Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How many homeschoolers?

I'm curious about the homeschooling population in this community. Are we huge? Are we marginal?

I feel like I don't have a choice in the matter. Our son has never been in school. When I investigated options last year, the state's gifted coordinator actually told me to continue homeschooling rather than deal with the accommodations our local district could provide. I agreed, since the idea of shipping my 7yo off to high school for most of the day (with the exception of art and PE) didn't thrill me.

Anyway, our son is largely self-taught and we'll continue homeschooling for as long as it works well. I know that he'll take classes in the near future, as he's exhausting my personal resources. But I'd love to hear how other homeschoolers are tackling the issues of gifted education, especially for profoundly gifted children.

Best,
E

We're home schooling after a great year in half-day (public) K and a dismal start to 1st grade (also public school). We, too felt we didn't really have a choice in the matter, taking DS6 out 6 weeks into the school year.

I am doing some research into private schools in our area for next year, but given a quality of education vs. cost comparison, I'd place my bets on home schooling again next year.

My one worry is making sure he has enough time with friends. This year his best friend (who lives behind us) is in afternoon K, so the boys get to play together virtually every day and sometimes twice a day, running back and forth between houses virtually unmonitored. When the friend goes to full-day 1st grade, that particular social outlet will all but close for us. That will make things harder.

Naturally we are part of numerous groups and such--home school group, GT Saturday enrichment classes, football, YMCA classes, art and PE class, playdates (esp. with other home schoolers), etc. But for just plain unstructured play, I want to be sure he has easy access that doesn't necessarily require a lot of effort on my introverted/lazy part! Playdates wear me out. Just because he needs to be social doesn't mean I do!

There are 2 schools for GT kids in our area, but at $10,000 per year, I'm not sure we should/can go that route. It's a lot, and I'm not sure how much better his education would be than what he's getting now. He really likes home schooling! And he is taking a lot of responsibility for his own learning, which is just amazing to see in a 6.5yo, I think! That's something school doesn't usually teach.

Though we might go the private school route, I'm pretty sure we won't go back to public school with him. With DS3.5, maybe. Not sure what his needs will be yet. (I sometimes wonder if he's 2E, not gifted, or just a different kind of gifted than I'm used to...Not sure.) I suspect he'll have trouble with public school, too, since he's pretty clearly the artsy kind of Visual-Spatial learner.

Babbling now...But the gist is, we're still trying to figure out what will work best for us. About the only thing we're sure of is that public school WON'T work for DS6! Pretty muuch every other option is still on the table for him.

Kriston,

Thanks for your reply. It sounds like you are being really conscientious in finding the best path for your son's education. Does the choice feel as weighty to you as it does to me? I'm continually thinking about how to do things a little better.

What method of homeschooling do you use?

About the unstructured play time, it's something you can definitely find as a homeschooler (and it might be easier than if your kid had the time constraints of traditional schooling).

For us, playdates are almost totally unstructured. We know the other moms and kids well enough that a lot of the time it's a drop-off situation. As a matter of fact, our son has a friend over right now (another homeschooler) and the mom is off spending one-on-one time with her 3yo daughter. Our two boys will probably spend 5 hours playing today. We just fit lessons in around stuff like this. I like that I don't have to be social every time he wants a playdate. And since they only need minimal supervision/monitoring, it gives me some down time for computer work, house tidying, etc.

Nice to meet you!

E

E-

We're also homeschoolers. My older kids are all PG/DYS and 2e to boot, so it is nice to have the flexibility of home learning. My kids are all pretty asynchronous, and wouldn't fit comfortably into a single grade level.

We are eclectic and child-led, though not true unschoolers. This year we are a bit more structured, with certain subjects assigned each day. It seems to be working well. We do the majority of our schooling in the mornings and are free to socialize and take part in activities in the afternoons and evenings.

Yes, Esperanza, I definitely feel the choice is a weighty one, though I also remind myself often that we can change course anytime DS needs something different. This is practice, not theory, so I'm not planning to "declare" myself as a follower of any particular school of thought. If home schooling is best for him now, then that's what we'll do. If it's not best next year, then we'll do something else. <shrug> We all adapt pretty easily around here, and it helps to keep me from feeling like I might be making some earth-shattering mistake. If something doesn't work, it's not the end of the world.

In my neck of the woods, playdates never seem to be of the drop-off variety. It really stinks because the drop-off kind is what I would choose in a heartbeat, both giving and receiving! My son is pretty easy, too: respectful, rule-abiding, nonviolent, not prone to tantrums, etc. (He is a bit bossy, but he's able to discuss it if he doesn't get his way. He's not a bully about it.) I don't think it's us. This is a very conservative area, at least from my personal perspective, and people rarely let their kids out of their sight. Home schoolers seem to be the worst, actually.

(I joke that the one thing that all home schoolers I've met seem to have in common regardless of why they're home schooling is that they're/we're all control freaks! LOL! I feel like I'm less so than most, but I KNOW there are plenty of people who'd disagree with me there! )

But we're new to the home schooling community, so maybe by next year, we'll have connections we don't have now. We'll see.

