Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Considering Homeschooling

Hi all,

I have a 4th grader and a 5th grader, both with gifted IEPs in their public school. Up until this year, I was the gifted teacher in their elementary school. We all loved it - they both spent half their day in my class, and we completed creative and collaborative projects with other gifted classes in the district, developed inquiry investigations for district-wide science conferences, and entered statewide writing contests. I coordinated most of this, along with other elementary gifted teachers in the district.

This year, I was asked to move to a middle school - this happens occasionally due to gifted numbers, availability of certified staff, etc. I was very distraught about the move, not only because I loved my job, but because I would no longer have my own kids in class part of the day.

The situation would be a lot easier to take, except for the fact that the gifted teacher who took my place is AWFUL. My girls say she sits on her computer or her phone most of the day while the kids have to sit quietly and fill out endless vocab and long division worksheets. I never see anything come home, and the special events from last year have ceased to exist without me to coordinate them. Other parents have already complained, but the principal in the building is not strong and they've gotten nowhere. It's getting harder and harder to get the girls out of bed in the morning, and they both say they hate school. I have considered pulling them out of gifted services, but haven't for two reasons:

1. The gifted community in our district is fairly small, and it would be politically difficult for me to do so without possible ramifications (the current teacher is related to someone high up in the district)

2. My kids are both performing 2-4 grade levels above in math/LA, and putting them back into regular ed. might even be worse than what they're experiencing now - especially with our district's mandated curriculum, which I feel is dumbed down.

My thought at this point is just to get my 5th grader through the year. She is very intense - the type that needs her mind engaged - so some days I feel like we're hanging on by a thread, but I've told her she needs to make the best of it for one more semester. My 4th grader, on the other hand, is another story. I'm not sure she can do another year like this one.

So....I'm trying to think outside the box. She is very independent, and I think she'd be a great candidate for homeschooling. The problem, obviously, is that I work during the day. Would I be crazy to enroll her in some online classes, say CTY or the like, along with giving her instruction in the late afternoon/evening and assigning her work to do during the day? I guess it would amount to something more along the lines of "unschooling," but she can't possibly learn less than what she's getting this year.

One caveat: If we go through with this, it would only be one year. I currently work in a competitive program for advanced middle schoolers, so the girls will likely join me once they reach middle school.

Thanks for reading - and I'd really appreciate thoughts from anyone who's either solved a similar problem or started homeschooling successfully.

Just to ensure I'm on the same page as you before commenting further, could you please clarify whether my understanding of what you've written is accurate:

- middle school starts in grade 6
- you would likely teach the girls, at least in part, in middle school
- you're thinking of homeschooling your younger DD, only, starting next year, for one year

Aquinas - correct on all counts. Thanks!

I assume the question of adult supervision during the school day has already been solved.

I have a somewhat similar situation, in that I work full time (also a school job), but homeschool the school-age children. We do not use any online curriculum (we lean toward Charlotte Mason-ish and other literature-based). I assign them work during the day, expect them to have completed music instrument practice before I come home, and fill in instruction or support in the afternoon/evening or on weekends. I also don't stress about not finishing the week's lesson plans (there's always next week), as long as they can demonstrate that they were using their time productively (which can mean projects of their own). They have supervision, as my spouse works from home (but doesn't do much direct instruction), but work largely independently. Not by design, they have also developed a sleep schedule that has them going to bed later and getting up later, which has its benefits, as their wakeful, productive hours have more overlap with my at-home hours. We also school year-round (though flexibly during the summer), partly to take advantage of my summers off.

This is our second year of this schedule, with children not far off in age from yours. It's not easy, but certainly has been worthwhile.

Assuming your other bases are covered (like child care), your proposal for partial homeschooling sounds solid. As you said, it would be hard for her to learn less than in the alternative.

In the meantime, I'd continue to monitor the situation at the elementary school, because connections not withstanding, it's entirely possible that the new GT teacher is not there, or is not in the same capacity, to start the new year.

I'd also start planning to make the jump early, because your oldest DD in particular might start behaving in ways that indicate a need for urgency. Been there.

Given how far ahead they are working, is subject or grade acceleration an option?

Would starting this year with both of your daughters be palatable to you? If the environment is as stultifying as you describe, it could be a good springboard for your older daughter into middle school.

I have actually considered starting with both girls this year, but am hesitant to do so because of the "political" situation in our district - there would be a LOT of questions if I suddenly pulled both of them out mid-year. However, it's not out of the question. My older daughter is by far the more intense of the two, and I'm seeing a lot of anger and frustration both before and after school. She is acting very similarly to her 2nd grade self - before she was staffed gifted - irritable, difficult to get out of bed in the morning, etc. It's hard to explain, but for her, it's the INJUSTICE of the situation. She's really a 30-year-old trapped in a 10-year-old body.

Supervision could occur one of two ways - my husband is self-employed, so one or both girls could easily go to work with him. We did this instead of preschool to save money, and both kids taught themselves to read before kindergarten at his shop. We also have a neighbor lady who is retired, and she has offered to allow one or both girls to study at her house during the day.

I don't feel comfortable with grade acceleration at this point, mainly because both girls are pretty young for their grade. Many people around here "redshirt" their spring/summer birthday kids, so they're already 1-2 years younger than a number of their classmates.

Do what I did -- lie, lie, lie. Cite "family circumstances." Cite "emotional stress." Anything. You don't owe them the truth.

I agree with MegMeg on this - your first loyalty should be to your girls; the politics of other people can be dealt with creatively somehow.

I do a similar thing to aeh - my three boys are at home from me, but I work from home. They do their own thing for the most part and I do stuff as and when I can with them - my on paper saying is that I am trying to help create independent learners. They do attend classes for music, sports, science and a few other things as base for their "learning" but our hands on time is in evenings and weekends.

My kids are almost 8, 6 years and 3 (almost 4) years old. it works for now. we are about to have our semi annual sit down chat about learning goals for the next 6months... I think that what you describe would work very well - I'd consider starting now and for both of them though. The desire to NOT get out of bed to go to school is a big deal to kids - and it has a knock on effect very quickly.