Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments homeschooling/unschooling PG kids

I feel like I am posting a million questions each day. I am sorry!

DS6 is PG. He's currently in a 1/2-day K program that will be wrapping up soon. I don't have the report in hand yet but he meets criteria for DYS so we'll be doing that. His reading is on a 5th grade level according to KTEA. I don't know math results yet but the psych referred to him as "mathy" (surprise to me-- he's a voracious reader at home although has been interested in math of late). His performance was slightly higher than verbal but both were high and, even with extended norming, he didn't meet discontinue criteria on several subtests within both domains.

Soooo... I am going to take the homeschool leap. I fluctuate between being overwhelmed and being excited. Depends on the moment.

To start, I am leaning toward only buying curriculum (or doing something) for math and just seeing how everything else goes. He absorbs everything. We are at the library several times a week and he maxes out his card and just soaks in knowledge from all sorts of areas. So I don't want to mess with that passion but I feel like math needs a solid foundation at this age and apparently he's mathy so...

I'm just trying to visualize it. I guess I'm leaning more toward mostly unschooling (except math) but what does that look like for time? At 6... how long do spend on a subject each day? I do not want to go overboard but I also don't want to do nothing, if that makes any sense at all.

For math, also consider Beast Academy by the people behind Art of Problem Solving.

We decided a while ago to homeschool DS6. We are fairly unconventional...we don't use a curriculum and tend toward unschooling a little, but not quite. We focus mostly on 4 main areas: Music (DS plays piano, so we do lessons, daily practice, and music theory), Italian (works with DH on Rosetta Stone b/c we had it), Writing (mostly whatever he wants, but I give him guidance), and Math. I also have a science & humanities integrated curriculum that I am building...mostly it is one exploratory activity each week and a few other things (like poems or experiments) here and there. We have tons of art supplies and I let DS read whatever he wants (Mysterious Benedict Society right now). We spend maybe 2.5 hours 4 days a week on the structured stuff, then the Italian and more piano practice on the weekends.

For math, DS worked through Singapore Math 2A&B, 3A&B, and 4A. We got to 4 B in late February and I didn't think he really needed 85 pages of decimals. He did need more work on fractions, though, and solidifying things like long multiplication and division. He was also starting to dread math, so we needed a change. I picked up the Miquon Math series (mostly for DD4, but the later books have some really interesting content) and Key to Fractions. We tried Life of Fred, but I am one of the few people who really didn't like it, and neither did my kids. Now, I create a single page of math for each day from problems in the books that draws on all areas. I can mix hard & easy stuff, new & review, word problems & basic calculations. It suits him well and he has come back to enjoying it.

Good luck figuring everything out. We are part of a wonderful co-op and while all the kids are great, DS hasn't really made any real connections with them. I would love for him to find a great friend or two, but he is not eager to do so, and I suspect he wouldn't have much better luck in school.

YAY! Congratulation s- I think you will both really love it!

unschooling works so well - because it will be led by him! This means you get "permission" to explore anything you ever wanted to do as well (hehe)

For maths we use www.dreambox.com - it's online and super fun. It also does unit pre tests and allows them to skip the stuff they already know. We have just started with LOF as well (as our bedtime story?? lol). It's a fun maths house here!

Don't buy anything that is a long-term expensive thing right now. Take some time to relax into being at home together, enjoying each others company. Do some outings, play outside, ride bikes and go for walks. Play lego and bake and just relax together. When he is ready for things he will ask and then you can help him find what he needs.

It's a joyful experience!

Thank you, Portia, SAHM and Madoosa.

I am definitely not purchasing a curriculum set right now. I was thinking of dabbling in a couple different maths (LOF, Khan, etc.) and maybe seeing if I can borrow a Beast Academy to see if he likes it. He does like graphic novels so I have a feeling it may be a good fit.

I skipped the first grade intro night last night so now it's feeling real

For me once I had the courage to make the decision it felt amazing and freeing and totally awesome! I hope you are feeling some of that peace of mind and heart too.

Madoosa... exactly! I feel like I've been hemming and hawing all spring but once I heard the testing results I knew.

I am so happy for you! And thrilled that your son gets to really be free from the get go! I'm happy for him too.

Makes perfect sense.

When DW homeschooled our DD, she oriented on content and tasks, not time. The homeschool day took as long as it took. If DD wanted to read four books instead of one, they did that. If DD finished her math worksheet and asked for more or harder problems, she got that. Then again, if DD knocked out her math worksheet in five minutes and wanted to go play outside, she got to do that.

In order to ensure there was a minimum amount of instruction each week, DW created a schedule where there was one math activity per day, one LA reading and one writing activity per day, and science and social studies on particular days. Wednesdays were the exception to the above, where the only thing they did was art.

DD was free to exceed these minimums and drag DW along at any time.

Thank you, Dude. That is helpful in thinking about how our week might look.

I just came back from "teaching day" in his K class. The students had a list of activities to "teach" the parent. We were done and reading books after ten minutes whereas all the other families never finished. The whole time he was working, other parents were staring and I even got questions/comments. He was oblivious. I felt a bit self-conscious. I am fairly certain they think I'm a tiger mom. The difference between DS and the other students was striking. I do not understand why his teacher, who is a veteran teacher, questioned why we thought he was gifted.

I'm glad I was able to see it because I do feel more confident moving forward.