Hi Zia-
Trinity asked me to stop in and say hello. I'm entering my sixth year of homeschooling, with four PG kiddos. My oldest is in college and my youngest is two. I'm the gifted education editor at bellaonline too, and though the site is not exclusive to homeschoolers, we have quite a few homeschooling parents who post on my forum there. Please feel free to check it out and ask questions there, or at bellaonline's homeschool forum. My site is here:
http://giftededucation.bellaonline.com I'll do my best to answer the questions you've already posed. First off, there are as many ways to homeschool as there are homeschooling families. If you tell me a bit more about what and how your son enjoys learning, I might come up with a few good resources for him. You might want to think about styles of schooling too- the Lisa Rivero book that Trinity recommends is a great place to get started understanding the different methods and how they might suit your family.
My husband and I had two concerns when we started homeschooling. One was that our social butterfly wouldn't have enough time with friends, the other was that our severe introvert would become a hermit. I'm happy to report that both kids have done quite well socially, and my introvert actually had more energy to devote to friendships once he came home to learn. On top of that, I have found some amazing and intelligent women for friends myself, and we're all part of an extensive and close-knit community.
I do think it's important to network with other homeschoolers, but you don't need a huge group to meet your needs. Our first year, we were part of a 4-5 family informal group which got together several times a week. That was quite comfortable and gave us the numbers to have classes for gymnastics and art. We relocated and joined a support group, which we love. Our group has an annual science fair, prom, International day, and National Day, as well as bi-monthly get-togethers for park and beach days in the Spring and Summer, board game and craft days in the Fall and Winter. My kids have taken part in many short term group lessons, in art, literature, dance, science, etc.
I used to frequent the parentsoup homeschool board, but I haven't been there in a while. You can check that out, and also the veg source homeschool boards at
www.vegsource.com If your son's test scores are in the right ballpark, I also encourage you to apply to Davidson's Young Scholars program. It's a fantastic resource for the parents and the YS children. I can't say enough good things about it. They have a listserve for homeschooling parents, among other things.
hth-
Lorel
