While I can’t write a personal review of this curriculum, I think it looks wonderful. I unschool so I don’t usually purchase this type of curriculum (at least not yet) but I work with many parents through homeschool consulting who use pre-packaged sets. I was impressed with this excerpt from the Moving Beyond the Page site:
Moving Beyond the Page is a comprehensive research-based curriculum designed to challenge and stimulate gifted and creative homeschoolers.
Components of a Curriculum for Gifted and Creative Learners
- Start with state and national standards so you can be confident that your child is learning the skills and content needed in each subject area – including Math, Language Arts, Writing, Science, Social Studies, and Art. But don’t stop there. . .
- Wrap those standards in a concept based curriculum so children learn skills through big ideas that they can take with them through their lives. It will help them to understand complex interactions, become true innovators, and see the interconnectedness among people, ideas, and environments.
- Differentiate the curriculum to meet students at a level that is both challenging and rewarding. Children of the same age can be at different levels. Challenge them all.
- Be cognizant of different learning styles. Help children learn in a way that feels natural to them. Don’t force all children to learn in the same way all the time.
- Work through your child’s strengths by utilizing each of the multiple intelligences. When children work through their areas of strength, they achieve greater levels of success.
- Encourage the many dimensions of critical and creative thinking. This dimension will set apart the book smart from those who are innovators, inventors, and designers.
- Implement project based instruction to reinforce the real-world application of a child’s learning. Instead of isolating math, reading, and science lessons, children should use their skills in a variety of areas to solve problems or create products.
- Utilize an interdisciplinary curriculum to help your child discover connections among subjects. Math and Science go hand in hand. Social Studies cannot be understood without reading authentic documents and literature from different time periods and different perspectives. Life does not isolate these subjects, and your child’s curriculum should not teach them in isolation either.
The website has a lot of great content that will help parents who are homeschooling their gifted child–even if they don’t buy the curriculum. The author, Kim A. Howe, has a MS in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Gifted Education. She has compiled a great list of resources for parents of gifted children.
If anyone has bought curriculum from this website, please share your thoughts with other parents by posting a comment here.
December 20th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Ahhh! But I see a problem:
1. Start with state and national standards so you can be confident that your child is learning the skills and content needed in each subject area
4. Be cognizant of different learning styles. Help children learn in a way that feels natural to them. Don’t force all children to learn in the same way all the time.
These may (and often are) going to be in conflict with each other. What if the state standards say that child should be reading by 1st grade and your child is not ready? ;o)
I know nothing about this curriculum…but couldn’t help myself as this jumped out at me. I am actually homeschooling to *escape* the state and national standards, but of course not every one is.
December 20th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Oh yes, I understand what you’re saying!!
But it’s important to remember that some states are harder to homeschool in than others and have more requirements. If a state requires standards based curriculum, a parent would have to look for something that meets their individual child’s needs as well as state standards.
Also, some parents are not as confident about homeschooling and *want* something that meets the state standards, especially if they may have to put their child in school in the future.
But yes, I totally get what you’re saying.
December 20th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Shoot..I forgot to say something. It’s also important to remember that just because something meets state standards doesn’t mean the methods involved are traditional. When I was a classroom teacher, I did several units that were totally non-traditional and experience-based; these met state standards.
June 2nd, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I just discovered this curriculum and am very interested in it. Not really because of the state standards, although, I live in one of the states with the highest requirements. My main interest in it is because it looks INTERESTING and fun. My son who is in PS right now is sooooo sick of doing the same worksheets over and over again. I think he would love more of a hands-on approach to learning and like me, learns better by doing, by creating, and by experimenting with the possibilities.