My DS9 is a grade skipped 5th grader in his third year in what is supposed to be a HG (99% and up) gifted magnet. The program, in my opinion, has gone down significantly since last year. They have allowed far more students in this year (way more than is even statistically possible) and the work that is being assigned and they are being asked to do is full of much more busy work than the previous two years. I don’t believe my DS has learned anything new in his 4 weeks of school so far.

I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated with what is coming home and with what they are being asked to do this year and I feel that my DS is really ready for so much more thought provoking days. My DH and I have talked about it and I have actually asked him, when are we going to say something about this or are we just going to put up with it for the rest of the year.

We are at a bit of a loss, but I would like to try to put together a homeschool program for my DS. I would have to hire and/or rely on family for some and my DH would have to commit to at least helping with the Math (we both work full time but my DH is in education). Here is what I have come up with so far.

Daily

8:45 – 9:45 (PE with babysitter) I already have a young man who watches him in the morning(6:45-8:45). I would like to hire him for an additional hour a day so they can – go play ball, bike ride, go to skateboard park, etc.) I have not lined this up yet.

10-12 (Time with teacher for History, English, Math (probably online) and Art). She is a friend, former MS History teacher and prolific artist (painting, drawing, sewing, pottery, etc.). She lives 3 houses down on my street. I talked with her and she really wants to be a part of this.

12:15-1:45 lunch/library/book club – he could come to my office and have lunch – we would be reading a book at the same time and treat my lunch hour as a book club time and or/ he could go to lunch and library to read – take advantage of other opportunities with his Nana. My mom would be willing to help in this way.

2-2:30 Science internship (and try to incorporate some lab time for him) (he does not get any of this now). I have some ideas on coming up with an internship/instruction but nothing solid yet.

He would have the rest of the day for sports, music lessons, theater - all stuff he is involved in now.

This is my big picture so far, but I would like to hear about any other full time working family's homeschool successes. One of the things that I am still unsure of is actual curriculum or if I really need that.

Something to keep in mind...Some states have laws requiring parents to sign that they are doing a certain percentage of the homeschooling. You may want to find out what your state requires before you hire your helpers.

Yes on all checks just to cover yourself write in the memo babysitting.

hi Percy!

i am a full-time work-from-home parent. when everything went sour with DD in Pre-K last year, the wise folks here suggested i think about homeschooling. at first, it seemed impossible to fathom! but i work 11 hours a day! and she's 5!

however, when i totalled up all the actual hours of instruction she had at school (granted, she is smaller than your DS!) it was amazingly slight. your big picture schedule sounds fantastic, and if it seems doable to you - it probably is.

we are only 1.25 days in (literally, we officially started homeschool yesterday) - but we spent the summer getting into the habit of DD5 minding herself during my entire workday. it worked beautifully from Day One. if you'd asked me three months ago if this was possible, i'd probably have laughed till i wet my pants! but the summer routine seems to have set her up well for doing the independent parts of her new school day - and she is LOVING the fact that there's actually work out there that she finds new and interesting.

we do gym from 7.30-8.00 (we go pretty hard - running, biking, scootering, yoga, pilates etc) and then come back to the house for a quick change and then settle down together to work through new/reinforcement academics. an hour later, i turn her loose on some practice-oriented academics which goes until snack at 10.30. then, she has free time until lunch, where we reconvene for another 45 minutes of new/reinforcement academics and we review her independent work from the morning. she then goes off for a second round of independent work until the 2.30 snack. the rest of the day is hers to enjoy. we get outdoors again right at 5 until suppertime. she does her portion of family reading (she's up to 25 pages a night!!) at the start of bedtime and then we read to her until lights-out. she's also got some extra curricular dance (4 classes this year - holy!) and swimming sprinkled in there and on the weekends.

like you, i am also planning to bring in family to help. DH is in charge of Cultural Studies and he's going to take one day off a month to take her around our nearest large city. they'll explore the neighbourhoods, eat food they've never tried before, think about where it comes from, poke around in shops and chat with everyone they meet. they'll sketch in the art gallery and go to the concert hall. DD's grandmother will also take her out to the more obvious museums and things twice a month.

the homeschooling project is obviously very young, but we're off to the most amazing start. it's breathtaking to see her flying already - and it seems a real privilege to actually be there for all the AHA! moments.

