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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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Three Inventions That Could Change Our World, By Not Changing Us

Three Inventions That Could Change the World by Not Changing Us, yellowreadis.com Image: Blue grid on red background

Today I thought I’d go in a different direction to usual. In the course of homeschooling, sometimes I come across really cool ideas when looking for lessons that I wouldn’t otherwise have known anything about.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could fix the problems of global warming, not by cutting down on our lifestyle, but through replacing old products with new ones? Cheaper ones? More humane, more economic, safer products? Well. here are three that I think could rock our world.
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How to Read Science Journalism

I have decided to write a piece on how to read articles on science. Because, quite frankly, most (but not all) science journalism sucks. The more mainstream the website / newspaper / TV the news appears in, the more the contents are awful and removed from reality.

It doesn’t matter what the topic – climate change, GM foods, vaccines, or ‘gee whizz we’re going to the stars!’, journalists by and large are science and maths illiterate, and will usually get it wrong. Even the good ones are prone to exaggeration and hyperbole.

The thing is, it’s really, really easy to make sure you’re getting the truth. And this is how to do it:
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Sneaking in an English Lesson

Hi everyone, today I wanted to talk about how I get C to do English lessons – by stealth! My wonderful son has until very recently (the last month!) refused to read fiction books bigger than picture books. He is still an avid reader, but has up until recently preferred reading non-fiction. And writing …well that’s a challenge that we and the OT are meeting one day at a time.

As I have previously talked about, book reviews are a no-no. They managed to completely turn him off small chapter books for months, even ones on Marvel Superheros, a firm favourite topic.

So how do I encourage my reluctant reviewer, writer/ fiction book reader? Well I have a few strategies that have slowly started to make a difference.
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