Gifted Education

I want to scream so therefore I will blog. The phone rang this morning at 8:02AM while we were sleeping in after a late night of sitting in lawn chairs in our front yard watching the Perseid meteor shower. The viewing coming after a week of immersing ourselves in meteors, comets, and all things astronomy. I didn't recognize the phone number so I wandered out to listen to the answering machine located in the kitchen. It was the school district wanting to know if Rebecca would be joining them this year in their "ELP." ELP stands for "Extended Learning Program," and from their own website, the program, "is designed to challenge intellectually and academically gifted students." One of my first questions is why these programs are always being disguised in covert acronyms: MGM - "Mentally Gifted Minors" (that's from WAY back in my elementary school days), GATE - "Gifted and Talented Education," and TAG - "Talented and Gifted Education." I'm sure there are more. I do believe it is the first step in the weed-out process by making the acronym so confusing that the ordinary parent cannot figure out what it is.

I mean no offense to the nice teacher calling to inquire about Rebecca, but the message itself made me laugh when she said, "We're practically on the other side of the world from you," in relation to where the school is located: distance to the school = 22 miles, distance to my work = 38 miles, distance to Mike's work = 29 miles, distance to the pediatrician = 27 miles, etc. Seeing a pattern? If 22 miles away is, "the other side of the world," then I would like to know how this program plans to broaden my child's scope of the world? So I looked again at the handout they sent home with Rebecca on the first day back to her homeschool enrichment program. The program meets once per week, all day, and some sample sessions are: "Snap It" - take pictures using iPhoto complemented with creative writing (CHECK: Does making her own vacation DVD this summer using iDVD count? How about writing and publishing her own posts for this blog?) "Fold It Up" - learn about Japanese art and origami. (CHECK: I think she earned a girl scout badge for origami because I remember the two of us one day making oodles of origami creatures to take to a meeting. How about our recent trip to the Phoenix Art Museum and checking out the Asian Art display? Her haiku notebooks she keeps?) "Flying High" - the principles of flight and designing a structure that will survive launch into orbit. (CHECK: Challenger Space Camp? The rocket she built and launched with her dad, the cub scout leader?) I'm sure these activities would be great if she wasn't ALREADY doing them! If she needed a break from the boring classroom where she was already way ahead of the rest of the class, then I would sign her up. However, here's where I want to make another case for homeschooling: I designed the curriculum with my child's individual needs already in mind!

New day and I'm still trying to figure out if I'm challenging my "gifted" child. I've decided to analyze what we're doing for signs of "gifted." Here is a true sample window into my world this morning:

• Around 8:30AM wandered out to find Rebecca on the couch reading Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. She's excited about reading this book because she wants to partake in a book club with her friends, and this is the book they're reading. "Did you eat breakfast?" I say. "Yes, I had Nutella on toast, watermelon, and milk," she says.
• I make tea, and check to see if I'm up on Facebook Scrabble (a.k.a. "Mommy's teacher lounge.")
• Patrick wanders out and pours himself a bowl of Raisin Bran and a glass of orange juice. He sits at the table and starts reading his 933-page Philip Pullman novel that he selected for himself at Half Price Books earlier in the week. I laugh at parents struggling to find "A.R." (Accelerated Reader) books from the school's list when this process is so easy, and I want to brag for a minute: they both had near-perfect reading comprehension scores on their standardized tests without ever taking a single "A.R. comprehension test."
• Everybody's done with breakfast, and we decide it's time to start math. We spend nearly an hour on the following problem from Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra by Stanley F. Schmidt, Ph.D.: "Snow stopped breathing (he is an army sergeant that has kidnapped Fred, our main character through the math book, who is a five-year-old college math professor), and the nurse indicated to the doctor that there may be something wrong. The doctor concurred and ordered that Snow be given some medicine. What he said to the nurse was, '30 cc of 25% cough medicine,' figuring that if Snow would cough, he'd have to start breathing again. The nurse ran to the cabinet and found two bottles. One of them was too weak. It only contained 20% of the cough medicine by volume. The other bottle was too strong. It was 35% of the cough medicine by volume. The nurse had to mix the two together to get 30 cc of 25% medicine. (A "cc" is a cubic centimeter. That's about the volume of a small sugar cube.) How much of each were used?" This math question led us to pull out a bottle of Robitussin, a bottle of Axe (we didn't have another cough medicine), and a medicine syringe, as we did a physical demonstration of what was being asked. They made legends, devised an equation, added the values, discussed the hypothetical possibility of whether or not this medicine would solve Snow's medical issue, and they argued like all good 10 and 12-year-old siblings do. In the end, they solved the problem.
• After math, they went to work on writing blog posts for Our Homeschool Mystery since we have a loose goal of one blog post per month, and they haven't done one for August yet. While they write, I write too, as I am doing right now. I can't think of a better way to motivate them to write, then for them to watch me do it, as well.