I think this is possible with copious outside help. I could never do what doubtfulguest is doing, though. I end up working with my kids here a fair bit due to the nature of my work (it's not supposed to be like that, but I am often waiting for others to finish their end of things) and I really dislike it. Neither party gets my full attention and both suffer notably.

Would it be better at the current school if they did an additional grade acceleration?

WOULD they consider that as an option?


Here are my concerns as a seasoned homeschooling parent and someone who did actually juggle post-doctoral research work with homeschooling my then-4-to-9-yo HG+ DD:

a) there are TOO MANY independent pieces to your plan, and no real safety net if one of them collapses on you.

b) it's a lot of coordinating on YOUR behalf. Don't underestimate the complexity of doing that, or erroneously assume that it will run smoothly once you've set things up. It won't. You'll be spending at least a few work hours weekly on scrambling to make arrangements/cover something that got dropped by someone else, etc.

c) can you manage the increased STRESS to yourself? How welcome is your child in your workplace? His other parent's workplace?

d) what do you plan if one of the people in your subcontracting arrangement isn't living up to what you expect? Is doing things that you don't like?

We had the luxury of a SAHM, but when DW first started homeschooling, she discovered that the whole "school day" only lasted about three hours, and much of that time was spent with DD working independently. In that context, homeschooling while working full time, especially with help, is very doable.

What took TONS of time was curriculum development, because my DW didn't find one she liked, so she insisted on doing that herself.

Have you talked to other parents whose kids attended the school last year? You may not be the only ones feeling frustrated. I would do that before pulling your son out.

Also, I'd also recommend talking to the teachers to see what's up. Be specific about your concerns and think carefully about how they answer them. Do you get the feeling you're being brushed off? That's a warning sign.

I do agree that the actual "schooling" part need not take many hours. However, there is still the "what to do with the kid" part. If you can cover that in other ways...(Who is taking him to the lessons, sports, etc?)

I just wanted to add that homeschooling hours need not coincide with regular school hours. So you could be schooling him after you get back from work or on weekends/holidays, whatever works for your family. As ultramrina said, as long as you can figure out what to do with you kid while you are at work, the homeschooling piece can be made to work.
Out of curiosity, if one chooses to HS, can the kid still go to school for lab work, sports, etc?

Out of curiosity, if one chooses to HS, can the kid still go to school for lab work, sports, etc?

The answer largely depends on your local school administrators and state law.

HG+ kids who are not extremely self-regulating can be VERY stressful/time-consuming to homeschool. Not because they require much help to learn-- but because it takes so much time, money, and energy to keep them on-task with something novel to learn or do.

There is simply no good out-of-the-box homeschool curriculum to use, and therefore your only real options are all "eclectic" which means huge investments of time in developing/vetting/monitoring.

Childcare is not all that difficult to manage, in our experience. The problem is in keeping the curriculum suitable and engaging on an ongoing basis.

On the other hand, I found that the experience of trying to homeschool my PGlet made me a MUCH better advocate for her with our virtual school later on. I knew very well what challenges we were up against, how flexible and NIMBLE things needed to be, and warning signs when things were becoming unbearably ill-fitting. I also knew what a Herculean thing it was to keep on top of it all.

Do think carefully about how you plan to evaluate progress and keep track of what is/isn't working. Plan in some kind of data-gathering or record-keeping method right from the start. It's always problematic to try to get credit for independent study as an HG+ homeschooler. If your studies have you working +2-4 (or more) years ahead of chronological peers... assume that you will meet with skepticism.

I'm happy to see this thread, as DH had the rare treat of homework duty last night (usually my domain) and was so utterly defeated by the experience that he started muttering about home schooling. That's a remarkable change of tune for him. We could only pull it off by hiring a teacher/nanny, though, and I worry about replicating school dynamics in his safe-zone of home.

