Welcome! Galileo Education is devoted to reviewing resources & compiling easily navigated links to
the best educational resources for gifted children.
Whether you are homeschooling or supplementing your child's education, we have something to offer you:
- Discounts: current coupons for educational materials such as DVDs, books, games & more
- Information & Resources: articles, summer programs, support organizations, & more
- Homeschooling & Afterschooling: distance learning programs, curriculum & software specifically designed for gifted learners
- More: Take some time to explore the links on this page as well as the gifted navigation toolbar at the bottom of this page or search our webpage:
Click here to view scholarships for gifted children.
Also, please check out our recommended books page to find books on homeschooling, gifted children, recommendations for curriculum and more. My daughters have also given some recommendations for fiction books that they have enjoyed recently as well as ones they enjoyed when they were younger.
More coming soon and in the mean time, visit the links below.
Recommended Resources
The Teaching Company:
The Teaching Company sells audio CDs, downloadable files, books, and DVDs of college courses from top rated professors at institutions such as UC Berkeley, Vanderbilt University, and Harvard University. Additionally, they offer high school level courses from college professors as well as high school teachers who have won awards for their teaching.
The Teaching Company always has some of their courses on sale. I keep a list of priority codes, which get you the sale prices, as well as coupon codes, which get you additional discounts, on our discounts page.
They also maintain updated lists of cultural events in major cities throughout the U.S. Just go to their home page, linked above, and click on the "Your Account" button on the top right side of the page. If you don't have an account, create one. Once you do, you will get a page that gives you links to cultural events in the city or cities you select. There are also some free lectures and other things in the "Your Account" page
Twice Exceptional and Underachieving Gifted Children:
Some gifted children are very fast at mental processing while others are meticulous, perfectionistic or just slower processors in relation to their other skills. Some gifted children are also twice-exceptional, or have some other exceptionality in addition to being gifted such as ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome or a learning disability.
Learning Disabilities can often go undiagnosed in gifted children due to their ability to compensate for their weaknesses with their great strengths. This article on stealth dyslexia in gifted children is particularly interesting.
Visit our gifted information page for support organizations and newsletters for twice exceptional ("2E") children.
Additionally, for those gifted children whose academic achievement is not as high as would be expected given their potential, I've recently come across an interesting organization: The Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students (AEGUS).
Dr. James Webb's book, The Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults is a wonderful resource for helping parents sort out whether their children are twice exceptional or just typically asynchronous gifted kids. I also enjoyed How the Gifted Brain Learns which I found to offer a lot of great information as well as practical applications of research. I found particularly useful the information on ways to distinguish between typical gifted behaviors and those which may indicate twice exceptionality.
What's New?
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This looks like an interesting site: "Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to people with bachelor's degrees or higher in physics via online discussion forums..."
The Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented will be hosting the 2010 Parent Institute from October 18-19, 2010.
The SENG 2010 Conference: Connections and New Directions takes place in Hartford, CT from October 21-23, 2010
2011 Davidson Fellow Scholarship applications are available here. The application deadline for 2011 is March 2, 2011.
The National Association for Gifted Children's 57th Annual Convention: Great Minds Leading the Way takes place in Atlanta, GA from November 11th-14th, 2010.
"Aspiring scientists and mathematicians nationwide can now register for the 2010 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the premiere original research competition for high school students in the United States." Application deadline: October 1, 2010.
Brain Training:
In addition to the educational games linked above and at the bottom of this page, the games and activities at lumosity.com and happy-neuron.com may be useful for your gifted children. Both sites have games designed to improve visual memory, attention, processing speed and other mental functions. Both have free games as well as additional features and games which are available via subscription.
While it may seem counterintuitive to recommend brain training games for a gifted child, asynchronous, or uneven, development is very commom among gifted children.
The Columbus Group (1991) defines gifted as:
...asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally.I must temper this with the caveat that I wouldn't expect brain training exercises to make significant changes in how your child functions in life. There have been some recent studies which have called into question the value of brain training exercise in creating functional gains. I have seen in my own children that some aspects of the asynchrony we saw when they were younger has leveled out simply through the process of getting older. Some aspects of their unevenness remains, though, and I suspect that some gifted children will just be slower, more meticulous people throughout their lives despite efforts to make them process faster. That is okay, too. If practicing speed and memory games helps with reducing anxiety surrounding timed tests or reduces perfectionistic tendencies or even just speeds along that maturation process where the asynchrony levels off, though, that is all good.
Board/Card Games and Books:
Created by 15 year old Anshul Samar, the card game Elementeo is an engaging way to learn chemistry concepts. Elementeo has won its creator numerous awards including the prestigious $25,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship in 2009.
Another option for game recommendations are the games chosen as Mensa Select games. American Mensa hosts an annual Mind Games competition during which Mensa members gather to play and rate new board and card games. Five games are selected each year to receive the Mensa Select seal. Visit the Mind Games site to view a list of winning games.
For book ideas for precocious readers, check out:
