Category: Gifted

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Homeschooling My Gifted Kid, Part 2: What the Bleep is PG!?

Homeschooling My Gifted KId Part 2: What the Bleep is PG? yellowreadis.com Image: Old map

In this second part on our convoluted journey to homeschooling, I’d like to talk about the crazy slippery slope of figuring out what ‘gifted’ and ‘PG’ actually mean.

This is not meant to be a definitive guide for people trying to discover more about gifted kids, or IQ. This is just our personal journey, and a few of the curious signposts along the way.

What is high IQ?

This is actually pretty tricky to define. Is it ability? Talent? Potential? How do you define it? What does it mean? Is there more than one type of intelligence? Western society has been tying its metaphorical knickers about this for over a hundred years, and there’s still no end in sight.
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Homeschooling My Gifted Kid Part 1: How Learning Happens

Homeschooling My Gifted Kid Part 1: How Learning Happens, yellowreadis.com Image: Old map
 

The path we have taken to get to homeschool the way we do has been rather convoluted. It is a path that has had some peculiar turns, as I have discovered more about the nature of the way children learn, and the differences between how most children learn and the way my two bundles of joy learn.

I thought I might, in the next few posts, take everyone on a journey to a few of the sign-posts along the way that have led us to our own personal homeschool experience.
This is not intended to be a guide for anyone interested in homeschooling. There are many upon many resources for that. This is just a personal journey. Continue reading “Homeschooling My Gifted Kid Part 1: How Learning Happens”

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Dealing with Diagnosis Soup

Dealing With Diagnosis Soup, yellowreadis,com Image: Tree and clouds with red sky

It’s been a while since my last post. Mainly because we’ve been busy with what I like to call the ‘diagnosis soup’ – seeing all the specialists who have a stake in helping C with his disabilities. As well as learning how to integrate all the home therapy into our daily routine. With all of C’s and J’s diagnoses, if we did all that each Dr recommended – there would be no time for eating, sleeping …or living!
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I don’t want to teach my kids maths, I want my kids to LIVE Maths

Fractal Frost pattern, Wikimedia Commons

This is a post in response to Penelope Trunk’s post on not teaching Maths, as well as the many, many comments on the blog. It made me sad. It made me think. And it reinforced for me the idea that the maths taught in school is – the wrong maths.

It’s a discussion that you will hear whenever you get a group of mathematicians together. The things that inspire, that make you go ‘wow!’ are the things you never see in school.

Imagine for a moment that learning english was taught only through reading ‘Terms and Conditions on Contracts‘. Worthy and useful, perhaps. But you never saw poetry. There was no mention of Shakespere, and the idea of a story or novel was incomprehensible to your teachers. Who would ‘love’ english after 13 years of that? Why would you want to know how to read?
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The Hell of “Socialization”

The Hell of "Socialization" yellowreadis.com Image: textured wood

I have been delaying doing a post on “socialization”. I have been at a loss on how to approach talking about it, really. So I thought I’d just tell it how it is.

You see, C has LD‘s that severely affect how he is able to handle social situations. C is an affectionate, loving, quiet and intelligent kid. But get him in a noisy crowd, and suddenly he goofs off, gets very loud or runs away, or spends all his time looking at the ceiling, listening to fans or noisy air conditioners.

We went to the OT yesterday for C’s regular appointment. And they’re quite wonderful. They were able to diagnose C and help with very practical suggestions for helping him cope. They also gave us names for the many behaviours we have observed.
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