It sounds good - if I could afford care while I worked I would try it. But it is very dependant on the goodwill of others. The having to do it yourself requirement could be worked round by having school in the evenings and fun stuff in the day - can the existing morning person stay another hour - i would assume they had another job or school. I don't know what you do or what you get paid but might it be easier to reorganise your hours or reduce them (or your partner's)

I really appreciate all of your input - I'll try to answer a few of the questions

grade skip - he's in 5/6 combo in 5 so this might not be the best option. Also, his first skip came in a different district when they felt that was the only thing they had to offer. In this district, they think this program is enough. But it is something to rethink and perhaps consider.

labs, etc. (partial homeschool?) - in our state, the district must allow homeschool students access to GT and sped if there is room and sports. So, a partial homeschooling would likely not work out. I have thought about it informally but not sure if school/program would go for that. Also, he goes to school out of district and our home district does not really have a GT program.

Val – I am a bit reluctant to talk to other parents as there seems to be this overall feeling that this is the best program ever and any critics have problems. I exaggerate that a bit, but I did mention something to one parent last night and she said she sent an email at the end of the last year with what she thought was some constructive criticism and it was not received well. So, I guess my point is my work reaching out to other parents would need to be covert, I would have to get a large group in agreement and then we would have to fight the group that thinks everything is wonderful.

In terms of talking to the teacher – this is something that DH and I were talking about last night. We have a good relationship with the teacher – this is the second year with her. She is personable and friendly and generally easy to deal with. One thing she has said this year is that they have to do more work on getting the kids ready for standardized tests because of "gaps" last year and that “it is crucial that we make sure students are receiving grade-level content on a regular basis for standardized testing purposes.” This is not something that has ever been emphasized.

I agree with much of what HK has said and things she points out are really my concerns: no back up; coordinating; one piece breaking with chain reaction; still keeping DS interested, engaged and learning; measuring that. Other concerns - he's social - I think he is still happy where he is because he enjoys being with his friends, not seeing something like this as a long term plan and planning for that.

Still mulling and appreciate all of your guidance, wisdom and thoughts. Thanks.

I'm not trying to discourage you, really.

It's just that it's a LOT of work, and it can be very discouraging to have an unrealistic set of expectations going in. Your chances of success are much better if you're pragmatic or even a little on the pessimistic side in your predictions about the level of difficulty that it will present.

Is your DS amenable to "afterschooling" as a bridge to full homeschool? I might try that this year and see how it goes.

No, HK, you are realistic - I get that. I am too. I guess what I (we) really have to figure out is whether all that work and the related stress is better than what is going on now.

He will do the work assigned to him but he has limitations (an ADHD diagnosis) and knows them - if he is not too overwhelmed, he will say, I just cannot do that today. The school work, homework and school work that becomes home work is less intellectually rigorous (ie more procedural and tedious)and takes more time than necessary it would be hard to get work at his level in there too. His school gets out at 3:30 and by the time he gets home and a snack its 4:30. Also, this is the first year that he only has one 15 min. recess so he needs to get some exercise too. So, I guess my response is likely no to the afterschooling.

I am kind of feeling like the best way to proceed now is to take Val's advice and talk to the teacher - see what we can work out to try to make it a little better for him, invoke his 504 less problems to show mastery, then ask her to assign the "homework" that we come up with. I did do this with the IXL 40 minute weekly requirement - I asked if he could do Khan at his level as opposed to IXL at 5th grade and she wrote something about at grade level standards practice but if we felt like he did not have any gaps to go ahead.

I would not start the homeschool plan anyway until the 2nd week of November because my "teacher" is traveling for most of October and early November.

Ahhh-- then, in light of the ADHD, my response changes somewhat. I'd be looking at what your back-up plan is for sick carers, and how flexible parent employers are likely to be.

A gradeskip seems like a more challenging solution in light of possible issues with executive function at work. I completely understand the reluctance to afterschool on top of a day filled with drudgery.

You are lucky to have a public school that caters to the 99th percentile. Around here the schools aim for the 25th percentile.