Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments What does your homeschooling look like?

Our DD8's homeschool day takes 3-4 hours, mostly because she tends to expand certain topics for the day, based on her interests. DW plans a number of activities for DD to complete at a minimum for the day, and then follows DD's lead for where it goes beyond that.

Wednesday is "fun day." They do art and science projects, or field trips. DD loooooves Wednesdays.

On another note, it's probably worth making a distinction between homeschooling and just general conversation. For example, DW has punted social studies to me (she's an immigrant), and I'd spend about 1.5 - 2 hours a week with DD on the material that the state says she needs to know as a 3rd grader. That was our "homeschool" time. At other times, when DD would go look at her chart of US presidents, and start asking me random questions about them, that wasn't homeschooling, that was just us chatting. The distinction being, she didn't need to know any of that stuff about presidents just yet.

I'm going to post a link to gabalyn's super-informative post in the other forum, just to make sure that people can find it.

Thank you ElizabethN for the link and Gabalyn for the post

Dude (and others!), in your experience, how important is creating a prepared environment that invites discussion/child-led exploration to a homeschooling (even after schooling) family? Your comment about the US presidents chart stood of because that is exactly the sort of media I'm beginning to incorporate informally into our home. I don't draw attention to it, but I do engage in discussion when interest is piqued.

I think that most of the families with HG kiddos probably already sort of have an "immersion" environment in their homes by the time that they have kids 3-6yo. Just self-defense, really...

So in that sense, using what you have just sort of makes sense and seems quite natural. The "preparation" is mostly about the interpersonal environment, I'd say. If you allow/encourage your child(ren) to ask questions and speak their minds openly, and you take them seriously when they do, then the rest just seems to follow.

In fact, I'd argue the other side of it-- that you'd have to go to considerable trouble and modification to STOP that kind of thing with a HG+ kid. Don't they all pretty much talk-talk-talk about everything that draws their interest all. the. time??

(Or is it just my kid?)

We did MOST of our social science and science using the informal Socratic model when we homeschooled. It is very natural and organic feeling to my DH and I both, but then again, both of us are naturally teachers. We answer questions with questions, just naturally opening a dialogue.

Other than that, we keep books and a supply cabinet that has some basic 'stuff' in it, and an open mind re: the use of household chemicals and kitchen staples.

This made me laugh! We beg DS4.5 for 5 minutes of quiet, which he never seems to give us! My only real concern with starting to possibly homeschool is that I will lose those 3 hours of quiet I get when he's in preschool! The questions and comments never stop! He even admits that he is unable to stop the thoughts and the talking! lol

Oh, does this ever resonate!


Goodness, yes! I have a little theory that the arrival rate of questions/comments increases as an exponential function of parental exhaustion.

Oh man can I ever relate to begging DD to be quiet. She is constantly talking and asking questions. Today I had a migraine come on and was begging for quiet..so she sat down to finish number 5 in How to Train a Dragon, but ended up talking to me about it every 5 seconds. Then she started in on Pippi Goes on Board and had to read a whole section out loud to me that she just found so hilarious. My poor head, but I love to see DD so enthused even if my head was killing me.

I have to do this in the summer. The hour after lunch is quiet hour. You have to be on your bed (sometimes you can get permission for the living room couch but only one of the two can do that at a time) for an entire hour. The only approved activities are reading, writing in a journal, coloring, napping if you so desire, thinking, and sometimes younger ds will take a few toys (legos or figurines) into the bed with him but he is not allowed to make sound effects. No music (unless headphones), TV, computers, or hand held games. It is quiet hour and I mean quiet.

It is the best thing EVER. I learned it from a homeschooling mom. And everyone comes back from that hour rested, ready to be nice to each other, and ready to tackle the second half of the day. Many times my boys will leave their beds after quiet hour but continue to read their books together in the same room and then eventually do an activity together.

When I started homeschooling DS7 this year, I was advised to follow a general curriculum series.

DS had been in two private gifted schools for part of pre-k and k. At the first gifted school, it was more a traditional, structured environment. DS was 5 and he rapidly accelerated through the pre-k, k, and 1st grade curriculum within 2 1/2 months. I was told that he was possibly 2e pg and that the school couldn't accommodate or accelerate him. Last year I had DS tested but he didn't entirely cooperate (I was on the other side of a divider and overheard) and therefore didn't get the test scores required for DYS. As a result, there are many reasons why I've been following a general curriculum series (Grades 1- 6) this year - for DYS, confidence, self-esteem, 2e issues, appease school district, alleviate my anxiety, etc.

We've been using the Learn at Home series (Grades 1-6); it's a general curriculum series and has a full school year of weekly/daily lesson plans for each grade. DS7 spends maybe a hour or more each day doing the worksheets (usually math and writing) and some spelling words for each grade. Though many days, I haven't been able to get him to do anything. Until a couple of weeks ago, we also spent each day reading from a book together (DS reads a page, then I read a page); I got fed up nagging DS to do his reading each day and decided to take a temporary hiatus, mainly for my sanity.

Rest of the time, DS7 is in his room reading books, watching videos, playing, going to playground, etc. DS has been learning considerably more history on his own this year. It's self-directed and often at a college/adult level. DS is a bit of control freak and introvert so he resists me "teaching" him anything! I said that I cannot sign him off on say 5th Grade until he completes the assignments in the Learn at Home Grade 5th and this has somewhat motivated him to finish it. He loathes the boring, rote stuff and wants to get it done asap.

To be honest, I think what really separates PG kids is the rate and speed of knowledge acquisition; at some point it's like a switch with them. They just rapidly leapfrog or go through material like the old video game Pac Man. They don't need the same amount of repetition that other NT kids need; and this is one reason why I find a general curriculum series has worked for us this year. DS7 has been able to skip around and accelerate rapidly. I've made sure he's mastered math facts and spelling, for instance, so I'm confident he'll be able to progress further.


FYI - We applied to DYS earlier in the year, but DS's test scores from last year disqualified him. I'm now in the process of trying to get him re-tested asap. I know we'd have the portfolio samples for DYS now and plan to reapply once we have DS re-tested and get qualifying scores.