Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Who here is homeschooling their children?

I'm thinking of homeschooling my two oldest children (10 and 8). My oldest is bright and not hardworking, and the lack of rigor in our local schools (the neigborhood public school he attended for two years and the charter were he is now) has me very concerned. My 8 year old is highly gifted in math. The staff at his school have had several thougtful meetings about him, but little useful has been introduced in the classroom.

I also have a first grade girl who is in a great class with a great teacher (at our local ps) but I expect that if homescooling works for the boys, we'll start homeschooling her too.

I also have a 4 yo and a 1 yo, so I have my hands more than full at the moment.

I'd love from homeschoolers who are raising at least one gifted child. I'm curious about how you manage to challenge at each level, and how you manage some of the sibling issues that may arise with a mix of highly-gifted and normal-bright children.

I've read a great deal about homeschooling, and did try it for eight weeks last spring. I have friends who homeschool, and know about the local networks. What I really need more info/insight about is homeschooling gifted children.

Thank you,

Suzanne

Hi Suzie,

I'm homeschooling my two gifted kids, DS8 (who is PG) and DD11 (who is HG/2E). We've had good experiences with mixed-age groups including other gifted kids for activities and group lessons. They participate in some things together and some separately. For everyday practice at their levels, I have my kids signed up for online classwork, both self-paced and with online instructors. I am their helper/troubleshooter/facilitator more than teacher.

My son is very competitive, and I've had to work with him on working toward his own goals rather than comparing himself to his sister. My kids have different talents, and I think that helps. Even though my son is catching up to my daughter in math and spelling, she has other areas where she feels proud of her abilities.

Also, we're trying to approach homeschooling from the perspective of helping the kids work on their interests and passions. That helps motivate them to do the hard work of practicing the things that don't come as easily to them.

It's great that you have a network of homeschoolers that you can already connect with. That's a big help in terms of finding resources and activities in your area.

Cathy

Hi Suzie,

I'm homeschooling my DD6 and DS3. It has been a rocky road for us but it is getting better and better as time rolls on. One of my fav books (and it's been mentioned in many threads here) is Lisa Rivero's Creative Home Schooling for Gifted Children. I really wish that I read it before I officially began homeschooling. I think that it would have saved me a few steps

Annaliisa

there is an accelerated learner forum on the well trained mind forums. It might be a good resource.
S.

There is also the Gifted Homeshoolers forum.

http://www.giftedhomeschoolers.org/

The Accelerated Board on the Well Trained Mind forum is a great source of information with people homeschooling kiddos all over the gifted spectrum.

I've been homeschooling our PG DY6 for the past year now, and am starting to make plans to preschool-homeschool DS2, who also appears to be HG/PG.

Our local homeschool charter and resource ideas from the YS homeschooling network have really helped with curriculum choices. We also have two weekly co-ops (one of them has a preschool class too), and I'm starting a third one soon, which aare all wonderful for the non-core activities that bring out our creative side.

I've read Rivero's book and many others on homeschooling gifted children. I think the basic ideas are great, but for us it would be much too time consuming to create our own curriculum from these broad ideas. I do tend to like to pick and choose my own curriculum. This site and WTM do have a lot of great reviews for things like EPGY, MCT, SOTW, science materials, and other resources that are popular in the GT homeschooling crowd. If you have a homeschool charter, they will usually pay for the materials you choose through public funding.

Having started homeschooling with a 20 month old, i can tell you that it can be REALLY crazy with little ones in tow. We're very busy all the time, and there is absolutely no time for Mom except for the gym. I've had a hard time coming to grips with all the one-on-one time I've had to give up with my littlest one, 'though that is getting better now that he's 2 1/2 and can participate more. I also used to loathe tv, and now my little one sits in front of Mickey Mouse Playhouse or Baby Tad at least an hour every morning. Even though DS6 is a fluent reader and an independent learner, I still end up spending hours managing, discussing, planning new lessons, and hiking all over town (not to mention co-planning all the co-op activities). By the time I try to get a shower, pick up the house, and throw in a load of laundry once in a while, the day is booked solid!

Nonetheless, it is hands-down the best educational AND social choice for our (extroverted) family, and we love this time together!

We have in the past with dd12, but due to the financial need for me to work outside of the home, both girls are in ps right now. Dd10 is the one who I've been trying to figure out a way to keep home for a while b/c she just doesn't thrive in ps and is underachieving. I'm reasonably tied into our local hs network and have been doing some testing and tutoring for some hsers but it isn't enough of a supplement to quit my other job.

This article from the Davidson Institute might have some info you'd find useful based on what you're saying your concerns are. Even when just supplementing, we've usually relied somewhat on online courses that can be done semi-independently. There is, of course, EPGY, but there are also a lot of other online courses aimed at gifted kids. Some other ones are linked here.

