This is the third and final post in a three-part series for gifted youth that focuses on independent summer enrichment and exploration. Are you plagued by the irony of a creative child bemoaning their complete and utter boredom with summer, or with free time in general? Creativity is not only innate — it can be developed, too. Gifted youth benefit from activities that enhance existing abilities and passions as well as those that develop creative attitudes and skills. … [Read more...] about Independent Summer Enrichment and Exploration: Express Yourself!
summer enrichment
Independent Summer Enrichment and Exploration: On the Go!
This is the second post in a three-part series about independent summer enrichment and exploration for gifted youth. If you’re on the go this summer experiencing new places, your gifted child may jump at the chance to take the experience to a new level. A new project, a different kind of conversation, or a brief activity can spice up the time at or in between events and destinations. Here are some tips and suggestions for fun, educational activities while traveling. … [Read more...] about Independent Summer Enrichment and Exploration: On the Go!
Independent Summer Enrichment and Exploration: Digging In
This is the first post in a series about independent summer enrichment and exploration for gifted youth. Your child may want to know anything and everything about bugs, or Norse gods, or art history. She might even be already well on the way to becoming an amateur expert in a topic. Summer can be a great time to “go deep” — to research, explore, and mine the tunnels of a subject and find some serious treasure. We’ve got some tips and suggestions for hot topics and cool summer research projects … [Read more...] about Independent Summer Enrichment and Exploration: Digging In
Contrasting School and Summer Growth for High-Achieving Students
In a recently published study, “High-Achieving and Average Students’ Reading Growth: Contrasting School and Summer Trajectories,” researchers found that initially high-achieving students showed similar academic growth rates during the summer and the school year. On the other hand, the typical student improved during the school year but not during the summer. The figure below is a representation of the trends found in the article. The dashed red line for typical students shows achievement growth … [Read more...] about Contrasting School and Summer Growth for High-Achieving Students
General Intelligence
What is it? The scientific idea of general intelligence, often called 'g', was initially introduced by Charles Spearman in 1904. According to Spearman, people have varying amount of general intelligence that are used in most cognitive tasks. Often overlooked, Spearman also proposed that there are specific intelligences that are used within particular areas that are not related to other cognitive tasks. For example, a specific intelligence may be a high verbal ability that helps a person … [Read more...] about General Intelligence
Summer Science: Summer Fun
For hands-on summer fun and hours of discovery learning, invest in one (or all) of these try-it-at-home scientific experiment books*: Stomp Rockets, Catapults, and Kaleidoscopes: 30+ Amazing Science Projects You Can Build for Less Than $1, by Curt Gabrielson (Chicago Review, 2008); Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things (series), by Cy Tymony (Andrews McMeel, 2003); and The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More, by Ed Sobey and Woody Sobey (Chicago … [Read more...] about Summer Science: Summer Fun
Reaching a Social Fit
I should have seen it earlier. My son Steven gave me the clues, but I didn’t recognize them. When he was 18 months old, he preferred conversations with adults. At two, he wanted to leave the park when too many children were there. In preschool, he was miserable unless he was one-on-one with a favorite friend or teacher. By first grade he was telling us that he had no friends, although he played with kids at school, in chess club, and on the soccer field. Although I hold degrees in early … [Read more...] about Reaching a Social Fit
A Few for the Road
Planning a car trip this summer? Cruise the miles with a few ingenious travel games designed for family or individual entertainment. … [Read more...] about A Few for the Road
A Family of Travelers
Since we are a multicultural family with immediate relatives in France and Taiwan, our suitcases never gather dust. Our children, Sebastien, Alexandre, and Camille (ages 13, 11, and 3), have already amassed a wealth of travel experiences, such as tasting Belgian waffles in Antwerp, seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, viewing Hong Kong from the peak of the island, and climbing medieval castles in Carcasonne. … [Read more...] about A Family of Travelers
Beware the Summer Slide
Beware the summer slide—not the spiraling, thrilling water chute found at your local water park, but the loss of academic skills during the summer months. Math skills often slip the farthest, with students losing an average of 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in computational ability over the summer. In addition, students score lower on standardized tests administered at the end of the summer than at the beginning. How do you prevent these skills from slip-sliding away? While parents may … [Read more...] about Beware the Summer Slide