Gifted Strategies Benefit All Learners

Many of the strategies we use for gifted learners look like common-sense education for everyone. For example, we believe that all students should

• learn to think critically,
• practice creativity,
• work on projects that give them ownership of their education and that apply to their life,
• read novels, biographies, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction texts each year, and
• be taught in the many dimensions of giftedness.

Your child can benefit from a curriculum designed for gifted students. Look through the following types of students to see how your child may benefit.

Gifted Students

Gifted students have very specific needs for their curriculum, (which we cover in greater detail here). In short, they need to

• move through content more rapidly,
• work through more challenging problems,
• take time to explore ideas and topics in depth,
• struggle through problems that push them to their limits, and
• spend less time reviewing material they already understand.

Creative Learners

There could be nothing more dreadful to a truly creative student than to be forced to finish repetitive uninspiring work day after day with no end in sight. A creative student should spend time regularly practicing the three dimensions of creativity:

• fluency — generating many different ideas
• flexibility — shifting perspective easily
• originality — conceiving of something new

If your child is not highly creative, she should still be practicing creativity. Creativity is like a muscle, and we should all be exercising it on a regular basis.

Hands-On Learners

Hands-on learners tend to lose interest quickly when they are not engaged in hands-on or visual activities. (Hands-on learners also tend to be visual learners.) These learners need to be involved regularly in

• moving,
• touching,
• acting out,
• manipulating, and
• building.

Critical Thinkers

Education is more than simply aggregating facts. In addition to expanding a general base of knowledge, students should also learn to think critically by

• analyzing — examining a problem, questioning evidence, recognizing similarities and differences, and interpreting data
• communicating — asking probing questions, exploring opinions, writing and speaking about conclusions clearly and persuasively
• being open-minded — analyzing objectively, approaching fairly, questioning assumptions
• solving problems — analyzing problems, generating solutions, implementing plans

Readers

Strong readers love Beyond the Page and the pile of books that come with each age level. As soon as she is able, your child will read about 9 novels per year including

• science fiction,
• historical fiction,
• suspense,
• dystopian fiction,
• fantasy, and
• romance.

In addition to novels, students will also read

• biographies,
• short stories,
• poetry,
• nonfiction, and
• authentic documents from history.

We scour the world to find the best books we can to introduce your child to new subjects in an engaging and fascinating way.

Those Gifted in Other Areas

Being strong in logical and mathematical reasoning is not the only way to be successful and certainly not the only way to be gifted. Howard Gardner defined his famous Multiple Intelligences as one way to account for the different ways that students can be gifted.

• Reasoning Smart: math and logical thinking
• Body Smart: tactile / kinesthetic learners, excel in physical activities, dance, movement, and hands-on learning
• People Smart: leaders and organizers, energized by people
• Music Smart: singer, composer, player
• Self Smart: philosopher, understands inner feelings and ideas
• Word Smart: poets and writers
• Picture Smart: excels in shapes, graphics, and visualization

Within Beyond the Page, we try to provide as many opportunities as possible to enable all children to learn in the way that is most natural for them.

Everybody in the World

If you find yourself reading through this list and thinking, "this curriculum isn't just for gifted kids — every homeschool student would benefit from being taught this way," then we couldn't agree more.

• All students should learn to think critically.
• All students should practice the elements of creativity every day.
• All students should work on projects that give them ownership of their education and apply to their life.
• All students should read novels, biographies, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction texts each year.
• All students should be taught in the many dimensions of giftedness.

Gifted students need Beyond the Page, but all students benefit from Beyond the Page.