i know for sure our school system doesnt start testing kids for giften program until 1st grade. I am interested in inrolling my 4 year old into something similar. His reading is doing very very well. He sounds out a lot of difficult words. I think soon we will be completing kindergarden level with him. Maybe in 2-3 months. Does anyone know where should i go with him? He loves reading a lot.
Trying, My dd did kingdergarden ad first grade at that age, we just let her plug away and continue into the next grade of work. We did not put her in any 'gifted program' but I suppose if I had her tested she would have tested thus. I didnt want her being different as a little one so I did not push the issue but tried to keep her in level courses at church and such so she could be viewed as equal to her peers.
yeah he just turned 4 not long ago so i asume we will be entering 5 years old stage with our feet in strong 1st grade reading. I THINK he will be reading 1st grade in next few months. I will defenatly continue his readng even if we cant find anything. In my family beeing advanced is not being different. When i grew up if we were advanced in something we would be considered something like "this is supposed to happen and just keep up with what you are capable" kinda thing. Noone labled up gifted or anything. I think i kinda have the same aproach to my kids as well seems like. If they are capable then its a shame not to do it and not to develop. we dont use lables special or giften. We just go with the flow. Although it would be nice to be enrolled where specialists working with kids whose sertain area are easy for them (like reading or math just so i can have some ideas)
in my family it was expected to do more and above but people at church were not as easy to do with, we just saw her as doing more school work, going to the next thing to learn etc. The people at church made a big deal about her knowing all the answers etc, it was annoying because it made kids start treating her different, and they still do. I had to go behind the scenes and ask teachers at church not to single her out so much. She could never figure out how come all the kids didnt know the answers cause they all heard the same story etc, Thats what I meant about being different, at home everyone is different, we all learn at different levels and methods so that is fine.
That is me in my childhood as well but we werent different because our parents made sure we were just as others as we can be I moved to America about 5 years ago so i dont know whats available for kids here. Where i am from we could attand some fun classes and develope what we are best at and such. I am not sure what it is here... so i was asking
there is a group of gifted kids on this homeschool spot, some of the moms should chime in soon, I think they have a yahoo group too... so they will know about such things,
Some colleges have summer and Saturday programs. Our girls attended a summer session at the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William & Mary. They enjoyed it but honestly, for the price, we haven't done it since. All 3 of mine would qualify now with their standardized test scores, etc....and it'd be almost $900 for a session. Yikes!! Plus travel back and forth since we don't live in Williamsburg (although an easy 20-30 min drive).
I was reading at 4, too. I wish my parents had homeschooled me. I would have not tried to hide my intelligence to fit in with my peers...or worse, started showing it off and alienating myself all the same. As a homeschooling parent you have the ability to encourage your gifted child to excel and the relationships they have with various people of various ages will undoubtedly help them get acclimated to the varying types of intelligences that God gave people. So glad you have the opportunity to do this for your child. Enjoy! Now, to find a possible previous thread that addresses gifted kids who are not motivated academically....
I've known kids who were classified "gifted" fairly early on, but by the time they were out of elementary school, most of their classmates had caught up. "Giftedness" is hard to define in a "once for all" kind of testing situation. If you're homeschooling, there's absolutely no need to have your child tested and labeled. Just go with what the child can do, enjoys doing, and is appropriate to the child's other areas of development. For example, just because a young child CAN read "young adult" novels, doesn't mean they necessarily should read them, because the content might be inappropriate to their emotional development. OTOH, they might very well read and comprehend a nonfiction book that's geared to the same age-level as that novel... So we have to pick and choose.
I'm going to have to disagree with this post and will cite siome links for you. My 4 year old is is 1st grade this year for most subjects (middle school "reading" level ... as in figuring out what a word says, but only 2nd for grammar/vocab/comprehension). We plan to have him evaluated soon. We don't need a label or an IQ score. We want answers about what does/doesn't work for him, and we want to know if he has any learning disabilities that are being masked by areas that are far above the norm. He's great at compensating to make himself appear normal ... whether than means pretending to know something he doesn't (in front of us), or pretending not to know something he knows (in front of others). Look for a book called "Some of My Best Friends Are Books". It's a guide to help you find age-appropriate books on the gifted level from PreK thru 12th. Also read the links below. If you're able, you should consider the testing center in Denver. http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/articles/testinghomeschoolers.html http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/nation_deceived/ http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/About_GDC/gdcexprienc.htm *edit* I meant to add... I don't know where you live, but here, testing in PS doesn't start until the END of 3rd grade. There is a gifted private academy, though, and it has a summer camp program starting at age 4. It's expensive when compared to other summer camps, but IMO, totally worth it, since other programs would be a waste of money (they don't allow you to enroll your child based on grade, only age ... and since most 4 year olds haven't started school yet, that means he'd be doing preschool level work).
The only reason for the term "gifted program" in the public schools is they like to keep all kids of a certain age in a certain grade and not allow them to advance. So every 6 yr old who functions at the level of a 3rd grader needs a gifted program because they would not allow a 6 yr old to do 3rd grade work. Most gifted programs are jokes. You are best off just allowing your child to keep moving forward and following her interests.
I have a question for you all.. what do you think being gifted will do for your child in later years? If they are young now and are excelling, when they reach High School younger than 'norm' and graduate early what will you do about it? My dd is not sure if she wants to go out to college at her age but is also interested in learning more so we may do online courses for her for a year or so untill she feels more confident or send her to a Christian college that we know a friend ( girl) goes to so she wont feel alone.
I'm sorry, but I don't get why you're disagreeing with what I said. I said it from my experience -- how do you disagree with someone else's experience, other than to say that yours has been different? I spent twenty years in the ps system, and part of my job was evaluating kids for any kind of exceptionalities. I've known gifted kids, LD kids, and gifted-LD kids, as well as kids with other types of exceptionalities. I believe we both said that we need to choose age-appropriate materials, not just let them read any and everything just because they can. I agree that PS usually doesn't test until end of third grade - but in our state there were circumstances allowed for testing earlier. I also agree that most "gifted" programs in ps are a joke. It is my opinion, based on my experience, that gifted children would most of the time be better off homeschooled, where they can progress (with a wise parent's guidance, not some bureaucrat's) at their own pace in their own way. It is also my opinion that if a child is "merely average" in one area or another, it does not constitute a learning disability, even if all that child's other areas far surpass others the same age.
