Know of any homeschooling curriculums for girfted learners in Illinois?

Question

The title says it all... thanks.

gifted* sorry.

Answer 1

www.tagfam.org - sign up for the tagmax list - full of homeschoolers of gifted kids. The tagmax archives are a treasure trove of ideas and resources.

The first two sites have all sorts of books and curriculum for gifted learners.
http://www.rfwp.com/
Royal Fireworks Press
http://www.prufrock.com/
Prufrock Press

www-epgy.stanford.edu
Stanford Educational Program for Gifted Youth has great math curriculum K-university level, and for older kids great expository writing classes. They have also started a gifted online high school grades 10-12. Their K-7 math program is also available through Johns Hopkins CTY or the Northwestern link below, but it is generally cheaper through Stanford and Stanford is more generous with financial aid.

http://www.chicagovcs.org/
A new virtual school for illinois residents using the www.k12.com curriculum. The curriculum is not designed strictly for gifted learners but can easily be adapted. For one thing you can choose different grade levels for different subjects making it easier to fit a gifted kid who's development is uneven - as is often the case. Very complete and comprehensive curriculum, that was a good start for our homeschooling adventure. We still use them for history, LA, and art.

http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/index.html
Offers lots of distance learning classes through their talent search.

www.mentisonline.com
Wendy Conklin, former northwestern instructor, holds online classes for grade 3-6.

Hope this gives you a good start - have fun on your adventure!

Answer 2

What does Illinois have to do with this? Nothing.

So now, where is the GIFT? In Reading? Then propel them in bigger and harder literature, US, World, interpretive literature, etc.
Is it in Science? Then get them some real science kit, real science tools, microscopes, chemistry set, rocket kits...etc.
Is it math, speed them thru, use 2 textbooks a year instead of one. If your state has a basic requirement, post it. All states require Math and English, and several sciences. Cover these subject matter, but emphasize their gifted areas, but giving them all they need to progress at their speed. Whatever books or contacts they need.
Be sure they stay on target in all other subjects. Have them tested once a year for the state, so they can see the progress.
If they are gifted in art or music...give them daily opportunity for that!
If it is psychology, pottery or animal care...makes no difference, all the above works.

Answer 3

I would try the Charlotte Mason curriculum. I used a modified version with my children. She produced a series of books on homeschooling, and that's probably the best source, but try here:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/

As I recall there is a Christian element to her curriculum, but it is incidental, not a core component of the curriculum. One element at the heart of her curriculum is short bursts of very difficult texts. It works.

Answer 4

IMO, the sooner you can the 'gifted' label the better off you'll be. It is only term really necessary in schools for children who perform better in the system than children of other learning styles. I mean no disrespect to you in saying that but because we as homeschoolers do not have to use texts from schools, we aren't confined to having to use the labels so frequently given. Now I can say that the following recommendations are 'challenging'....

We use the Charlotte Mason method but I've tweaked it to make it secular for us, only the highest quality of books are recommended. Charlotte Mason (a 19th Century Educator who still has schools running in England) believed that children deserved the only best liberal education despite their income level. She did not believe in using dumbed down literature. For instance, we are studying Plutarch's Lives (the original not a children's version but you can use a good children's classical version to help in understanding) as well as Shakespeare Lessons are short and the emphasis is on narration or the"telling-back" of readings. We do not read "A Pilgrim's Progress" BUT that is one heckuva a book and the recommendation is to start reading (in original text) to your first graders...800 words a week. Mine have never been to schools to be labeled one way or the other but we love the method and it definately promotes self-learning, I barely step in as 'teacher'. We switched our lesson hours around but only because we live in Pensacola, FL and the afternoons are too hot for fun outdoors so we use mornings and evening for free time, and the afternoons are used for lessons. You can go to http://www.amblesideonline.org for more information, books lists, lesson plans, etc. Many of the books can be downloaded and printed for free online.

You may prefer "The Well-Trained Mind" which is a very tough classical curriculum, longer hours, etc.

Just my .02 cents

Answer 5

Spelling, for starters.

Answer 6

www.robinsoncurriculum.com