Well, even 6th isn't rocket science.
DS8 is in a similar place--in the 5th-8th grade range on most everything. It's not that hard. And what I said about it being reversible still holds true. There is no failing, just changing gears.
Aside from finding out the rules for homeschooling where you live so you jump through the correct hoops, the other thing I can think of off the top of my head that you might need to consider is making sure you document well enough so that if he completes 3 years of coursework in a year and is ready for high school sooner than expected AND if you want to transfer him to a bricks-and-mortar high school, you have documentation of what he's accomplished so they'll let him in. There are helpful resources for putting together a working high school transcript for a homeschooler, so that can be managed.
Again, not rocket science. Don't be put off.
Virtual public schools don't always allow acceleration, so ask questions about this. If things are moving too slowly, do they allow testing out? Does he still have to sit in front of the computer for X amount of time if he mastered the material already? Some are more flexible than others.
If it helps...we've just started algebra this week. It's a fairly simple, nuts-and-bolts version, with plans to move to the Art of Problem Solving book (class?) next year for a higher degree of difficulty. Similarly, I'd like to get to geometry early and spend extra time on it to go more in depth and slow him down. There are good, cheap resources out there for this sort of stuff. It's not that hard to do.
The hardest part is not getting overwhelmed by the incredible variety of materials that are out there.
That's why I recommend an early stop at the Homeschool Diner. I hope it helps you. Julie does a good job of describing different styles of homeschooling, and then you can say, "I'm not into Charlotte Mason (or whatever) for my child, so I can skip that material if I see it." It lets you filter what you find.
Everyone is different, so I don't want to seem like I'm telling you what to do. Not my intention!
But I think knowledge is power, especially when it comes to educating an HG+ child.
Now for the bad and the ugly...
>The hardest thing for me is getting enough alone time. If you are a person who needs that, schedule it!
>If a child doesn't buy into homeschooling or chooses not to cooperate for whatever reason, life can be darn near unbearable for you. You can lead a child to homeschooling, but you can't make him work! If he decides to fight you, decides that homeschooling is where he's going to rebel, you may have a bad time of it. There are strategies for dealing with this, but they can be hard to figure out in the heat of the moment. Of course, there are also school days that are achingly beautiful because you see your child grow before your eyes! So you take the bad with the good. We had a lousy day on Monday, but then Tuesday was the easiest, most pleasant and fun day of the year. Usually a bad day means that something I'm doing isn't working. I adjust, and things improve. You figure it out.
>Finding homeschooling groups and/or friendships (with homeschoolers or not) that suit your family can be a challenge. It's often good to have a group. This is harder in some places than others. (We discussed this already, right?) Homeschooling does not have to be isolating, but it can be.
>If you have other children who are not homeschooling--especially younger children--it can be difficult to get the work done. Again, there are ways around this, but it is definitely an added challenge.
>Finding the right level of challenge for him can be hard. I tend to want to slow him down, to review, to fill gaps. When I do, he acts out--just as he did when he was underchallenged in public school! Duh! But I am apparently a slow learner...
99 days out of 100, homeschooling has been a great solution for the problems DS8 faced. He's very happy with homeschooling. He has not always been happy with the homework I assign him or with the daily schedule. But those are logistical problems that we can solve.
It works for us.
