At the time, there really wasn't another schooling possibility. We were 6 weeks into the school year already, and I had done ZERO research into other schools. Uprooting him and moving him to a new school without significant research seemed out of the question. I mean, we'd have no way to know if the new school would even be any better than what we were leaving. And keeping him in that classroom for weeks while I did the research was out of the question. The classroom situation was simply not working. Not even a little. DS6 was miserable, acting out, sad, angry...it was killing his spark, and I wasn't going to watch that happen any longer than I absolutely had to.
We considered trying to change classrooms, but that seemed like a lot of work for no reward. We didn't really consider grade-skipping because before the trouble began, we were under the (mistaken) impression that DS6 was MG, so we didn't think it would be necessary to skip a grade. When I began trying to figure out how to handle the problem, I finally saw his test scores (achievement and group IQ, conducted by the school on the K teacher's ID) for the first time. I was flabbergasted to see such high scores--they were 1 to 2 standard deviations higher than I expected them to be! Surprise! And, honestly, I thought I was far more GT aware than the average person. It was the first time I was confronted with just how bad a case of GT denial I was living!
Anyway, after we saw the scores, it didn't seem worth it to try to keep him in public school. Our school system is not at all GT friendly anyway, so we had already considered HSing in passing, though I hadn't researched it beyond just chatting with a HSing friend about her experiences. I realized that if I was worried that he would have trouble at the school when I thought he was MG, there was no way I was going to be able to make the school work for him if he was PG! It was completely untenable for him.
(Not that I think ALL public schools are untenable for ALL PG kids. I think it's a case-by-case thing, and some public schools work very nicely for PG kids. But I firmly believe that our public school wasn't going to work for our kid.)
What was left? Homeschooling! And it has been a good choice for us given the situation.
It has not been an *ideal* situation in our case, mainly because I am an introvert who needs significantly more alone time than most people do. DS6, however, ADORES HSing!!! I mean, he thinks it's the best thing ever. He loves that he gets to study things that interest him in as much detail as he chooses. He loves that he's challenged. He loves that he got to use learning to downhill ski as phys ed class. And he loves getting to spend time with Mom.
As I say, it's slightly less-than-ideal for me. I confess, I'm the person who loves the fool out of her kids, but who couldn't *wait* until they hit school age so she could do some things alone for a change! I'm not getting that time to myself, and it's hard. The school stuff is much easier and more fun than I expected it to be. The decreased alone-time has been far harder than I realized it would be. <shrug> Live and learn.
(Note: if you homeschool and need alone time, make sure you have some help with child care. You'll need it! I have some, but it's not enough. Without any child care, I would be certifiably insane by now!)
I also worry about getting enough time with friends for DS6 next year. His best friend B lives right behind us, and the boy is a kindergartener in half-day school this year. (An older one! He's just a couple of months younger than my DS.) That means his school schedule allows him to play with DS6 nearly every weekday morning and afterschool, too, so when combined with playdates and HSing groupo activities, DS has never lacked for social time. But next year, when B is in school all day and comes home exhausted and with homework still to do...I suspect DS will get less social time and will need more. I can't do more than I'm doing now. I need to do less!
With the luxury of time to research, I think we've come up with a workable solution for next year. Fingers crossed! We're planning to HS part-time and send DS6 to a private GT school part-time. This will allow us to afford the school (which is very expensive), will cut down on driving time (because it's about an hour's drive round-trip), and will let us keep doing many of same sorts of fun things we've done this year as HSers (like skiing).
I'm hoping that this arrangement will give DS6 what he needs while also giving me what I need. It will also allow me more 1-on-1 time to spend with DS3.5, whom I think often gets the short end of Mommy's stick!
So I guess to sum up, I would say that at the time we pulled DS6 out of school for HSing, we *couldn't* consider other options. Not really. Now that we have the luxury of time, we are probably going to be very creative in the solution to our problem: part-time private GT school and part-time HSing isn't on most people's lists of educational options!
Does that answer your question? Does it help you at all, or am I just babbling?
K-
