Originally Posted by Kriston
A well-known authority on GT kids advised me to spend 3 minutes on my son's strengths for every 1 minute we spend on his weaker areas. "School should be fun for him," he said. "Don't hammer away at things that aren't his favorite."

I thought that was excellent advice, and I pass it on whenever it fits! smile

My goal in homeschooling is to try to keep DS8 at least at age level in all areas--never behind, if I can help it--but to avoid slowing him down in things that he loves. So he gallops ahead in science, math, and fiction, and his writing and knowledge of the times tables is pretty much right on par with his age.

It works for us, FWIW. Maybe that helps you think about your situation? I hope...

I think this is very wise advice. Even though I emphasize the 3 R's at the moment, I try to make it as fun as possible. I guess in my ds's situation, I believe that he has such a strong interest in science that I do not need to spend as much time on it right now in a formal fashion. His knowledge of science blows me way. I literally have to take the science books out of his hands at times to get him to do other things wink I do encourage his science explorations though by providing tons of science books and via science shows grin. He also takes a science course via the cyber school. My main goal is to get him up to speed in the 3 R's so that he will have the tools to deal with advanced courses across the curriculum. Consequently, in a formal sense I do spend more time on the 3 R's as well as foreign languages. Informally, my ds spends the rest of his free time usually on some sort of science or history in addition to little boy stuff grin .

P.S. When my son was 4, he would not have tolerated so much time on the 3 R's so to speak. I definitely had to be more creative back then to make it fun.

Last edited by classicsmom; 12/16/09 12:25 PM.