Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Partial Homeschooling for DS8

My DS8 is pg and goes to a public school (GT classroom) and my efforts advocating for further acceleration at school have not been very successful. I have come to learn that 3/4ths of parents of PG kids homeschool their kids. Not sure if I am right. My son loves the B&M school and is extremely social. But he is way ahead academically than what the classroom can offer. The sad part is he does not complain about boredom at school. However, the teacher did mention that he sometimes can act up as he finishes everything real soon. I would love to homeschool him, and am learning about it. I am a Stay-at-home mom and do possess the time and energy to homeschool. I am very hesitant at the moment as I have limited knowledge on homeschooling. I am wondering if I can do it partially - like a day in a week or something or that while my DS goes to school for the most part. I dont know if such a thing is wise. Please advise. I have been reading up on this forum to understand about different resources available for homeschooling options.

Where do you live and what are the local laws? In NZ for instance you can't be enrolled part time but principals can exempt a child to attend a one day school programme or for other reasons (or decline to do so for any or no reason). It also depends how the school day is structured.

Keep in mind that it is more difficult socially for a student in elementary school to be enrolled part time than it is for a high school student because of being in one class versus many. This is, of course, assuming that his school does the traditional thing of having the class stay together for everything. If they don't, and work more like a high school, then part time enrollment could work well. Or if they mix the kids up for specials, that might work.

Our district has a "homeschool school" that my kids attended. It offers classes two afternoons a week and additional support for parents who want it (as in, they will hand you a program to use--I would *not* do this with an HG+ kid though). It was a great place for them and me to cultivate friendships.

As for not knowing what you're doing...that's normal. Your son is young, and you won't do much damage whatever you do. Pick a math program, get books at the library to read, and have him write about what he's learning about. Add more when you're ready. And also be ready to be overwhelmed by the pace and need for change, especially early on.

If you need specific support, the Well Trained Mind Community is a good place to find it. There are a lot of folks there with HG+ kiddos. Here's a link: https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/

We have done both partial and full homeschooling, with good success. #2 was around your DS's age when we did partial at a tiny private school, which consisted of one to two days a week at school, and the remaining time at home. We picked the days that had "specials" (art, music, phys ed, computer, project day). DC participated in academics with the class on school days, but was not graded on them, and understood that we would do "real" academics on the at-home days.

Currently, we homeschool full-time.

You may wish to inquire at your district offices regarding homeschooling options. In our district, residents are allowed to participate in any amount of in-school time as homeschoolers, as long as it does not comprise all academics (this is to prevent families who use nominal homeschooling as a way to avoid state-mandated testing, while receiving all of the services of public school--a curious thing, btw, since parents almost always have the (possibly little known) option of opting their students out of testing). Your state and district will have their own policies.

With regard to your own degree of confidence: you know your child better than anyone else. There are many resources that can help you school him according to his own learning profile and pace. WTM is a good resource, as are the posts on the Recommended Resources page here. And keep in mind that his current situation appears not to be meeting his needs, so it's not like you would be short-changing him by what you would do instead! Summer is also a good time for low-key experimentation with homeschooling, maybe for an hour or so a day. You'll find that most learners, especially PG learners, won't need a full six hours a day of homeschooling to cover more than reasonable expectations. At the age of your DC, we've historically expected about 2 hours of homeschooling time 4-5 days a week, and found it to be quite adequate for keeping our children engaged in learning, and moving forward at a pace appropriate to their needs and abilities. It also leaves lots of time for interest-led activities and creative exploration.

Thanks all for the inputs. I live in Washington and I understand homeschooling is allowed, but I do not know about the partial part. I might have to talk to the principal in fall and see if that will work.
I have a few other questions. For LA, science etc.. Should it be online or through books? I think there exists both types. I checked WTM and RFP. Should I be the one who teaches him the subjects with the help of these books, if I do not want him to do things online? I am starting to do some experimentation on hs already as you have mentioned.

There is no "should" except you should probably not have him work full time in a family business, let him play computer games all day or lock him in a cupboard while you work full time.

You may wish to peruse this state document: http://www.k12.wa.us/PrivateEd/HomeBasedEd/PinkBook/pinkbook.pdf
In your state, you may send your homeschooled student to public school for any amount of school you wish. Check the appendix for a model letter of intent to homeschool, and model registration form for partial public schooling.

And if you change your mind on online, your state also has free public charter schools through K12 and Connections Academy.

In Washington, you are allowed to access the public schools as much or as little as you wish.

As for the format--you should do what will work best for you and him, and it may take several months for you to figure out what that is going to look like (and it will probably change over time as well). I prefer to do school, especially at that age, as a conversation, so I choose resources that work well for that.

I did part time homeschooling for my older son for 4th grade. It worked and it didn’t work.

Middle school or high school would be easier in that you could say he is doing first, second and third period and I am picking him up after lunch.

Elementary school he was doing all classes after lunch social studies and science were after lunch. But sometimes the teacher would work on the social studies skit during language arts before lunch so his group would be writing without him. Or take the class to the library before lunch to check out books for the science report. No biggie but we had no idea that this was happening and it would catch us by surprise. So a question I would ask would be about cross curricular projects. After many days where he was asked to come for the full day for this reason or that reason I just transitioned him to full day. He is 2e and had homeschooled full time for three years.

My younger son is PG with a full grade skip and a lot of acceleration in middle school. I have always known if school could not or would not put him in appropriate classes, I could just partially homeschool.

I foresee DE his last two years of high school. He will be done with all required classes at the end of 10th grade at 15.

High school would only work here if you lived close to school - maths might be 1st period Monday, 4th Tues, 3rd Thurs and 5th Fri while science could go 4th,1st,3rd Mon to Wed and 1st on Friday. Doing those together only works if travel time is short.