As part of my research for this topic, I have been looking into what a true "gifted curriculum" entails to see if my morning fits the bill. I've written before about the feelings of self-doubt that homeschooling parents face from time to time. I think when anyone does something slightly different from the norm, there are always those times when you ask yourself, "Am I doing the right thing?" There's a lot less to think about when you're in the middle of the herd of sheep, following along, instead of going solo on a new path. So I went to the National Association of Gifted Children website, and clicked on "publications" which led me to their quarterly magazine: Parenting for High Potential. I'm sure this is a fine publication, but I can't get past the title. My question is: high potential for what? High potential to learn? A gifted child with a learning disability doesn't have any higher potential to learn than a non-gifted child. High potential for success? How do we measure success? High potential for happiness? Does having a "gifted education" make you any happier in life? Does being "gifted" make you any happier in life? One of the most prolific books I have ever read was Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I'm not going to go too in-depth into this book other than to say: read it! He has many specific case examples of how getting along with others, empathy, and self-discipline have more to do with our futures than IQ.

I asked Rebecca if she wanted to go to the gifted school because ultimately we have a democratic household. Her response: "I would miss my friends." I said: "But maybe you could make new friends?" Her response: "The kids in that class are all nerdy boys, one annoying girl, and one sassy girl." Well, that sounds fun! After her first day back to her two-day-per-week enrichment program, the first thing she wanted to tell me when I picked her up was how she led the class around to all their rotating classrooms because she had "memorized the map" and knew where everything was (they are at a new campus.) This was the most fun part of her day. She enjoys being the leader. She likes it when her peers ask for her help with things. Why would I want to put her in a class where she is no longer the leader? When she gets in the "real world," will she not be with all walks of life -- followers and leaders? So . . . for all those people that criticize homeschooling for segregating children, I say to you: school segregates children! Homeschooling allows kids to learn at the pace and level appropriate for each child, and they can then make friends the way the rest of us do: through common interests, clubs, groups, church, sports, and shared social time together.
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The Math Book

Our homeschooling math curriculum is no ordinary math book, it's a story. Yes, we have broken every law in the universe saying the only way to teach is sitting a student in front of a boring textbook until brain death occurs, but we have been learning out of a book series about a five year old college math professor for three years and so far no SWAT team has tried to blow down our door. This book is called, Life of Fred. In the first book, Life of Fred: Fractions by Stanley F. Schmidt, Fred (the five year old math professor) is walking to his first class of the day when he sees a student heading to class on a bike. Fred then notices how much faster he could get to the math classroom if he owned a bike (Fred is only three feet tall and walks slowly) plus he could wear a cool helmet. So Fred finds an ad in the college newspaper and goes to buy a bike were the owner changes the price to the exact amount Fred has in his account (overcharging him for the bike), and then has it shipped to his office. Once back at his office, he finds the package and remembers that his scissors have rounded tips. Instead, he tries to use an 18" knife he bought for his friend Alexander's birthday. He   drops the knife on his foot, his friend Betty takes him to the hospital, Alexander meets them, and the trio go out for pizza. There, Fred gets a job, lights fire to the place, sits on the roof of a car going through a car wash to clean all the soot off of him, finds there was a marshmallow in his pocket, wipes the gooey mess on a random cat, (this cat then ends up brushing up against a little girl and gets stuck to her leg) and finally remembers his bike. At home, he picks the tape off the box and finds that it was filled with junk. Not even parts of a bike. After a trip to the corner for some crying, he finds a forty-button remote, and decides to build a robot.

