I’ve been reading books about parenting and teaching gifted children and will be adding links and comments here. I also will list the books C has enjoyed reading, which have higher reading levels but appropriate content for his age.
Books for Parents
This book is intended for teachers, though the latest edition has a small chapter devoted to parents at the end. Having taught before, I felt comfortable reading it and was familiar with a lot of the lingo (compacting, differentiation, etc.) prior to purchasing it. Someone without a teaching background may not find it as helpful as I did, but I think there is something to be said about better understanding how your child should be taught. After reading this book I felt more empowered to request things of C’s teacher knowing that I had the research to back it up.
I think this would be a great book to either buy for your child’s teacher or request that the school purchase. It has very specific strategies educators can use not just with gifted students, but with their entire class. The author values teacher’s time and has well thought out plans for how to minimize any extra work generated by using these strategies.
After reading this book I realized exactly how wrong C’s current school is doing things. But more importantly, I saw that his behavior (refusing to do the most repetitive and boring work) is to be expected and is something that can be corrected by adjusting the curriculum to his needs rather than punishing him.
I was a bit disappointed by this book, because it seemed to be more about cautionary tales of how so many parents messed up their kids and therefore what not to do. It seemed like a much smaller portion of the book was advice on things you should do. Maybe the subtitle should have been “Everything You Need to Know to Not Totally Screw Up Your Exceptional Child”!
Still, I found the parts about perfectionism and the idea of “good-enough” parenting valuable. In hindsight, I’m not sure if this was enough to make the purchase worthwhile. My husband seemed to get more out of the book than I did, realizing that a lot of the characteristics he attributed to ADD in his life were probably actually due to giftedness. So, there were useful bits throughout the book, but overall the themes were very repetitive and lacked the kinds of details I was looking for.
An example of the above would be chapter 3, “Finding the Right School for Your Gifted Child”. I was hoping this would give me insight on what type of school would be the best fit for my son. Instead it was mostly just scenarios of a few families, the options they had, the recommendations the author made, the parents’ decisions and some follow up results. I suppose I could try to take parts from each scenario and try to apply it to my situation, but some general advice was more what I was looking for.
The book did help me consider getting an educational consultation for my son, though. It seems like finding a local qualified consultant is difficult unless you live in a few select areas (say New York City or Washington DC), so we’re looking at Johns Hopkins, which will even conduct them over the phone.
Books for Kids
These are a great transition to longer chapter books. The stories are interesting and appropriate for any age, the books are relatively short, and there are still a number of illustrations throughout.
These are currently a favorite, though the vocabulary is on the simpler side and there is a lot of repetition in the words used. They are short chapter books (but longer than Nate the Great above) with plenty of illustrations and storylines that extend through 4 books at a time. While the stories are mostly fantasy with some mystery sprinkled in, each story teaches about a particular place, event, animal, or other factual thing. Some books have extra facts in the back, plus there are companion research guides that go into greater detail about some of the subjects.
While some of the storylines can be scary (volcanoes, the Titanic, etc.), even my sensitive 4 year old could handle them without too much concern. Still, some sensitive children may not like that the main characters are often in danger. I know these books wouldn’t have worked for C when he was 3!
These books are best read in order, to keep in the arc of each 4 book set and to not spoil any of the earlier discoveries. There are a couple pages in the preface to setup the characters and general story if you haven’t read earlier books.
These are great chapter books which are a bit longer than Magic Tree House books and set for a slightly older audience. The vocabulary is more complex, but the storylines are still appropriate for younger children. The books can be read independently, which is great, though some kids may tire of the repetition of setting up the characters in each book – which is done within each story and not in a preface like Magic Tree House.
These chapter books are a bit shorter than A to Z Mysteries and the plots are a bit simpler. There is a good mix of vocabulary (Magic Tree House tends to reuse a lot of words over and over), plus many gifted kids can relate to the main character’s being different (she has a photographic memory). These books, like A to Z Mysteries, can be read independently and are at least less repetitive in how he sets up the characters each time than A to Z.
