the program for his skill level. At the front of the level book, there is a review from the previous level. LP is able to read the words he should be, but he needs some support to do it. Now, the instructions say he should be able to do this easily. Thing is... LP does not have a "normal" attention span. He is extremely easily distracted for a nearing four year old, and has some issues focusing on things that are not tigers, cars, trucks, or trains. This is all perfectly normal for him, but it makes assessment a lot trickier. For example, one of the words in the review is "rock." I ask him to read the word, showing him rock. He looks at me, and tells me he doesn't know what it says. I ask him to sound it out and he tells me that the line is headed by the number 3, that there are three sides to a triangle, and the box the word is in is orange. So, I refocus him, cover the -ock part of the word, and he says /r/. I uncover the o. He says /o/. I uncover the -ck. He says /k/, rock! He is very much capable of reading the words, but he is just certain for some reason that he can't. He can read cat, hug, run, etc with no help from me. Add on a fourth letter and he's SURE he can't do it. Very odd. But, I'm not sure whether to keep him at the level we have, or bump him back one. I'm not sure if backing up would lead to better speed, fluency, and confidence... or if it would lead to boredom, and money wasted. Ugh.
We have our subjects set for the '12-'13 school year. I've made a very basic scope and sequence for the things I want him to accomplish between now and this time next year. I'm very pleased with this so far, as I'm able to then look at the scope and sequence come December and see how far I have to go, and what needs work. I'm good with that.
Our subject list for the year:
Reading
Writing/Fine Motor
Math
Science
History/Social Studies
Logic
French
Health
I'm ridiculously excited to get things underway. Yes, I know it's painfully obvious, but that's just the way I am.
Anyway, our reading plan has been modified - he is reading Dr Seuss (thank you Jen!) for practice, and we are using Hooked on Phonics for actual instruction. I thought the DVD component of the HOP plan would help LP significantly - he seems to be a very visual boy. We are now working on whether or not we have the appropriate level of the program for his skill level. At the front of the level book, there is a review from the previous level. LP is able to read the words he should be, but he needs some support to do it. Now, the instructions say he should be able to do this easily. Thing is... LP does not have a "normal" attention span. He is extremely easily distracted for a nearing four year old, and has some issues focusing on things that are not tigers, cars, trucks, or trains. This is all perfectly normal for him, but it makes assessment a lot trickier. For example, one of the words in the review is "rock." I ask him to read the word, showing him rock. He looks at me, and tells me he doesn't know what it says. I ask him to sound it out and he tells me that the line is headed by the number 3, that there are three sides to a triangle, and the box the word is in is orange. So, I refocus him, cover the -ock part of the word, and he says /r/. I uncover the o. He says /o/. I uncover the -ck. He says /k/, rock! He is very much capable of reading the words, but he is just certain for some reason that he can't. He can read cat, hug, run, etc with no help from me. Add on a fourth letter and he's SURE he can't do it. Very odd. But, I'm not sure whether to keep him at the level we have, or bump him back one. I'm not sure if backing up would lead to better speed, fluency, and confidence... or if it would lead to boredom, and money wasted. Ugh.
We have our subjects set for the '12-'13 school year. I've made a very basic scope and sequence for the things I want him to accomplish between now and this time next year. I'm very pleased with this so far, as I'm able to then look at the scope and sequence come December and see how far I have to go, and what needs work. I'm good with that.
Our subject list for the year:
Reading
Writing/Fine Motor
Math
Science
History/Social Studies
Logic
French
Health
I'm ridiculously excited to get things underway. Yes, I know it's painfully obvious, but that's just the way I am.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Back in the Swing.
I'm trying to get us back into the swing of "school." Not because we need to finish things by a set date, but because I want to be to a challenging level of activity for LP by the time we get to September. Essentially, we're hitting on the very basic skills for kindergarten, and are moving along from there. Today, we tackled reading and math. Tomorrow, I'd like to do those plus science, but we'll have to see how it goes.
Reading is a hard one. He is further along than I can get him to go. The problem is that the books designed for children to learn to read? Yeah, have you looked at those books? They're utterly boring. Like, today's book, as far as we read before he lost all semblance of interest, went like this:
Muff and Ruff.
Muff and Ruff tug a rag rug.
Mac ran to Ruff.
Mac, Muff, and Ruff tug.
Rip it up, Ruff.
Nip at it, Muff.
Ruff hid in it.
Cripes, if this was what I was reading all the time, I'd never read anything either. So now, I begin the real challenge. Finding books he can read that are interesting to him. The "We Can" (I think they're called) books, the ones where I read one side and he reads the other? Yeah, bogus. The stories are still boring, but now they're actively boring the heck out of both of us, instead of just him. I suspect we'll need to get a good library book to sit down with and we'll see what we can do from there. Of course, trying to find that library book that won't be too ridiculously over his head while still being interesting... That's the kicker.
Math was our second venture today. We started Right Start Math level A with the theory that it would be better to start him below his level and work up than it would be to start right where he is and immediately present a challenge. This way, if he's not genuinely able to complete everything covered in level A, he will have the time to do it before we start him on level B (which is where he tested). For right now, it looks like we'll be doing one lesson per day, though the program is designed for two lessons per week. At least I don't feel like I'm letting things lag behind before we jump in with both feet, right? Anyway, today's lesson was identifying quantities 1-3, on sight without counting. Also, tallying. He flew through it in no time at all. I wasn't exactly surprised that he knew it, it was how fast he adapted to the lesson and the answers I was expecting that threw me. He did great - the hardest part of the lesson for him was in the manual dexterity required to show me two and three fingers on his left hand. Hopefully the trend will continue, I suppose we'll see. Either way, I look forward to the challenges.
Reading is a hard one. He is further along than I can get him to go. The problem is that the books designed for children to learn to read? Yeah, have you looked at those books? They're utterly boring. Like, today's book, as far as we read before he lost all semblance of interest, went like this:
Muff and Ruff.
Muff and Ruff tug a rag rug.
Mac ran to Ruff.
Mac, Muff, and Ruff tug.
Rip it up, Ruff.
Nip at it, Muff.
Ruff hid in it.
Cripes, if this was what I was reading all the time, I'd never read anything either. So now, I begin the real challenge. Finding books he can read that are interesting to him. The "We Can" (I think they're called) books, the ones where I read one side and he reads the other? Yeah, bogus. The stories are still boring, but now they're actively boring the heck out of both of us, instead of just him. I suspect we'll need to get a good library book to sit down with and we'll see what we can do from there. Of course, trying to find that library book that won't be too ridiculously over his head while still being interesting... That's the kicker.
Math was our second venture today. We started Right Start Math level A with the theory that it would be better to start him below his level and work up than it would be to start right where he is and immediately present a challenge. This way, if he's not genuinely able to complete everything covered in level A, he will have the time to do it before we start him on level B (which is where he tested). For right now, it looks like we'll be doing one lesson per day, though the program is designed for two lessons per week. At least I don't feel like I'm letting things lag behind before we jump in with both feet, right? Anyway, today's lesson was identifying quantities 1-3, on sight without counting. Also, tallying. He flew through it in no time at all. I wasn't exactly surprised that he knew it, it was how fast he adapted to the lesson and the answers I was expecting that threw me. He did great - the hardest part of the lesson for him was in the manual dexterity required to show me two and three fingers on his left hand. Hopefully the trend will continue, I suppose we'll see. Either way, I look forward to the challenges.
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