Every chapter has a "your turn to play" which is a set of math questions about the chapter. After every 4-6 chapters there is "The Bridge," which is ten questions about the past six chapters. After 32 chapters (One book) you come to "The Final Bridge," with questions about every thing you learned. Before we found this book, I    was using an ordinary school math book and would work from 10AM-6:30PM trying to do a single 40 problem page until my mom found a math book series that was just like a book. I found it a lot easier to stay on task when I realized that instead of 40 problems on decimals or 40 division problems, it was ten or so word problems that use all different types of math. Flipping through it, I noticed that instead of just showing you wordless "examples" of one way to do it, it actually told you how to do the problem, and "The Easy Way" to finish it. I tried it out and found that instead of eight hours a day it was taking me less than one. We are currently at the third book (beginning algebra) and have set deadlines for each book so we can finish them before I start going to high-school. Thanks Stan!

Checklist to Start Homeschooling: First I Shall......

Well, there are many things to do before you actually start doing the schooling part of homeschooling. For some people it's buying the supplies or becoming an official homeschooler, getting a place to do the homeschooling, or, like us, pulling the kids out of school. I don't quite remember which came first for us, being pulled out of school or becoming an official homeschooler. For us, I think, they happened at the same time. It's quite simple to become a homeschooler. All you have to do is print out a form, sign it, then turn it in to the county courthouse. So we did just that. Yay! We're now official homeschoolers! Now we need to get our supplies. I was thinking we would take a long trip to one of those cool teacher supply stores that are jam-packed with stickers, (yay!) but we don't only use teacher supply stores. Instead, my mom decided to buy off the internet. Sure, now we don't have to go to a jam-packed (with people) store but I didn't get my stickers. Did my mom get everything we needed off the internet? Of course not! You can't get everything off the internet! We get a good amount of the stuff we need from places like Wal-Mart at back to school time (including my stickers.) "But what did you need?" you're probably thinking. Here's a list to answer that question, if you asked it:                                                                                         

Math books - Life of Fred by Stanley F. Schmidt, PhD                                                 

Writing books- Writing Strands by Dave Marks

Science books- McWizKid Science by Larry D. McClellan

History books and movie- What Your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grader needs to know and various movies and TV shows from the History Channel

Play tickets- for various plays at various theaters                                                       
                                                                                                                               

Homeschooling classes- at various places                                                                 

Notebooks- one of my personal favorites

Journals- another of my personal favorites

Folders- to hold our many reports and subjects

Pencils- another favorite

Glue sticks- to glue things together of course
                                                                                                                                
Tape- to tape things together                                                                                     

Paper- pretty essential

Colored paper- a colored version of paper

Colored pencils- our colored pencils are erasable and come from Crayola

Crayons- not erasable, but still from Crayola

Computers- I'm pretty sure mine's not from Crayola (I'm on Frankenstein, Patrick's on Lydonstein - we all have our own computers that my dad put together)
                                                                                                                                
Markers- not erasable, but washable..... from Crayola                                             

Printers- they have nothing to do with Crayola

Rulers- from various places, maybe even some from Crayola!!!

Good books- from the book store...... not Crayola

Printable learning materials- from our computer to, oh, I don't know, our printer (not Crayola, or at least I don't think)

Helpful computer games- now tell me, where would you find helpful computer games?
                                                                                                                                
Stickers :)- yet another personal favorite

and most importantly,
Pajamas (I'll explain in "My Life in the PJ Club")- um, the type I like.

