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    K, so there's still scholarships. Just checking.


    Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
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    Originally Posted by Wren
    Thanks for the feedback, right now that is one answer. I hope someone answers that has experience going forward in the grades because I would really like to know.

    As someone mentioned elsewhere, no shoe fits all and gifted curriculum isn't necessarily a size fits all, though the peer group is nice.

    And maybe the unschooling approach is a great way to supplement.

    Ren

    We are certainly not fully unschooling, but I would also not categorize us as hardcore school-at-home types. We do lots of outings, lots of hands on, camps, classes, plenty of books of all kinds. We use a math curriculum (religiously) and a LA curriculum (loosely). We own other curriculum, but use that even more loosely. School is 1-3 hours 4-5 times a week. My 3rd grader tested 3-7 years ahead of grade level in every area this spring doing open ended K-12 testing. And this is a kid who was not wildly ahead in kindergarten. He had lots of knowledge and facts but nothing that would shine in a typical kindergarten. My kids have amazing peer groups through various sources.

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    Thanks kimck. That was useful.

    Ren

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    I just did some research on homeschooling and it looks like the academics are the easy part. It appears that the non-academic part is becoming very important.

    The really top colleges, and they mention Harvard as being friendly to homeschoolers, is looking for kids that do really "cool" stuff outside their school work to get an idea of who this kid is, particularly socially. They mention that boy is was one of the youngest to sail around the world by himself, at the time, as a homeschooler who did something cool to get into Harvard.

    I know that is an extreme but knowing how a kid fits in is becoming more of a criteria now.

    Not wanting to be critical, just trying to be fully informed. DD is 5 turning 6 and going into grade 1. I am trying to make the best decisions for her.

    Ren

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    Originally Posted by Wren
    They mention that boy is was one of the youngest to sail around the world by himself, at the time, as a homeschooler who did something cool to get into Harvard.
    If he really did it *to* get into Harvard, then that's a failure of Harvard's selection process, I think. As I understand it, what these colleges are trying to look for is what the young person does on their own initiative, with their own drive, not because they want to impress anyone or get into a specific college, or because their parents support it, but because they themselves truly want to.

    I think this, then, could work as an argument for or against homeschooling, depending on the child, the environment and the family, and of course on what the available school alternatives are. Homeschooling obviously gives more flexibility in what time gets spent on what, and also *might* give a young person more practice in making their own decisions about what to do and what to learn (unschooling having a clear advantage there!). OTOH, with a closely managing parent, the child might actually get less practice in making decisions than at school. Depending on that and other circumstances, a homeschooled child might get more or less chance to get interested in things that don't interest the parents and pursue that interest.

    Either way - school or homeschool - there's obviously a balance to be struck between making sure one's child gets to know about enough different things that might turn out to be passions, and making sure the child gets enough spare time and space to try out interests and practice making choices and living with the consequences. Personally, with my DS at school, I feel that he needs almost all of the other time in the day to spend as he wants, so he does no scheduled activities outside school and the couple of afterschool clubs he chooses. If we were homeschooling, I'd probably be encouraging him to enroll in classes for this and that as the balance might be the other way.

    Incidentally DS has done fantastic holiday activity weeks where he had free choice from dozens of activities, and has developed a passion for fencing, which is almost the last thing I'd have guessed he'd enjoy. I'd heartily recommend taking advantage of that kind of thing if possible: the chance to try activities out on impulse, in small doses without long-term commitment, is invaluable.

    But also, don't over-estimate the importance of non-academic interests for academic success, and don't forget that world-class education is international these days and policies differ. The UK's top universities, for example, care* hardly at all about non-academic interests: admission is based almost entirely on academic criteria, assessed by examination and then by academic interview. There are better reasons for doing non-academic things than to get into university!

    *as a general rule: in Oxford and Cambridge, admission is devolved to colleges and individual admissions tutors might behave differently, but I'm reporting on typical experience based on a limited but non-trivial set of information from both sides.


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    Thanks, it is interesting to hear what is going on in the UK. I think I paraphrased incorrectly. The boy went around the world because he wanted to do it, but because it was so cool, and he had great scores, Harvard took him. An example of homeschooled kid that got into Harvard.


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    One of my friends plans on unschooling. She is saving up so when the children are older they can set out on a world trip. She wants to expose her children to many cultures and not just the tourist side. I think it's a wonderful idea and I really hope she will be able to financially swing it.

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    Originally Posted by Katelyn'sM om
    One of my friends plans on unschooling. She is saving up so when the children are older they can set out on a world trip. She wants to expose her children to many cultures and not just the tourist side. I think it's a wonderful idea and I really hope she will be able to financially swing it.

    That sounds so good.

    I don't think I can really help regarding the admissions and things, we have a very different system here. But really the great thing about home schooling is being able to do what your child needs without having to get it through a school.

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    We do a lot of traveling but on school holidays. I have posted before. DD5 turning 6 soon, chose Egypt this year.

    I think whether unschooling, schooling, gifted schooling, hopefully our children will find a way to make life work for them.

    Just being the way I was raised, once she is out of college, she better not be living with me. That is one lesson she should know. I just want her to figure out what she really wants and go after it.

    Ren

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    We enjoy traveling too but I think her idea is different for she has no plans to come back to home for over a year. They won't have hard schedules but let the adventure itself guide them. She doesn't plan on staying in proper hotel/motel settings but hopefully with people she has connected with and feels comfortable with and/or do something similar to hiking around Europe. She wants to expose her children to the differences in the world and let them see for themselves and maybe even help in their own little ways. Really is a huge undertaking and I definitely admire her for it.

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