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I'm trying to decide if I should HS dd this coming school year. My main worry is that she will get tired of being at home with me nearly everyday. My goal is to join a local HS group and enroll her in a one day a week enrichment program for HS students.

Those of you who decided to HS what were the main reasons that led you to that decision?

Has anybody made the decision to HS but then regretted it?

Eta: For those that do HS what do you use for math? I'm looking for something that is not online.

For my non-2E HG+ kid, my main reason was that I knew he wouldn't get an appropriate education in school. (Actually, I homeschooled the 2E HGish kid for the same reason, now that I think about it.) I did end up putting him in school for two years (grades 6 and 8, he skipped 5 and 7), and we're now back to homeschooling because even with a two grade skip, it still wasn't enough (with the exception of executive skill demand, which was bordering on too much).

I have never once regretted homeschooling either of my kids, but I do regret putting my son in school for those two years.

As for math, I like Singapore math (Primary Mathematics) for elementary level. Beast Academy is also something to look at though I've never used it. For prealgebra and up, if your child is math oriented, take a look at the Art of Problem Solving books. There is also the Jousting Armadillos series, which looks like it might be good, though I have not used it. We loved Jacobs Algebra, and for a kid who has solid arithmetic skills, Jacobs has enough introductory algebra content so that you don't need to do a separate prealgebra course. Foerster's Algebra is also excellent.

Regarding your other post, I would not use Connected Mathematics in a homeschool setting because it is heavily reliant on group work.

Some background info...

Dd is strong in math but hates it. In school it has always been her chief complaint, especially since her teacher for the past 2 years (G&T class) used primarily online math programs and dd wants to be taught face to face, not through a computer. So I'm contemplating starting with LOF and then letting her explore khan independently (the only online place she's tolerated).

My main concern about switching to HS is that she has benefited socially from her G&T (self-contained class) and has changed tremendously the past 2 years, mostly thanks to the social worker that comes in and the super flex program. In fact, superflex is the only subject she ever got excited about. So dd went from a student who was emotionally and socially cut off/withdrawn from her classroom/peers, to a very outgoing student that shares her thoughts and opinions.

Her school uses a project based learning approach for all subjects besides math and they spend months on a single topic. So at the end of the year not many topics are covered.

So my dilemma is deciding which is more important... Social/personal development? Or academic development? Dd's perspective is that school is a waste of time and complains that she's not learning anything. Last year was painful and long... This year we are getting a brand new teacher with extensive G&T experience but I'm thinking the teacher will still follow the teaching methods of the school and despite her teaching experience not much will change in how things are taught.

I would tend to go with the student's wishes, and she seems to be leaning toward homeschool. Superflex is available from Social Thinking, making it possible to provide ongoing instruction/support in this area of interest while homeschooling. Possibly she may decide on a career in the area of Psychologist or similar occupations?

Our choice with a student who needs to work on social skills has been to keep the child in school, and at the same time make sure that the academics are appropriate. In our case this meant multiple (fairly extreme) subject accelerations.

For many reasons, we would not let our child choose his own educational setting at that age.

I would distinguish between "socialization" (coming to understand and follow social norms) and "socializing" (fun times with friends).

Most kids with social skills difficulties have problems with the former as well as the latter, and a supportive school environment with appropriate academics can be helpful in this regard.

We have homeschooled DS9 for two years, and his younger sister for a year. We pulled DS out of school because they were unable to meet any of his needs (academic, social, behavior). He asked to be homeschooled early in 2nd grade; we pulled him out at the end of that year. My only regret was keeping him in school as long as we did, as he now has a distrust of teachers, classes, and most "formal" learning.

We pulled DD out at the beginning of 2nd grade for similar reasons, although she didn't have the behavior problems her brother did. No regrets with our decision.

Neither kid had any real friends at school, so we didn't even have a social reason to stay.

Homeschooling is not a forever option, and you can always go back to school if it doesn't work out. What does your daughter say to the idea?

For math, DS uses AoPS (book only), and DD is doing a combination of LoF and Khan Academy. There are a lot of math options out there, and even the best of them don't work for some kids. Best to see if you can borrow books before you buy anything.

We HS for a variety of reasons, including instructional individualization, temperament, and worldview. One of the children did experience several years of b&m school, and did well there, due to school flexibility and personal temperament, but was reaching the point where school-based individualization would look rather like independent study or individual tutoring anyway--so why not do that at home?

We have plenty of opportunity for age-heterogeneous and -homogeneous socialization, with HS co-op, athletics/interest activities, neighborhood, and faith community.

We used Singapore Primary Math (Standards Edition) for elementary, and (the same publisher) Marshall Cavendish's middle/upper school series for after (originally Discovering Math, now Dimensions Math). The original Discovering Math takes you from pre-algebra through algebra II in 3.5 years (last half-year is review/test prep for GCSE exams). Discovering Additional Math covers precalculus and univariate calculus.

To clarify what my 'social' concerns are....

Prior to starting the G&T class dd was a non-participant in the classroom setting. Since being in the G&T she has grown so much in terms of sharing her thoughts and playing with other kids and developing meaningful relationships. However, she still doesn't have an emotional investment with these classmates/friends... Meaning, when I asked her a few months ago if she is sad that one of her friends is leaving she said no. And then I asked hypotheticals about other friends and if she would be sad if they left and her reply was no for all of them, except one girl. These are friends she sits with at lunch, plays with at recess, and invites to her bday party, but wouldn't miss them. The G&T program has definitely helped her be more outgoing. I still can't figure out if she's introverted, has a mild form of Aspergers or just quirky. Also, fwiw Dd isn't a behavioral problem when bored in school. HS is really only going to last 1-2 years until she can go to the stem middle school older dd is going to. My primary objective is that dd continues to be outgoing and participate in classroom settings.