Oh, and we're probably eclectic/child-led, I guess. I'm making it up as I go along, so I think that's what that means. LOL!

Each day, I require that DS6:
*read fiction/poetry of his choice for 15 minutes;
*read nonfiction of his choice for 15 minutes; this varies every day--science, music, history, health, etc. I just want to get him through the basic curriculum by the end of the year, but in no particular order or concentration;
*do a math lesson with me (Singapore Math);
*write two lines (his choice what to write, since the goal is just to practice and improve his fine-motor skills. I help with ideas if he can't think of anything);
*clean up for 25 minutes over the course of the day (a recent addition to keep me from losing my mind over the mess!);
*do something he loves every day;
*listen to a parent read for 15 minutes, from books of his and his younger brother's choosing.

This seems to work for us. It's flexible enough that I can follow his lead, but specific enough that I feel like we have some sort of direction/schedule/goals for our work. If we have a big project working or a field trip, however, we adapt accordingly. Nothing is very rigid around here...

An example I'm proud of: on Wednesday he read part of a nonfiction book about robots by Isaac Asimov, and it had some words in Greek. He asked what it said, so I taught him the Greek alphabet and he used that for his writing practice. We also discussed the use of pi in math with regard to the area of circles. I even shared the joke "pi r squared," "No, pie are round" with him. I considered it a darn good day of education. Fun for both of us, too!

What form of HSing are you using?

We're also fans of the child-led learning approach. Until last year, it looked almost like radical unschooling. I say "almost" because I am not the sort of parent who will allow anything. Our family is biased against most TV and video games...yes, we're one of those families. So he would spend his time reading, writing stories and plays, playing with Lego and Playmobil, playing with friends, dressing up and play-acting, cooking, riding bikes, going on hikes, etc.

My role as a homeschooling mom is to provide an environment rich in learning opportunities, and then watch closely to see what strikes his fancy. Then, I feed that bliss with moremoremore.

About 9 months ago, he asked for more schooly-type work. He specifically asked for formal lessons in grammar, word roots, math and history. I suggested adding in some science and spanish. So that's where we are now. On a typical day, he does 3-4 hours of formal lessons. It's working fine now, but I'm open to changing things up if necessary. I know that soon, he will have passed my comfort level in math. I am not a math whiz --in fact I have forgotten a lot of my own math education-- and he's starting algebra now, so I will need to seek out some help in that area very soon.

I have cobbled together some curriculum from different sources. I'm happy with some, not so much with others. Curriculum is such a mixed bag!

E

Kriston,

It is soooo nice to hear a mom talk about a HS day she is proud of. I think this is so important! I found your post really uplifting.

We were told to homeschool before my son started kindergarten. The elementary school principal was a relative of mine and had seen my son reading and spelling very well when he was preschool age. My son had started reading and spelling at 2. The principal didn't know, because my husband and I didn't even know at that time, that my son was twice exceptional. He has motor dyspraxia which makes handwriting and drawing and coloring in the lines difficult. We had no choice but to homeschool. I live in Oklahoma and when I talked to our state gifted coordinator, she said there is no requirement in our state for an appropriate education for twice exceptional children. She said I needed to continue homeschooling and that "my son is worth it." I already knew that.

I try to follow my 9 1/2 year old son's lead in his education as much as possible. Right now, we are concentrating on preparing for a state spelling bee, and he is also working on vocabulary, and classic literature.

Cece,

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that it helped.

We have lots of good days! My DS6 is happy, he's learning, we're having fun, and we like each other more than we did before. Those are all great things!

HSing is like anything else: not perfect, of course. We had a rough couple of weeks in math a bit ago. Painful to get through! But I figure it's not necessary to be perfect--just better than "regular" school was for him, and that's not hard to be! We do our best, and it's usually pretty doggone good. Banish perfectionism and embrace "good enough!"

The one big downside to HSing that I've found is that I am an introvert who needs a LOT Of time alone, and I'm not getting what I need there. For next year, I'm arranging a part-time HS/part-time classes at GT school, and hopefully that will help me to get the time alone that I need. By Friday, I'm utterly worn out from all the giving I've done, and I can't keep it up without changing something. If it weren't for my personality type, I'd have nothing bad at all to say about HSing. But if you're an introvert, then I would recommend that you have some help with the kids one way or another to recharge your batteries. It's my one big problem this year.

Considering that in August I had no intention of HSing whatsoever, and I had done no research into it whatsoever, that's not a bad year. I've learned as I've gone along.

If my DS6 had his way, he'd HS for the rest of his life! He loves it! Even when Mommy isn't as patient as she should be...That right there tells me how much of an improvement HS is for him! Big time!

Happy Valentine's Day, all! Off to date my DH!

Kriston-

I had my date with DH last night, to beat the rush! I had lobster AND dessert, which is just the height of decadence for me. Enjoy your date!