Once you have all these things you are ready to become a homeschooler, sort of.





                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                   











                                                                                                                                

Eagleridge: What is It?

Mondays and Wednesdays are not the same old wake up at ten and take your time through math, writing, and music.


On Wednesdays, we wake up at 7:00, get dressed, have breakfast, and then head to Eagleridge via my best friend Devin's mom. Eagleridge is pretty much just a school for homeschoolers. It's all the ordinary classes (except math) just without homework, and you can choose which days you go. Once we get there at 8:30 AM, Rebecca goes off to some class I don't know of and I go to Physical Education. There, we usually do fitness then move on to the lesson (the sport were working on) and then move on to Science. Every month we work on a different type of science. This month we've been working on the physics of flight. My next class is Student Council. This year I ran for treasurer, lost, found an organization for our Christmas toy drive, was home sick the day we decided on a different organization, seconded the motion to make cards to sell for a fundraiser, tried to make a motion to do crazy hair day again this year, failed unanimously,and my idea for the school dance was the chosen. After that, my next class is Yearbook. In there, we are currently making houses on Google Sketch Up because there is not much else to do, but all we did was made pages for the yearbook. (I made the student council page.) Next, we have lunch. After 30 minutes of recess, we have Composition, Computers, and finally, Art. School ends at 3:30 PM on Wednesdays.


On Mondays, I wake up at 6:30 AM, get dressed, and then again get picked up by Devin's mom. The day starts at 8:00 AM with Medieval History were we are currently writing business letters to the teacher about applying to NASA to go back in time to retrieve lost history. My next class is Compass Learning Math which is an online math program. Next, I have Chess Club where we learn strategies and play chess. After Chess Club, I have Sports Math in which we are currently doing fantasy football. Next I have lunch. After lunch, I have Pre-Algebra. In here it is a lot like school just made easier by the best teacher in the world. Next, I have Physical Education which is just like on Wednesdays. After that I have Microsoft Office in which we do different projects using Microsoft Office. Finally, I play clarinet in Band, my last class of the day. School ends at 4:30 PM on Mondays.


One of the most frequently asked questions is if I miss anything from when I used to be in school. My answer to that is Eagleridge has all the stuff that I might miss from school!

How is Home Better?

Every time I go somewhere I am asked where I go to school. Not everyone goes to school. I haven't been in a regular 5 day-a-week public school for 3 years. So I tell them, "I don't go to school, but I do go to an enrichment program called Eagleridge." One time I got asked, "What does it enrich?" Eagleridge is like school, it actually is a public school. I couldn't think of what to answer. So I just said, "It teaches you a little bit of every thing: writing, science, computers........ but no math." Math is the least popular subject to many so whenever I say we have no math, I usually get a big "LUCKY!!!" from someone my age. Or I will tell them I go to school only two days a week, "LUCKY!!!" I do get math but I get it at home. I probably get more math than regular schoolers actually. How am I "lucky"? I have "school" all seven days a week. I'm not saying homeschooling is bad, but you do have school all seven days a week, at least in our family.

One thing about Eagleridge is that they expect you to already know what they're talking about because Eagleridge is for enriching not teaching. I only go two days a week because I do my main schooling at home. Eagleridge lets you chose your classes on Mondays and Tuesday/Thursday. On those days you get mixed with kids of all different grades and ages. On Wednesdays and Fridays you go around to assigned classes with the kids of your grade. I enjoy Eagleridge because it gives me a chance to be with other homeschoolers. Eagleridge also doesn't give out too much homework because you already have the work that your parents assigned you to do and that is your "home work" (the work you do at home.) And yes, homeschooling is just like a school of homework.

I had a lot of problems with regular schooling. I was shy (and still am) so I had a lot of problems talking to the teacher. I was a lot smarter than the rest of the class so I was doing work that I already knew how to do. You see, I was ready for second grade in first and am ready for sixth grade and I am in fourth. Homeschooling has been very helpful to me because I can work at my own pace. Plus, lunch can be every 45 minutes!

