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Gifted and talented

Learning From YouTube

15 replies

LisaMed1 · 14/07/2016 15:03

Yesterday came downstairs to find my nine year old watching a YouTube video about Thermodynamics. He is just as likely to be watching videos of minecraft, football or funny cats.

Discussion with his form tutor at parents evening, and from previous similar evenings - my nine year old already has mastered the study topic between it being announced and them actually starting it. One year the form tutor had to check something ds had told him about obsidian and vulcanism. Ds was right. Yr two he had come across a maths thingy (I don't do numbers) on YouTube before he had been taught it in class and happily explained it to the teacher. He was right.

At the moment it looks like he is learning more from YouTube (far from reliable) than school. I'm not getting anywhere with school trying to get him pushed more. I'm not even sure he is gifted and talented, so being cheeky posting here.

Any suggestions? He's going to stop engaging with school soon.

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user789653241 · 14/07/2016 20:55

Have you tried Khan academy?
It has lots of tutorial videos and I feel safer than let my ds watch you tube on his own.
My ds learns maths, etc. on these sites on his own, but still enjoys school.

www.khanacademy.org/

artofproblemsolving.com/videos

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EarthboundMisfit · 14/07/2016 20:57

I don't have G&T kids, I just saw this in Active, but I came on to say Khan Academy too. He might enjoy Crash Course to begin with.

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user789653241 · 14/07/2016 21:19

Yes! Recommend Crash Course, MIT+K12, and NOVA Labs for science loving kids.

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LisaMed1 · 14/07/2016 22:40

Thank you so much!

Really appreciate it.

tbh as long as it is age appropriate I just let him get on with it. I'll let him know the Khan Academy exists then see if he gets hooked. He just relaxes to stuff.

I've tried to stop him getting too far ahead of school. I'm beginning to wonder why.

Thanks for the help.

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EarthboundMisfit · 14/07/2016 23:03

Yes, don't worry about that. There's a lot of stuff in the world to learn about!

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user789653241 · 15/07/2016 08:30

I won't stop my ds learning ahead, but also make sure he doesn't neglect school work as well.

Only time he complained about school work was when he was in yr1, and put onto computer everyday to do times tables, while the teacher taught the class. I think I'm lucky, he doesn't find anything boring, even he knew the topic pretty well already.

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JustRichmal · 15/07/2016 09:39

We also discovered crash course and love it, so I thought I'd put the linky. I would say if your ds watches it, it is more advanced than primary, but great fun. So do not let him worry if he does not understand it all.
There is Hegartymaths, but that covers the curriculum from KS3 onwards.
I too find Khan Academy good. Dd tends to watch the videos if there are bits of maths she does not understand, but if you sign up it will assess where dc is at with maths and automatically set a program for learning.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest any other videos on youtube suitable for an older child who likes maths and science, (GCSE, A level sort of level} preferably with a linky, as I'm a bit lazy not that excellent with the internet.

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user789653241 · 15/07/2016 10:21

justrichmal, I haven't got a clue about the levels, but have you expolored science content and partner content on Khan?
They seems to cover everything except for MFL, up to US grade 12 . (They recommend duolingo for MFL.)

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KidsInventStuff · 13/02/2017 20:06

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Tomorrowillbeachicken · 14/02/2017 09:40

My son (5) isn't old enough to search independantly but probably will as he gets older. Had to google/youtube for him in the past as he waanted to know about the sun or atomic clocks etc.

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Dixiestamp · 16/02/2017 02:21

What is Khan Academy, exactly, as it potentially sounds like the kind of thing my DS would like. He's always watching videos to learn more and particularly loves science, geography and history.

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user789653241 · 16/02/2017 13:58

Dixiestamp, khan is totally free self learning website, so there's nothing to lose to register. You have to make your own account, and make child account inside your account, if child is underage.
It's quite fun for you too, you can learn everything on the site yourself. And you can make separate account for each children. It covers vast subjects, also there are partner contents to explore.

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Dixiestamp · 16/02/2017 23:05

Brilliant- I'll take a look. Thank-you!

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corythatwas · 28/02/2017 14:40

The trick is to teach him how you can learn from both school and the outside world, as a positive thing.

After all, if he grows up to be an academic child and wants to get into a competitive uni, those are exactly the kind of qualities they are going to be looking for: somebody who doesn't just sit down and open his mouth when he is being spoon-fed but goes above and beyond and to either side.

Don't let him (or yourself) see this as something negative. Knowledge is infinite. There is always room for a bit more. Countries and animals and plants and periods of history that are not covered by the school curriculum; maybe join a wildlife society and take part in wildlife surveys, or an archaeological society or something. There are c. 10 000 languages in the world - that should keep him occupied for a while.

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corythatwas · 28/02/2017 14:42

Don't let his thirst for knowledge be defined by the school curriculum: make sure you explain to him that there is no such thing as "mastering a topic" because there is always more to learn.

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