Copycat-sort of
I am constantly studying what programs are out there for kids. I’ve recently been reviewing Hopkins gifted program to see what their curricula offers. No, my kids were not doing performing long division at the age of 3. Still, why not offer things in our home studies that an expensive, elite program might offer even if it’s altered? It certainly can’t hurt. It just takes some effort on my part. For example, I was looking over their various book lists in their LA programs. I added these book lists to the kids’ already existing book of book list. Then, I went to the library and obtained a few of them for my oldest child to potentially read and let me review what the CTY students are being exposed to. I can’t mimic their actual online literary discussion, but I can at least do this much, and it’s free! There’s also another CTY class on inventions, so I checked out the DK Eyewitness book “Inventions” from the library. My thought was that I’ll look through the book with my kids, and then have them start keeping a log of their ideas that could possibly be turned into inventions. Again, it’s not CTY, but it might be worthy of the attempted copycat effort. This is what I do with some of my free time. Am I nutty? Yeah, probably a little bit…
What to do with my children over the summer
Some people want nothing to do with schedules and committments over the summer break. Some people schedule their entire summer. I fall somwhere in the middle. I won’t do any formal schooling (except some miscellaneous math and reading). And I’d like my kids to exeperience new things and learn new skills. Where and how to do that are questions I need to answer soon. Some good reads:
http://giftedkids.about.com/od/educationoptions/tp/gifted_camps.htm
Ivy League Homeschooling 