Pistol Packin' Mama

The big day came where we downloaded the "Affidavit of Intent to Home School" form, signed our promise that we would "provide at least the subjects of reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science," got the form notarized, and all piled into the car to file the form at the county courthouse. When we got there, all four of us went in with the magic form. We handed the form over to the woman expecting . . . ? "Are you sure about this?" "We need to take your photos for the FBI." "Here's a list of the testing schedule so we can check if you're doing your job." "You're the worst parents ever." We heard none of that. The lady merely said, "Thanks." No balloons dropped from the ceiling. No judge shook our hand. No family photo was taken.

Now what? My first concern was that we get out and meet some other homeschoolers so my kids wouldn't feel like they were the only ones being homeschooled. After all, my biggest reservation about homeschooling was the worry that my children would not be exposed to diversity. I remember when Amy Carter attended public school during the Carter presidency, and that is the first recollection I have of the importance of mixing socioeconomic classes. Around that time, I began to take note of the segregation within my own southern California community. We had a hispanic housekeeper that we used to drive home at the end of her day of working for us. They were a large family with four or five kids and various other family members all living in a one-bedroom rented mobile home across the street from the railroad tracks in our pricey beach community. We would drive up to find her family's laundry drying on the clothesline after her day of doing our family's laundry. This seemed like injustice to me. My mother did not have a job outside the home, it just seemed like we had a housekeeper because that is what one did. My mother would tell me, "Elena is happy to have the job with us because she just wants to send money home to Mexico." So then I wanted to know what was going on in Mexico! I was pretty sure Elena's family did not have a lot to eat because they were relieving us of our male baby goats left and right. About this time, I became the "president" of our 4-H goat group (hold the applause) so I was learning a lot about dairy goats, and I knew that the females were coveted for the milk and there wasn't a lot of use for the males other than breeding (Elena lived in a trailer without a yard) or meat. I asked why we didn't take Juan the gardener home after his day with us, but that was because Juan didn't have a home. He lived in a cardboard box in a canyon near our house. My friends and I used to play in the canyon during the day, and we saw how Juan lived. So when people ask me, "Why don't you just move to a nicer neighborhood with better schools?" I really don't want to live in the high house on the hill anymore.

So how was I going to expose my kids to different people, such as they would get at school, when most days it was the three of us genetically-linked "diverse" people hanging out together. We started going to homeschool support groups, park days, museum days, art classes, field trips, music classes, etc. Early on, we were probably doing too much as we were gone almost every day for this or that activity for homeschoolers. One of the biggest surprises to homeschooling has been the oddball people we have met since we left the school system. There's the kid who has a seizure disorder so his mom has to stay with him all the time so she figured she'd just start homeschooling him. We've met several dyslexic kids -- totally smart kids, but worksheets and in-class board work were completely wasted time for them. We know kids that were adopted from different countries that are being homeschooled because their ages and their ability level (aka "grade" level) do not match. Also, many kids that, for whatever reason, are either way above or way below grade level; the school system tends to just not know what to do with these kids. We have also learned about different religions because there are lots of people that homeschool so they can infuse religion as part of what their kids learn. I've met parents that are anti-vaccination, anti-medicine, and anti-establishment. My favorite mom: the "pistol packin' mama," always showed up to homeschool park days with a baby in a sling and a gun on her hip. I have lived one block from the "projects" in downtown San Francisco, have frequently walked London parks in the dark of night when I lived there, have traveled through Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin when that was still in existence, and currently work as a an ER nurse which is consistently rated as one of the top professions for workplace violence. At my job, at any time, we have armed hospital security, armed Sheriff's officers, armed Department of Corrections officers, prisoners, AND gang members, but somehow a group of homeschooling children and moms in a suburban park appeared to be a danger to her. Gotta love homeschoolers!