5 Tips for Teaching Your Gifted Child at Home
Even experienced teachers can feel challenged when teaching gifted students. Engaging a gifted child at home can come with it's own set of difficulties. Here are 5 tips that will keep your exceptional child interested and focused while learning at home.
Staying one step ahead of a gifted child will really keep you on your toes but it isn’t impossible. Each parent has the ability and now with the internet, the tools, to further their child’s love of learning.
Layer the experience
A child who struggles with math may have a hard time capturing the subject matter but a gifted child often finishes early and is bored. Layering the experience by combining activities and subjects can create a well rounded learning activity. Layer math with science or history with art. This can be done using fractions during science experiments. If you are doing history, talk about famous artists or composers during this time and kids can try to recreate famous works.
Let them Teach!
Teaching a subject not only solidifies the information in the brain but can also be a rewarding experience for someone who loves to learn and share new information. They can teach the activity by sharing it with a sibling, being allowed to make a Facebook live video or create a Youtube channel. Group classes also allow one child to explain to others their reasoning.
Lots of Variety
Change things up often. If worksheets are the primary method used, do a live video class next time or incorporate online learning. At www.monstereducation.com there are unique learning opportunities for every child, from foreign languages to classical music appreciation, and students can enjoy a wide range of topics.
You can even change up approaches for the same subject. For instance, Monster Education offers classical arithmetic classes, “Singapore Math” and even “Mathematical Reasoning.” In Mathematical Reasoning, students study with a retired professor from University of Oxford to develop mathematical logic and cognitive skills typically not taught in elementary or even middle school education.
Get out of the House and the Classroom
Another way to add something new is through field trips. Many parents mistakenly feel that they need to create a rigid or sterile "school" type atmosphere at home or that a child should always be in a classroom to learn. This doesn't have to be the case. Hiking, trips to the park for geocaching, the museum, aquarium, scavenger hunts through the neighborhood or you can visit an animal shelter and volunteer for service projects in your city. These visits can keep your child challenged and interested in learning. Modern parents often fear boredom when there really is no need. Boredom is the mind doing what it needs to do, either resting or solving problems.
Make Room For Rabbit Trails
Enrichment classes or learning at home offer an opportunity to not just study for the test but to develop a lifelong love of learning. This can be done by allowing kids the freedom to study beyond the scope of a lesson. If a lesson on Leonardo da Vinci leads to questions about Italy, do not make the mistake of having them "focus" on the job at hand. Allow them to explore, visually "go" to Italy, or learn the customs during Leonardo's time. This exploration will be much more fun and they will find the subject even more interesting.
Read, read and read some more
Gifted children tend to be information sponges. There is no better way to satisfy their appetite than with books. Typical parents are so happy their children are reading they don't pay attention to what their children are reading. Reading is a phenomenal way to expand their horizons and non-fiction does just that. Children can learn how to yo yo, how cars are made, read the biographies of famous scientists or how to make their own science experiments. Reading non-fiction is an excellent way to satisfy a gifted child's thirst for knowledge.
Staying one step ahead of a gifted child will really keep you on your toes but it isn’t impossible. Each parent has the ability and now with the internet, the tools, to further their child’s love of learning.
If you are at your wits end, Monster Education provides fun and stimulating live video classes for students at every level. Check out the Hands-on Science program or the Classical Music Appreciation! Enjoy the lessons and stay tuned to MonsterEducation.com for new classes and helpful hints to keep your little star rising to the top.
Shirain Conlin is a copywriter and publisher of the 6 book series Faith’s Enduring Legacy. Her favorite past times are singing, painting and enjoying the great outdoors with her husband and children.
