How To Prepare Your Gifted Child For College

Education & Development Blog

How old was your child when you realized they were gifted? Was your child very young, or did you come to that realization over the years? No matter when you realized that your child was gifted, from helping him or her at home to finding the right specialty school for teens, here are some ideas that might help you to prepare your gifted child for college.

Help At Home

Your gifted child will benefit from extra stimulation at home. Follow these tips to turn your home into a place of learning:

1. Focus on your child's area of expertise. For example, if your child is extremely good in science, think about letting him or her use your kitchen for things like doing experiments.
2. Bring library books home so that they will be readily available for the research your child might want to do. Get to know your librarians so that they can steer you to new books.
3. Bring people into your home that can stimulate your child's mind. For example, if your child is a math person, invite an accountant into your home so that he or she can tell your child how he or she has applied math principles in the field of accounting.
4. Keep an open communication with your teenager. Be sure that he or she understands that even smart kids don't know everything. It's OK to ask any questions they want to ask.

Help Away From Home

Remember that the world is an amazing place of learning. The following are some things you can do with your child outside of the home:

1. Go on lots of field trips together and with friends. For example, if your child loves biology, find out if you can visit a research center in your community where he or she can talk to the men and women who work there.
2. Consider sending your child to a specialty school for gifted teenagers. If your child excels in science, consider a specialty school that enhances science classes in a way that will challenge your teenager.
3. Specialty schools for teenagers hire teachers that are trained to work with gifted kids. Not only are the teachers knowledgeable in their field of expertise, but they are comfortable with kids who might be smarter than they are.
4. Help your child to branch out into fun areas, too. Though he or she might be a book worm, help your teenager to get enough fun exercise and to socialize with peers and people of other ages, too.

Encourage your teenager to keep a journal of things he or she learns at home and at school. This journal will probably become a treasure for him or her.

For more tips, work with educators at companies like the BraveHeart Teen Program.

20 July 2017