I am homeschooling two boys. My older son is 2E (dyslexia and ADHD mostly) and is 14. My 8yo is HG+. This is our 8th year of homeschooling and at this point I can't imagine putting either of them in school, particularly the 8yo.

I've found homeschooling to be immensely satisfying, but it is also horrendously time consuming (at least a full time job) and emotionally exhausting. Homeschooling saved my older son's academic existence and has allowed him to reach his potential. It is also allowing my younger one to work to his potential as well, which as of late has been a bit disconcerting.

I homeschool my DS8 whom I consider to be PG based on his academic comfort level...2011 is going to be our fifth year doing so. The first two years were the hardest as I wasn't prepared for him to be so advanced and kept trying to make him do grade level work. From our third year onwards (around Grade 2), I began to relax. I decided that since we're homeschooling, doing the whole non traditional thing anyway, we don't have to follow a sequential path at all. If he wants to do high school math so be it. We can always go back to review grade level concepts when he needs it. This realization that I don't have to follow what schools are doing has been the best thing to happen in our homeschool.

He's my only child so I'm afraid I can't help with sibling issues. But I do know that there's no way public or private school would have worked out as well as homeschooling has. It isn't easy on the parent taking the primary facilitator role but it's the most fulfilling and productive "job" I've ever held.

Please ask some more if you have any specific questions on challenging the child. I don't think you can avoid the trial and error discovery phase of what will work and what won't but you may be able to reduce some of the worry and anxiety by discussing with them what they would really like to learn and then planning for complexity of materials/ books etc to range from about one grade level below to 5 or so grade/ age levels ahead of their comfort zone. Why? Because these kids learn so quickly, you'll find yourself running out of materials if you bought the ones that were just one or two grade levels ahead. I use this yardstick to zoom ahead or scale back accordingly.

Good luck Suzanne!

I'm homeschooling my GT/LD DS, 14, and homeschooled my GT/LD niece (now 21) for a few years while we had custody of her as a teenager. We were very fortunate to live in university towns that have had very good libraries and museums that offered numerous science, art and literature programs aimed at homeschoolers and/or afterschool/between session PS students, so we have had lots of resources for the kids to meet others who had the same interests and were working at the same level but weren't necessarily the same age. My son loves one of the the local homeschooling groups where we live now, where he is active in the book club, drama club, and poetry club, and participates regularly in the quarterly craft fairs and academic fairs, as well as field trips. There are about 100 families who are actively participating in it, with a large group of teens. For curriculum, we have been extremely eclectic and child-directed, using teachable moments as they come up (when she first moved in, my niece said that living with us was like having school 24/7, because any random comment could launch a lesson), and allowing a great deal of freedom to explore topics in depth.

The internet has been our friend, as has the TIP program.

ALEKS (http://www.aleks.com) is absolutely worth checking out for math and some science, as are the (FREE!) Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org) and HippoCampus (http://www.hippocampus.org).

There is a great partial list of online resources at the link below (be sure to scroll down through the comments for even more links):

http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dacek/i_am_surprised_that_in_this_day_and_age_of/

The biggest thing to remember for us when homeschooling has been to let the kids follow their passions and intensity, including the need for down time to process things, gently introduce things you think they need, seek out opportunities that you think they will like or that will help them with their passions, and don't feel the need to replicate school at home. Someone watching us from the outside would probably have sworn that for long periods of time, my kids were bone idle and did nothing but lay around all day and play games on the computer, and sometimes that was true - but they were laying around in their rooms, they were reading, and the games they were playing were from places like the NOVA website or the BBC History website, so I wasn't too worried. Regular math work was the only *required* subject, but they voluntarily acquired/are acquiring broad and comprehensive educations anyway.

Your job as a parent is to give your child what he or she needs to make his or her dreams a reality. It is a grand adventure, and I am sure that you are up for the task!

I homeschool DS8 1/2 day and have homeschooled DD15 in the past. The most important thing for us was letting the kids have a say in the subjects and structure of their days.

While they both understand that the core subjects have to be done, we left a lot of time for exploring their passions and interests. I also learned to work their less favorite things into areas they really wanted t explore. My DD wanted to learn to cook and I found a cookbook in metric. Forced to make conversions, it was math and cooking all at once!

we have been e-homeschooling for 2 months now and it's been an amazing experience. We have seen so much progress and can go at our own pace. I wholeheartedly think hsing can benefit all types of children.

My son is 5 and was miserable in a public kindergarten. He's now in 1st and we are flying through the curriculum and he's completely succeeding.

I guess we could say are homeschooling although DD should age wise be in Preschool right now. We most likely will continue to homeschool as well. She has been asking to have school for about 2 years now, so we do some, about an hour or so a day broken up to when she feels like it or asks for it.

