Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Homeschooling/Unschooling?

Hi all,
We are having my son tested on the 9th (he's currently 6 and in a half-day K program). We live in NH and there is no gifted ed. The psych has already suggested that I think about the possibility of needing to home school, either next year or in the near future. I have been reading everything I can to try to prepare. My son is very self-motivated/driven when it comes to learning so I'm trying to envision what homeschooling might look like for us. Unschooling sounds rather appealing, with regard to the "follow the child" vision. According to the NH DOE site, I will need to have a portfolio of student work and have it reviewed by a teacher, and it's also recommended that we record what the child has read. How do people unschool and follow these guidelines? Thanks for reading!

Well, after he reads a book he places it in a box or bag (to return to library or to your bookshelf) and you then record that on an ongoing list (books read the week of....). If he reads digital books have him update you once a week on what he has read.

I had a system....projects (or writing) were posted on refrigerator or bulletin board for a week or two then placed in a box. About 4 times a year we went through and kept favorite art, science, and history projects and writing samples for the portfolio. I made sure I had a beginning of the year writing sample to compare to the end of the year. The history program I used (story of the world) actually had you keep a notebook with everything so I had every history paper we did and was able to pick out a paragraph or worksheet from there.

If you are more unschooling you could have him write at the end of the week a paragraph or two summary of what he learned....like what topics did he explore on his own or with your help. When my son was young he dictated to me and I wrote it down. I would say today you learned about the Vikings...tell me what you learned...and he would tell me the big ideas and some details and I wrote it for him...later he took over typing that on the computer or writing it.

Oh. Also...use photography and keep pictures of things (we mummified a chicken during the study of Egypt). Store your pictures on a cd as a back up. Our portfolio also included pictures from scouts, homeschool PE group, home school field trips to plays and museums.

Our portfolio was a really cool academic scrapbook of our time homeschooling.

We live south of you in MA. This is my second year un/homeschooling. With our 2e/pg ds8, I was told by an expert a couple of years ago that I would have to un/homeschool too. We were in similar shoes to you with our son when he was in kindy.

I keep a log of reading, math, science, history, etc. developments for myself on a wiki, which I do not give to local school districts. That's for my own personal sanity and reduce my anxiety. In MA, I don't have to provide a reading log or any of this detailed information to local officials. I've found it very helpful, in particular, to keep a log of reading material because you can spot the acceleration jumps and points where the interest changes. I can also see if there's any big gaping holes.

My advice is to stick what you are legally obligated to report and not give them an inch more. For the purposes of reporting to local officials, give them information that's grade level or slightly above - not more, imo. This is not the time or place to be an overachiever or overenthusiastic with reporting, imo. You can make a rod for your own back if you do - or that's what other mothers here in MA have found out.

In NH, it's my understanding that you need to submit a reading log - http://nhhomeschooling.org/law. The reading log only has to be a page or two long. Well, there's a lot of gray then with what books you report and disclose. NH (and MA) are really only interested in making sure that the child is progressing in their education. Again, though, there's a lot of gray with what they consider 'progress' or what you reveal to a local officials.

In MA, the annual progress report can be quite minimal in comparison - http://www.ahem.info/ProgressReportA.html.

I want to add that we gathered a lot of samples of work but we didn't share everything...but our portfolio was a careful sampling of artifacts...I tried to have a sample from the beginning, middle and end of the year in different areas to show progress.

We have to show a certified educator the portfolio and review it with them...so I wanted enough stuff to show and talk about so they could sign the evaluation letter I had to turn in. Couldn't use my husband or myself (both teachers).

Also my son was very advanced in reading at the time (1st through 4th grade) but was pretty much on grade level for everything else as long as I did extended activities and deep discussions when he was curious.

This is such wonderful information. Thank you all.

I have also heard that you should not show "too much" in your portfolio. Does anyone keep one portfolio for themselves and then pull pieces from that to show the school officials? I certainly don't want to set myself up for anything but I also would like to save a lot for my own sanity, especially the first year, so that I feel like I'm doing it correctly. If that makes any sense at all!

That is exactly what I was trying to convey! The state never saw my portfolio, just my hand picked evaluator looked at it. But they could have asked for it up to so many years after. So I did want to be able to prove that yes he did make progress yearly while we homeschooled. But once he was back in school and passing each grade easily I worried less and less about what I had kept as records.

This principle applies to many things... portfolios... college essays... resumes... even documentation of problems at school. A person keeps quite a bit, then can "filter" to choose the most applicable items to share for the given situation. For a portfolio, a parent may wish to talk through the selection process with the child, as the child will eventually manage their collected works... it may be good for a child to begin learning this application of decision-making skills early as it may help to build the student's internal locus of control.

Thanks sweetie and indigo. This is starting to feel slightly less daunting.

We pulled my son out of first grade and are mostly unschooling him. It is a big relief to be out of the school system. I agree that boxed curriculum would be a waste of time and money for many kids who learn fast. We use the library and sign up for classes and clubs as we see fit. We don't have to document anything here in Wisconsin though.
It's fun and we can see him enjoyig life and learning again!

Thanks LRS. Can I ask everyone how they "schedule" their homeschooling? He is 6... how many hours per day do we spend on academics at this age? As I said, he's pretty independent in his learning so I am sure eventually I will be able to give him assignments, etc, but how does it work at this age?