Is your student very bright but bored?
Homeschool parents can test the level of the student in each subject. The standardized tests help (Iowa Basic, CAT test, or any of the others.) Is the student at grade level? Above grade level and bored? Or below level and frustrated? Using a math placement test can help. I recommend Saxon for math placement.
Once you know what level, then you can make sure their curriculum is at their level all the time in every subject. Keeping it challenging but not overwhelming can make a huge difference in their success. It doesn’t matter what level they are – it matter that they are working at THEIR level. They can succeed if they are working on their level. If they aren’t, then they may be bored or hopelessly lost.
If your child is very bright, and yet does poorly in a school situation, you may want to check if they are truly bored in school.
If you want help with gifted children, consider my NEW audio course, “Gifted Education at Home.” This one hour long audio course is geared toward homeschooling parents with children in grades 1 – 12. What I’ve found is that these strategies work great for all students, not just the gifted ones!
I hope this helps!
Check out the brand new audio course from The HomeScholar, “Gifted Education at Home.”
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Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
J W says:
One word of caution, though – just because a child scores at a college freshman level on a standardized test doesn’t mean he or she is capable of working at that level on a daily basis. At least for the CAT, the grade level indicates how well an *average* college freshman, 8th grader, etc. would do if given the *same* test as your child. So if the average 10th grader is as dumb as a box of rocks, a perfect score would place your 6th grader at a PhD level.
So pay attention to what the grade level placement *really* means, and most of all, look at the test questions themselves. Take note of any trends in missed and aced questions. Be aware that test taking itself is also a learned skill. I didn’t realize that until after I’d washed out on the PSAT and went through the Princeton Review’s materials.
As I’ve said in another post, I recently had my daughter take a test three times. She “should have” aced it the first time. I eventually got it through my thick skull that I had failed to teach her an effective study strategy for that type of test. She aced it the third time.
October 24th, 2008 at 7:50 am