Does anyone here use HOD for a "gifted" child? 2nd thoughts

[mom23dc]

I am having second thoughts about HOD. I don't want to have second thoughts!!!!!!!!!!! My 10 yo is a very advanced reader. She is also an excellent writer currently working on writing her first YA novel.

She will balk if anything looks "babyish" to her. I need something that is going to make her "think" and think hard. Having meaningful discussions where she can expand her vocabulary. I want to be able to improve her writing as well.

We have not covered much History at all so this is my thought about using Preparing for her. But, by using DITHOR for 6/7/8 I would assume this could expand her thinking skills correct?

Convince me that HOD will be good for her!!

[DHT1999]

Well, we are only using Drawn Into the Heart of Reading right now. We will use Biggers next year. My ten year old will be using the Extension Package. He is gifted in some areas and average in others. I am confident that HOD is going to be a wonderful curriculum for him. In the past, I have used Sonlight (we are now on our third SL core, he's done Core K, Core 1 and now we're doing Core 2), My Father's World (he's completed K, 1st, Adventures and part of Exploring Countries and Cultures), WinterPromise (he completed Animals and Their World's in third grade, almost completely on his own) and we have had times when we've just followed The Well-Trained Mind and/or Ambleside Online. So, you can see that he's covered alot of territory for a ten year old (he just turned ten last week - he's now a fourth grader). I can say with complete assurance that we have never used anything that has caused him to think and apply his knowledge in the way that HOD offers. I have always followed a classical/Charlotte Mason type of program with him and he is very skilled at being able to tell you what he knows (all those narrations!), he is a strong reader (always reading high quality literature) and he is very verbally gifted (as far as vocabulary, he uses good grammar for school work though not always other than school time)... overall, his areas of giftedness lie in the realms of scientific thinking and language arts. He's not a strong writer though. You probably know that many gifted kids have a strong perfectionistic streak that sometimes causes them to be reluctant to carry about particular tasks. Well, he has that to the extreme. So, that has effected his writing though he is certainly on grade level and actually doing very well in that area. Anyways, given all of that, he is still having to slow down and really think his way through his DITHOR assignments. I realize that he has spent alot of time reflecting and telling but he hasn't really been required to think hard, make connections, and come to his own conclusions.


So, I feel like HOD is much stronger in this area than the things we have used in the past. HOD doesn't seem to encourage passive learning in the way that everything else we have used has in various degrees. HOD isn't just about telling the child what you want him or her to know. It's much more than that from what I'm seeing so far. The child has to actively figure things out. Also, both Singapore Math and Rod & Staff English are considered to be very advanced and challenging courses. I think those two would challenge any gifted student! I do think that gifted kids need more room for creativity than Rod & Staff provides, but I think opportunities for that creativity are built into the rest of the HOD guides. Singapore is great for gifted kids.


I can't wait to start Biggers! Because he is gifted, he has a strong drive to learn the things that he wants to learn on his own. He doesn't really need a science curriculum at all, for example. He reads science/natural history book on his own all the time and always has his own projects going. So, I know that Biggers will be "enough" because it will be in addition to the things he does on his own. I think HOD is going to be a perfect complement to the way that he learns and that it will require more of him than anything else we've used in the past.

[mom23dc]

Thank you!! This is exactly what I needed to hear!!

Especially the narration parts. She loves to be able to retell things, and talk, talk talk. I want her to be able to THINK, not just rote memorization of something, KWIM???

Whew, I feel better now, thank you!!

[jg_puppy]

We started Bigger not that long ago. When I first was looking at Bigger I wasn't sure if it would be a good fit for my dd who is an advanced reader. It has been a good fit. We are moving a little faster in Singapore and Rod and Staff because I started her on a lower level so we wouldn't miss anything. Overall I have been very impressed with what we are doing in HOD. We have tried many different things, but this program has been the best fit for us. There are things that I look at the activity and think it might be too easy and she won't get that much out of it. We go ahead and do the activity, and I see my dd having to really think about it. It has been great to watch her growing.

Janet

[Mom2Monkeys]

HOD is the type of curriculum that engages you child-- making them think and come up with answers on their own...not telling them exactly what to learn and what they are meant to get from it...but really letting their minds discover and make connections! Then they get to share all that with you as a way of learning to communicate what they now know as well as provide you with proof of progress.

