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    Joined: Sep 2007
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    I haven't read everything up to this point, but if you are definitely looking at homeschooling down the road (which will probably be a really great fit for your kids), I would definitely look at a very low academic, high play social skills style preschool. I have a daughter who just turned 4 who academically could do kindergarten or beyond without a problem. She is about to attend her 2nd year of a neighborhood 3 morning a week play based, open ended preschool. Her teachers really "get" her and if kids are reading or writing and want to work on that in class, it's no problem. The teachers accommodate for kids in all places but really push positive social interactions. It's been quite ideal for her.

    And just because your kids weren't speaking at 2 weeks doesn't mean they can't be very gifted. I didn't even suspect my son as being more than a "little gifted" until he got to kindergarten. He is likely going to be home schooled for 2nd grade in the fall. You're way ahead of the game and you're following your kids lead. That's great! Keep up the good work!

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    I can only speak from my own experience, but DD enjoyed preschool at 2 1/2. Not so much for academics since she knew her colors, shapes etc. but she enjoyed the social aspect since she was an only child.

    Since you are a SAHM, you can pursue her interests as home. If she has a particular interest in a topic, go to the library and pick up books about that topic. DD loved animals and around 3 she only wanted books about snakes and spiders (yuck!!!) that I read to her. Animals and nature is still her passion and it was obvious from early on.

    You can also explain math concepts and see how she responds and picks them up. I usually didn't initiate much of this, just waited until DD asked a question and explained it to her. Following a child's lead will avoid the pushiness and she is likely to ask more questions.

    Get ready for an interesting ride, you children sound very bright.

    Jen

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    I went out of town and came back to some great answers! Thanks guys!

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    My DS4 is going to do a second year of play-based half-day, 2-day-a-week preschool in the fall. His preschool teacher really gets him and his giftedness (she was the first outside person who told us that he would need acceleration some day). An additional benefit to this preschool was the fact that I get a break! (Sometimes it's a brain drain to have a kid who is constantly on.)

    We started wondering that maybe DS was more than a little smart when he seemed to teach himself to read around 3. We did have him tested with SB-V when he turned 4, because we wondered about early kindergarten and we had to prove IQ>130 and get the ball rolling in the spring if he was going to go 2008. Because DS turned out to be very HG, we're glad we got testing before school started. He will always require some sort of accommodations at school (subject or grade acceleration, etc), so we took the evaluator's advice to let him play another year instead of early k. We probably will end up doing some homeschooling at some point, but that was not even on the radar until we got his evaluation. In fact, I had pretty negative views about homeschoolers (sorry - i thought they were all just on the religious extremes). But as for you, if you expect to homeschool anyway, maybe you won't need to spend the money for testing unless you need it for some particular program or reason.

    For now, we encourage whatever DS4 is into at home, and it seems he just learns stuff through osmosis. I concur with the others about following your child's lead, and do other fun stuff like zoos and science museums, etc.

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    Originally Posted by st pauli girl
    We probably will end up doing some homeschooling at some point, but that was not even on the radar until we got his evaluation. In fact, I had pretty negative views about homeschoolers (sorry - i thought they were all just on the religious extremes).


    If that's a general apology, then I'll just say no offense taken. Actually, I bought into those same sort of stereotyping of HSers as fringe/wacko types...until two of my sane, normal friends--both with GT kids--started homeschooling. I saw how well their kids did, and I changed my tune FAST!

    Live and learn! smile


    Kriston
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    I didn't mean to cause any offense - i was just trying to show how uneducated I was about homeschooling. Actually, it was reading posts from you Kriston that really showed me that homeschoolers are people too. smile I had no personal experience with homeschoolers, just a closed mind and negative media influences, i guess. i'm sorry.

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    Of course. Like I say, I certainly didn't take offense.

    The media portrays HSers as mostly all weirdos who abuse their kids. And when we were growing up, homeschooling just wasn't done by, well, much of anyone at all! If you don't know any HSers, then you have no way to know that you can homeschool and still be normal (well, relatively, anyway! wink ).

    Really, you didn't bother me one iota! laugh


    Kriston
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    I know dozens and dozens of homeschooling families. The vast majority of these are homeschooling for reasons other than religious convictions. I was actually taken aback when a fellow homeschooling parent told me that they did so for religious reasons. I think that's the only time I've heard that from an actual homeschooler.


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    I've heard undertones that a lot of families around here say they are HS for religous reasons but are really doing so for academic reasons. Not sure why. Perhaps it's more acceptable to reject PS on religous grounds vs. quality of learning issues.

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    Most of the homeschoolers I know in my small town are homeschooling for religious reasons, and I didn't realize this until I started talking to them about wishing that part time public school was available in our state. Several of the members of our homeschool group made it clear that this would be a terrible thing, in their opinion. They thought children needed to be kept away from the influence of "government school" and they have not been friendly to me ever since. Several of them also told me that they would never have had only one child, as if they think all good homeschoolers should have a half dozen or so kids like they do.

    So we are on our own here, with only our online friends during the school year. In the summer though, we could have kids over here all the time if we wanted. My son's public schooled friends and cousins call all the time asking to come over.

    I recently talked to an adult who had been homeschooled. She is the mother of a teenaged girl in my son's acting class. She said her mother pulled her out of public school in 9th grade because although she was very bright, her grades started falling and the teachers didn't seem to care if she did well in school or not. Her mother cared enough to take her out of a bad public school, and she finished high school a year early. She was smart and didn't fit in. Homeschooling worked well for her.

    I graduated from the same public school her mother pulled her out of, although years earlier. There was a lot of fighting at this school when I went to it. I remember worrying about getting to my next class safely instead of learning. I knew that I learned more outside of school and this was one reason I knew homeschooling could work, even if I was not a good teacher.

    Every now and then I ask my son if he wants to go back to school and the answer is always no. He likes homeschooling. But he recently asked me if we were more like the unschoolers, because he spends about 75% of the time learning what he wants to learn. He likes being able to learn more than his public schooled friends, who only get the one hour a week gifted pull out and are expected to do grade level work the rest of the time and then have to do homework which further limits their time to pursue their own interests. I have noticed that compared to these kids, my son sounds more like a well-read adult and I think this is one of the reasons he is so good at making small talk--something I am not that good at. It isn't just that he reads a lot, he knows a lot about movies, music, and even sports even though he can't play sports, because he listens to the news and although he doesn't watch a lot of television, he watches enough to know a little something about it. He seems to know a little something about everything, just like his dad, who has this same gift of gab.

    I think another benefit of homeschooling was that it made it easier for my son to have the older friends who were closer to his mental age.


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