Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy can one homeschool a highly social child?

As with all things in life, I think this is a question of shades of gray. Religion would play a part in a potential decision to homeschool for our family, along with curricular fit, family scheduling, etc. Realistically, religious ideology will play a part in any schooling decision because I want my son to be educated by teachers who are sensitive to and respectful the nuances of the major religions, ours included. The reality is the fulfillment of those expectations can't be taken for granted ex ante. We often talk about how if you've seen one PG child, you've seen one PG child. I suspect homeschooling families are also dissimilar in their motivations or approaches, even if the initial impetus for HSing is giftedness.

Back to the OP of whether a highly sociable child's needs can be met by homeschooling, I suspect it boils down to local resources and the parent's availability to help forge and sustain deeper, more meaningful sure shelter relationships. I'm a believer that it can happen, by that the parental investment might be high, especially upfront.

Of course.

My point is that those are the only instances in which I can definitely identify a schooling choice on the part of parents making that kind of difference to their children as young adults. Those instances are rare.

Most homeschooling families that we've known-- and this would include families whose faith plays a role in their homeschooling ethos-- are not nearly so extreme.

I think that most parents who keep the child's needs at the center of the decision-making process wind up doing just fine, even when those choices seem strange or even unthinkable to outsiders.



We've home-educated an introverted only child, after all-- and she seems to have excellent social skills in spite of the "isolation" that most people think she must "suffer" from.

Developing sure-shelter, meaningful interactions with other human beings is quite a tall order for most HG+ children to start with. I'm not convinced that being excused from spending all day each school day with groups who are never (quite) true peers does much to swing that either direction, myself. It has pro's and con's.

Some people lead a sheltered existence. This includes parents who have the option of sending their children to B&M schools where the risk of physical harm to their children is not one of their primary concerns.

This can sometimes lead to such sheltered parents being overly judgemental of other parents who are less fortunate in their schooling choices and the sheltered ones accuse the others of being overly protective of their children against trivial, improbable or imagined dangers, when in reality they are legitimately protecting their children from genuine risk of major harm.

{shrug} No offense, but I don't think that anyone suggested that you weren't acting appropriately for your own circumstances.

We have kept my child from B&M schooling in order to keep her from a daily risk of death. Believe me, I get it.

It's just that most parents are NOT in those kinds of circumstances, and it's quite easy to convince parents to be fearful for their children. If local schools are that dangerous to a child without any particular difference that would make them more vulnerable than their peers... then what on earth is the local neighborhood like?? If the neighborhood is nice, then who the heck is at the local SCHOOL that makes it unsafe by comparison?

That's all I meant or intended.

I don't think that "fear" is a great reason to homeschool. Not for most people. Homeschooling should IDEALLY be see as a good thing, not as a last-resort that just happens to be better than a horrifyingly unacceptable alternative. Doesn't always work out that way, of course... but ideally, that's the case.

It's the same reason why it's always a good idea to examine a school placement with the idea that "there's always homeschooling." Desperation and feeling that you have NO alternative/choice is seldom good.

Neither a bad school placement nor relatively isolationist homeschooling is ideal as far as socialization goes, I think everyone agrees.

Neither homeschooling NOR B&M schooling automatically produces social benefits-- inherently. It's situational.