I have a 7yo 2nd grade dd. She is VERY advanced in pretty much every area. She has been officially deemed as "gifted" by the "professionals", although I'm not the label type We started her off in Beyond this year and I was worried that it might be too babyish for her or not advanced enough since it was for 1st or 2nd graders...I thought over and over that I had made a mistake and should have started her off in Bigger. Boy was I wrong! You will be amazed at the depth of HOD! And I think that her being a little older than the bottom age is part of what makes it even that much deeper! We've made so much progress and now have a week of Bigger under our belts and have added some of the extensions as well. It's been wonderful! She has grown in independence, academics, but most importantly, her mind is pondering deeply about God and her relationship with Him...as well as how His hand has been in everything since time began. My dd has truly met her match! HOD is awesome for this gifted little lady and I'm sure you'll find that to be true for you as well!

As long as I keep the basics on her level, you could just about use any level of HOD for any age for the left side and learn so much from it! Try not to push forward to quickly because of the rigor in many of the LA and Math choices in HOD...you'll find you may hit a brick wall before you know it...the HOD pace has been perfect even though I know my dd could go faster. Even gifted children have limits purely from age...and I've found that I was taking my dd's natural love of learning away by making sure EVERYTHING was a challenge since she could do it. I've found now that it's okay for somethings to just be easy for her! She's learning a lot and LOVING every minute of it.

So, have peace with you choice to do Preparing. I think it's perfect for that AGE and you'll both learn SO SO much!

[DHT1999]

She is also an excellent writer currently working on writing her first YA novel.

That's great!

[mom23dc]

Thank you all for easing my fears.

I wonder, is is "easy" to add things to HOD. Such as lapbooking, Evan Moore's History Pockets, etc?

I really like a schedule, but with the flexibility to be able to add things beased on her needs if I choose.

Thanks again

[my3sons]

Cindy,
I am nearing the end of doing PHFHG, and it takes us around 4 hours a day to do. Now, my ds is bright but no frills kind of guy - he likes to enjoy it but get it done in a timely fashion. The time requirements of PHFHG make it easy to add more, but I would really encourage you to give the 4 day PHFHG plan a try as it is for a month or so, and if you're going to add things, add them on the fifth day. The reason I say this is because I believe that gifted dc add their own twist to the open-ended nature of PHFHG, causing them to enjoy drawing out an activity (in a good way ), often taking longer to get creative with it. For example, at the St. Paul book fair, an HOD mom brought samples of her dc's notebooking from PHFHG to share with us. It was AMAZING! Imagine every notebooking assignment looking like it was done by a professional artist, complete with an attention-drawing caption, beautiful artwork, and a stamp of their own personality showing itself in each design. Even the vocabulary cards were like this - 3D, with a knack for explaining the definition of each term succinctly and creatively. It was incredible!

My nephew is gifted and uses HOD. For his last DITHOR project, he was supposed to make a simple project with flaps depicting the important parts of the book he completed. He has made 3 professional quality looking books for different members of his family - with realistic pop-outs, gadgets that turn and flip and do things I cannot even explain well here, and all have creative writing full of vivid imagery and quick-witted humor as well! He's now continued on to his next DITHOR genre, but continues to make these books for fun on his own time. He did the same with the HOD flipbook project. After learning how to make a flipbook from index cards, he
got out his Narnia characters and took pictures of them having a battle by moving one body part a bit at a time, taking a picture, moving a bit again, etc. and then he put all of these pictures in a slideshow, choosing the fastest progression possible. It is a moving picture show - incredible! It looks like these characters are actual moving fluidly of their own accord and acting out a battle.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say, is encourage your ds to run with PHFHG! Being gifted, the open-ended nature of HOD's assignments should be an incredible joy for him to express his talent. The guide is the blueprint for him. After he's completed the skill requirements necessary, he can add his own twist to projects and get "lost" in the endless possibilities of creative expression within that framework.

I spent 7 years prior to homeschooling completing countless 5 page evaluations for gifted students. I have never seen a curriculum that is as good at promoting an outlet for giftedness as HOD. Gifted dc don't want to be told exactly what to do - they have their own ideas they are dying to use. If I were you, I think I'd teach PHFHG and give your ds the go to put his own stamp on it - then sit back and watch what he can do!!! Oooooo, I'm getting excited for you and him just thinking about it!

In Christ,
Julie

[4froggies]

Julie, just wanted to thank you for your post- it further confirms my decision to switch to HOD next year!

Beth

[mskogen]

WOW!!! What encourgement! Thank you for sharing....

Michelle
wife to wonderful husband since 2000