Gifted And Talented Survival Guide

I'm thrilled that my child is in a program that challenges him academically, where he has peers with a lot in common, and is happy.  I'm a little freaked out by the two kids with 170 IQ's that he sits in between, and I don't want this thing to turn out poorly.  So I keep this program in my back pocket.

This is for a 1st grader and should work until about 5th grade.

Sports and Extracurricular Activities
Drop all of these immediately, especially if you have more than one child.  In forth grade, I'll hire a baseball coach to catch up.   I won't need a math or reading coach.  Those are your options.

Spelling
Spelling starts in 1st grade (with 3rd grade lists) and gets worse in 2nd grade at our school.  In second grade, the kids do the 20 4th grade spelling words each week, the 5 challenge words, and 5 super challenge words that 4th graders around the country don't have to do.  This is a lot of work each week.

So, in the interest of taking shortcuts (think survive), I googled the spelling words for "4th grade Unit 3 [insert the list here]", and viola, I found the standard curriculum, with the challenge words at some school, but not the super challenge words.

This gives us the option of starting on Saturday, 2 days ahead of schedule.  My goal is simply to make Wednesdays and Thursdays a bit easier, because not only do we have to cram for the spelling test, but there may be other time consuming assignments on those days as well.

Math
I do two things in math, both with an eye toward a lifetime of math enjoyment and job prospects.
Many school systems including our own use Every Day Math by U of C.  When he was in Kindergarten, I handed him Journal 1 and 2 of EDM for 2nd graders and had him do 1 or 2 pages a night.   After that hell, everything else is fun.   I'm going to repeat each summer.  I'm not so much concerned that he learns math, but that he is used to jumping in without a life jacket.  Since I've already got a set of books at home, if he should have any problem during the year, I'll just look up the content.  30$ well spent.  If a child didn't have an aptitude for problem solving, I would recommend a different workbook.  You can sample material at www.eduplace.com for free.

During the school year, about 3 times a week, I give him 25 problems off of a worksheet like this. My version of Kumon.   Usually the same 25 problems every night, or about 5 or 10 minutes worth. 

Lately, I just keep a spare copy of the Home Links workbook at home in case he brings home the wrong page.

Science
All Science text books are required in California to be matched up against FOSS topics.  So all publishers have this info available.   We're lucky to use FOSS directly.   So, when he gets to a new topic in science, I go to the FOSS website and download the vocabulary and hand it to him to learn.   Then I go to the library where there are age appropriate books on topic that are written directly to the FOSS content for fun, extra reading.   Once you've seen the vocab list, you'll know.  Look for recent publish dates.

In this way he goes into a section with the framework and vocabulary, then can spend the next few weeks learning instead of struggling.

Reading and Vocabulary
There is a section in the Evanston, IL library with series that are popular with kids, like Magic Tree House, 39 Clues, a dozen series about dragons, whatever.   At each grade level.  So I bring home a bag of books, throw them at him, and take back what doesn't stick.  And of course, while we are there, he can pick up anything else he wants.

This is more for the summer and for the pre-school brother.  GAT programs are over the top on this topic so I generally do nothing extra.

Art
GAT programs are 50% creativity, inspiration, innovation, writing, speaking, and projects.   My initial attraction to the program was motivated by a kid who is a performer and an artist.   So we don't sweat this category, but it's probably a big challenge for some people.

I can picture a math wiz kid who is in dire need of help in this area, which is why I included it.  For this guy, he obviously doesn't need summer math hell - he needs summer art hell.  I am writing for him.

Creativity and innovation can be taught - at least according to the research I studied at length in grad school.   I haven't found a good guide at the early elementary level - all I know is marketing, product innovation and corporate strategy.   But I see child development research has recently come to the same conclusion for children.

My recommendation is to stock up on art material - including a 5 pound bag of oiled modeling clay, one of every thing in the paper section, and then send your kid to art camp.   Take the legos away.  Take away things that use fluid intelligence and spacial relationships or quantitative physics.   Hand him paint.