Hello all. I have a just turned five years old son who is very gifted by my own reckoning. He taught himself to read at two, memorized prodigiously- maps, presidents, dinosaurs, periodic table, etc. etc.. I thought math was not his thing, though he counted very early, up to 100 before two. I thought that was normal as he is only child and I'd never been around other kids much. But at four he developed a obsession with math too, mentally adding double and triple digits, doing times tables and not just memorizing but using math. On drive home for Xmas, he says,"what's 327-280,because that's how far we have gone since the last sign!" He uses multiplication to figure out how many Lego knobs there are on big Lego grids. I don't know what grade level he reads at or what math level he is, but I suppose high. Most of his favorite books (always nonfiction) are age appropriate for me! So there is where he is. I've known for awhile that I am going to have to home school. He learns too fast to fit in.
My first question though is about his asynchronous development. He hates writing-- due I think to his perfectionism and most things coming so easy to him. He probably writes okay for pre-k. Can do cap letters, hates lower case. He is one of few kids that hates coloring. In fact I think he has only ever colored once. He will draw, but none of that fill in the picture with color for him. So my struggle is that he is ready for so many things that involve writing, but is behind for his skill level on it. I'm not asking that he have great penmenship, but just that he try. So how do I proceed with home school when he hates writing. Do I force it, wait for it to come and just do things verbally or with me writing for him? I want him to be challenged but not pushed into hating the struggle of learning. And I don't want him to be too dependent on computers...I'd rather he learn to write well then type well at this stage. Too much computer work at this stage worries me. Thoughts?
Question two: We just moved to a very rural area with only one school. Since we will home school, that of itself is not a problem. But how do other rural parents deal with lack of local resources, peers, opportunity for your children. We were used to a city with tons of museums, play groups, kids outside... Now we just have sagebrush and no one around.
Thanks so much. E
