Homeschool curricula for elementary gifted kid?

[Peaceable]

Any recommendations for quality homeschool curricula or resources? Both religious and secular? Looking to engage a gifted elementary school boy. Particularly looking for language arts/history/rhetoric resources. Also ideas for secular reading/books that have relevance to people of faith?

 

[TheLittleLady]

Calvert School

They have been doing homeschool since before it was called homeschool, they have by far the best program out there.

 

[Peaceable]

Thanks! I’m gonna have to check that out .

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Check out Seton Home Study. We do not use Seton but we mirror some of their texts (Saxon Math, Baltimore Catechism).

Seton Books

 

[blackforest]

We’re looking into Angelicum Academy. www.angelicum.net

They offer honors programs, as well as a chance to graduate from high school with either an Associates Degree or halfway through a B.A. at Holy Apostles College.

 

[Peaceable]

Thank you for all the ideas! And whoa, I had no idea that there were homeschool curricula that are partially degree granting! I wish there were more of these, it would really help a lot With the whole issue of educational debt that’s crippling so many people!

 

[blackforest]

Oh, and if you have a young history buff, my absolute favorite history books are the series, The Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer. They’re academically solid while breathing life into historical events that no dry textbook ever could. I’ll probably plug those into our learning even if we end up using a set curriculum.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Oh, and if you have a young history buff, my absolute favorite history books are the series, The Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer. They’re academically solid while breathing life into historical events that no dry textbook ever could. I’ll probably plug those into our learning even if we end up using a set curriculum.

As I understand it, SOTW is not written from a Catholic perspective. We use TAN’s The Story of Civilization. With all of the de-emphasis and half-truths used in history, you need solidly Catholic sources. My problems so far with TSOC have been the lack of content on non-Western civilizations (no mention at all of Chinese history) and the interpolation of historical fiction stories, which add little to the narrative.

Catholics need to be learning history from an incarnational perspective, or as Warren Carroll said, “truth exists, the incarnation happened”.

 

[blackforest]

As I understand it, SOTW is not written from a Catholic perspective.

The OP is looking for Catholic and secular sources. I’m happy to use both.

History contains multiple actors and therefore needs to be learned from multiple perspectives. Fostering critical thinking is a good thing and actually strengthens one’s faith.

But then, we can agree to disagree. As I always tell homeschooling newbies, ask a hundred different homeschool parents, get a hundred different answers . . .

 

[babochka]

We also love Story of the World.

 

[midori]

The complaint about SOTW isn’t that it’s secular, but that it’s more Fundamentalist Christian.

So the secular homeschoolers don’t like it, but the Catholics also don’t like it, and some Protestants take issue as well if the author’s Biblical interpretation differs from their own perception.

The earliest people they talk about are about 5,000 BC, according to my understanding, and suggests that agriculture developed later. It has a very young-Earth approach.

Or it has too much emphasis on Bible stories as historical fact-- like Jesus rising from the dead, or God’s covenant with Abraham giving him the right to his land, or whatever.

Or people have issues with interpretation, suggesting Jesus was crucified by the Romans for treason, rather than crucifying him despite finding him innocent of all charges.

Or secularists think that it villainizes non-Christian religions-- portraying Islam as violent, and Buddhism as a philosophy, and Hinduism as oppressing its people through the caste system.

Or it sanitizes things to make it more child-friendly… like the Isis/Osiris myth.

Or it shuffles dates, like Boudicca’s revolt or the founding of Jericho.

Or whatever.

 

[prayerrider]

Great Books. Tried and True.

Homeschool Program

Angelicum Academy also has a Great Books curriculum.
I’m enrolled in one myself!

 

[HomeschoolDad]

I saw this yesterday when I was at the nearby office goods store.

It’s a sad commentary on what society has come down to. All the more reason to homeschool if your circumstances allow it.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[Entwhistler]

We’re looking into Angelicum Academy. www.angelicum.net

They offer honors programs, as well as a chance to graduate from high school with either an Associates Degree or halfway through a B.A. at Holy Apostles College.

As an alumnus of said Angelicum Academy, I wholeheartedly second this.

 

[blackforest]

The complaint about SOTW isn’t that it’s secular, but that it’s more Fundamentalist Christian.

???

It’s secular.

 

[midori]

We’re talking about The Story of the World, right?

A random sampling of comments—

I think this is an excellent summary of history and successfully appeals to children. My son started out with Volume 4 and has just recently gotten hold of Volume 1, which most interests him because it deals with classical times. I’m pleased to see some comments criticizing the series for not being religious enough, as I wouldn’t like it to treat religious fairy tales as history (e.g., Adam and Eve, Noah, Exodus, and other such nonsense). I hope it treats the story of Jesus as a myth or at least a matter of belief.

and at the same time,

As a Christian I cannot use the entire book with my children. It comes from an evolution of man perspective and includes fantasy which is supposed to be like a living book approach. The Bible stories which are included are not very accurate which leads me to have some doubts about the authors ability to report/record history accurately.

Others say–

I really appreciate the Biblical point of view put forth as fact. My children know that the work of God is and was going on at the same time as the things of history. How wonderful to see a history program include this.

yet at the same time–

I prefer to use books that are written from a Christian perspective and this is not, nor are the supplemental books recommended.

and

We do not use the Bible Stories in this book because I do not trust the author to be accurate and Bible is very important in our homeschool. We use a separate Bible for that history daily.

Popping over to Goodreads–

This series seemed rather un-credible, VERY simple, and FULL of simplified versions of random mythology and fairy tales. It’s not really a history book in my opinion, it’s a story book. Not a great educational resource.

and

Biblical narratives are deceptively presented as representative of historical events.

That hardly screams “secular”.

 

[ewohdrol]

Don’t use Seaton curriculum.

They rely heavily on rote learning. There is little application or synthesis of ideas nor any encouragement of higher order thinking.

A gifted child would need much more creative ways to show their thinking and abilities.

 

[ewohdrol]

How is it secular?

It has bible stories in it!!

 

[blackforest]

Curious - Have you personally read it? It might make more sense to you if you did. I’m super picky about my curriculum - no fundamentalist sources come into my house.

I’m sorry you’re finding contradictory comments. I think a lot of the commenters are confused.

The first Goodreads comment is true. But unlike the commenter, I think it’s a good thing.

SOTW examines world cultures through their Holy books, myths, legends, songs, poetry, literature, and oral and written histories. It brings all of them, including the Bible, to life with rich story telling.

In my experience, you’ll find a streak of rigid-thinking fundamentalism in both religious people and atheists. And fundamentalists won’t warm up well to SOTW.

How is it secular?

It has bible stories in it!!

It has holy books and mythology from many cultures.

 

[midori]

re: rote learning, many classical-approach-based curricula will layer their studies based on age.

So, for example, for, say, grades K-6, the emphasis is on rote learning and memorization, to get your foundations down. “This is what was.”

Then for, say, grades 7-9, the emphasis is more on assembling those blocks of information together to be able to grasp a narrative. “This is what happened.”

Then for, say, grades 10-12, the emphasis is on analysis. “This is what I think about it.”

I don’t know if Seton is specifically like that, but that’s a common approach— to go over the same material in, say, History class three times, at three different levels of analysis.