Sorry if I implied that I thought this "time honored way" was just fine; that was not my intent.
Sorry to have misunderstood you.
All I was trying to suggest is that school is not harmful or torture for every HG+ child (just like it isn't good for every one either).
Agreed. Completely.
I would hardly call the reading I did under my desk as "babysitting."
Understood. I meant no offense or slight about your reading there. Some of this may be an age perspective: I'm talking about this as the mother of a 6yo, and it seems like you were older when you were keeping yourself occupied. Though I still think that either way, it just seems to me that leaving kids to their own devices is less school-like than I would expect at...well...school. That's not to say that letting a kid be self-directed is bad--heck, I'm doing just that with our home schooling! I just mean that it doesn't seem like all we should ask for from our schools is to leave our kids alone so they can read. Why send them to school at all if they aren't in a rural area and they can easily get the social stuff elsewhere, as we can?
I got a lot out of school even if the academics weren't challenging. And, in some ways, I think I benefitted from having much of my learning be self directed rather than imposed by the school. I was moderately extroverted and we lived way out in the country. The closest private school was more than 1 1/2 hours away. If I had been homeschooled, I would really have been pretty miserable. I felt like going to school and having enough spare time (from not being challenged by the work) to choose what I read was kind of the best of both worlds. I may be in the minority in experiencing school this way, but I know I am not alone.
No, you're not alone. That describes much of my experience with school, too. I just don't think it was what school should have been. I'd like to get more from school for my son.
It's good to have options, isn't it?
