Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Homeschool concerns

I'm not even sure what my concerns are, just sort of an uneasy feeling that i'm not doing things right.

DS7 has been homeschooling since October and by most peoples accounts he has done well. My concern comes from the fact that I don't seem to be able to challenge him. He goes through his lessons at warp speed, then asks what's next. He's completed 5 sections of Aleks since we started, 2 full years of language arts etc. Whatever I put in front of him, he just seems to get. He does his work each day without excitement or complaint, he just does it and moves on. It's kind of strange but some days I feel like I'm feeding a hard drive.

I've tried to "go wide" in adding several things that the average kid would never see. A good example is that I received in the mail on Tuesday a new curriculum on finance. I thought that it would carry us for a few months at least. When I sat down with him yesterday to introduce the subject I found that he'd already read half the book. He had the right answer for all of the questions I asked. I just sat there thinking "now what?" and let him move on to something else.

You would swear in watching him work that he's "pencil whipping" because of the ease with which he does everything. But when asked to test or simply questioned, he knows the answers. One of the strangest things is that when asked to define a word that he was given several weeks prior, he repeats verbatim what the dictionary said. He freaks me out more than a little.

On the opposite side of all of this is a 7 yo who is emotionally very immature, total perfectionist and spoiled rotten. He still throws amazing tantrums when something defies "his" sense of justice. So the emotions are there, how come they never show up while we're working?

Is there such a thing as a child who never seems to be challenged? One who just goes to it, no matter what and never lets on that something is too hard? What am I going to do a year from now when I've run out of subjects and ideas? I feel very inadequate and unprepared.....

I am no expert, I don't even homeschool. But, I remember when you made the decision to and I just wanted to send my support via the wwww.

You are doing fine, it might take a while to figure out where he is, then you'll figure it out and he'll jump again.
I will let the experts say more...

Except - what about trying a community college class? Some are available online, it might be what you need. They aren't expensive, in most areas.

I do sympathize. My youngest is jumping in reading levels faster than I can find appropriate books. I tried to challenge my oldest with a college level text that I had, but she knew some of it already.

We just started homeschooling here and with DS9 it is the same thing. The one area I see lacking is writing but this is tough as it is the one thing he least likes to do. Using the computer alleviates this and now he is happy to do some poetry etc. and we recently "adopted" a US Soldier and he is writing to him.
I actually just decided to ask him what he would like to learn and how he would like to go about it and we go from there.
I agree with CFK, if your son is enough ahead that you don't have to worry about meeting any state mandates then just relax and see what he would like to explore.

First off, you're not doing anything wrong. You just happen to have a kid who is a learning machine. If it makes you feel any better, DS8 was teaching himself how to do the math from the pre-test I was giving him when we started. As I recall, he wound up doing 2.5 or so years of Singapore Math that first year before I gave up and switched him to high school geometry just to keep him from hating math. (And I don't think he's nearly the challenge that your DS7 is!)

In short, it's not you or anything you're doing. Honest!

We did finally hit a point at which he wasn't just soaking things up a warp speed. That's no guarantee that your DS has one of those, but there's hope at least.

Is he unhappy? Do you think the perfectionism is being caused/exacerbated by the fact that the (really advanced) work is too easy for him? Or is that just how he is?

Other than the natural fear any mother would have at the thought of a very young child leaping way ahead--like college--is there any reason you can't let him leap way ahead? Slowing down by going wide doesn't work for all HG+ kids. He may just need more challenging work, and letting him chart a course may be the way you have to go.

Can you find some big projects for him that are more involved? Can he perform his own experiments, say? (Real ones!) How about creating his own computer program, maybe even something he could ultimately sell to a software company?

Don't kick yourself. The first year is ALWAYS a learning experience for the homeschooling parent. ALWAYS!

If he's happy, then I'd keep doing what you're doing. If he is unhappy, then you should consider doing things differently. Maybe he needs to find a passion and dive in deep?

I wouldn't worry about curriculum for him, just get online! There are heaps of things available free. If he only needs 1 exposure to 'get it' then you don't want to pay for it! I have a few suggestions. Hmmm, might start a new thread for that - because I'm sure other people have heaps too.

Something else to consider: is he doing at least as well now as he was at his traditional school situation? (I know the answer to that, but it's useful to remember where you started.)

If he's doing better than he was, the next thing to ask is if there's reason to think there's some other option available to you now that's going to be better for him than homeschooling?

If not, then it might be easier to accept that you're doing everything right, but he's just a toughie. Keep fine-tuning, of course, but that's part of the process of homeschooling for everyone.

To me it sounds like you're doing just fine! We totally have moments like this with DS. I am at my wits end on what do with him for science. He's not ready for the work load or rigor of high school science. But elementary science seems so light in general and just generally obvious for a very GT kid.

One thing that I do that keeps ME sane is to have "office hours" and "school hours". From get up to 3 pm is school hours (no video games or TV). But I only teaching 2-3 hours of that time. I cannot teach and engage all day long. When we're home, my kids usually have at least a few hours a day where they need to invent their own entertainment or education. You also might want to just let him go nuts at the library on a weekly basis and pick and choose what he wants to read and research. My son does a lot of internet digging and research too.

Good luck and hang in there!

Did you check out the Plato Middle School Science, Kim? I worry about what we'll do next year because he's finishing it this year. But it has just been a dream for us. I had the same impression of the elementary school science stuff I saw, and this was a much better fit.

Shari, I just read your violin post too. It sounds like he is being challenged with violin. So he is getting exposed to something he can't do immediately, even if its not academic...