LD mom said it great
When I decided we would homeschool preschool I though okay preschool curriculum, follow it. WRONG, DD was miserable, now we do what she wants...lots of play, lots of time pretend playing together, she loves to draw, but she is now working her way pretty much by herself through a 3rd grade text book and loving it. Dh and I have discussed and there is no reason for a sequence, we can allways go back and review a grade level concept if she ever needs me to. Although I am of the opinion that dd seems to be able to realize when she needs to step back and is a little bit ahead of where she needs to be, and she asks us questions that help her catch up so she can continue going LOL.

The best advice.....relax and follow your kids lead. I don't have any advice for siblings because DD is an only and I have no idea how I would handle that. Good luck

We are homeschooling our 2 children 4th and 1st grade. My oldest son went to 2 years of public school, which was not a great fit at all for him. My oldest appears to be leaning PG (based on several years of achievement testing - we have not done the full gambit of testing due to cost being extremely high locally)

Anyway - for our kids we utilize many outside activities to make it work. And I've found that curriculum doesn't necessarily work well for our kids. We've had good luck with Singapore math, and my oldest is currently using MCT language arts (designed for GT). Other than that, we use plenty of library books, local museums, the internet, etc. Both kids are well ahead, so I'm quite laid back. As long as they're reading, writing, and doing math on a regular basis we're good. I find some of their best learning and exploring occurs during the time when we're not "doing school". It's nice to have that time! It's a balancing act. I'm in no hurry to get my kids off to college, so we go deep, wide, and slow as often as possible.

Good luck!

I'm homeschooling DS after an unhappy year at school. We do a mix of enrichment classes and eclectic homeschooling. He has Robotics, Math Olympiad training, Science classes. At home, we're generally pottering around with whatever science projects he wants to do, which is very rock-centric these days. What we're not doing is anything language related. But I figure that if he writes a science report every two weeks or so, that would cover plenty. DS is an avid reader, so I just follow his interests.

In the coming months, I plan to up his sports participation significantly. He's tried soccer, Aikido, swimming, but he's keen on nothing! I bit of parental authority will be required, *grin*.

I second what kimck said - deep and wide is our goal too. DS has long infatuations with various topics that I plan to milk to the last drop . I'm a co-learner and loving every minute of the ride.

I used to teach high school at a private school, and saw several kids come in and out of school in favor of homeschooling. Homeschooling, especially in the case of a child who has special needs (and yes, I believe that being gifted counts as a special need) could potentially be great for him/her. However, there are things that do need to be considered first. First of all, you have to be totally committed to it. I can't count the number of kids I have seen who are homeschooled, and the flexibility makes both them and their parents lazy - so they don't get the education that they could be getting. Second, make sure he has some sort of activity at least a couple of times a week where he socializes with kids his age. An awesome education will do no good if he doesn't develop the ability to get along and work out problems with others. Third, keep them on a strict schedule. I remember having a very bright student in my class once who had been homeschooled most of his life, and understood the material, but had a TERRIBLE time meeting deadlines because his mother had been flexible with them when he was at home. You don't want your child going to college without time management skills - that's a recipe for disaster.

Now, on to the other part of your question. I'm no expert on this, since DS7 is in public schools. But DD4 doesn't start kindergarten until the fall, and I do extra work after school and during breaks and weekends with DS7 to keep him challenged. So it's not exactly homeschooling, but it's close - especially during the summer. Anyway, at first I tried working with them together. That was a total failure. While I was explaining something to one, the other would need help, or one would be curious about what the other was doing, ....it was horribly distracting to both of them. So I put them on a schedule. They got up in the morning, ate breakfast, did their chores, then DS7 did his reading for the day while DD4 worked on reading, writing, and math. After she was done, I would give her a coloring book or some other quiet activity (we ended up getting her an art desk for her room, so she could occupy herself without distracting her brother) and work with DS7.
I also found that it was important to let them study things that they like. I was adamant that they would cover the basics - reading, writing, and math - and I also wanted them to work on some Geography, since so little is taught in school now. But when my daughter decided she wanted to be a vet, and my son went through phases where he loved astronomy and the presidents, I covered a little of that every day with them as well. It broke up the monotony and made them actually look forward to doing their lessons every day. It's a lot of extra work, but I think it's beneficial to them.
Hope this helped a bit!

I'm a homeschooler and an ex-teacher.

Some days it's all going well and it feels like the best decision I ever made. Sometimes it's all a bit harder! I have two children and another on the way, and it is hard to meet all of their needs and my own, but actually I think not attending school does that better for us right now. If we were going to school, not only would I have the usual school run, but I would also have to fight to get my child the education he needs. At home, I don't have to do that as much.

I can meet his needs outside of school hours, like in the morning when they are fresh and stop when they are tired. I will second (or third?) the advice you have already received - you don't have to replicate school at home for it to be effective. As a teacher, I know how much effort and time goes into organizing things that can be done really easily at home, like cooking, or shopping. You don't have to waste all the time schools use in administrative tasks (think taking the role, waiting in line), and your lessons can be much more focused to the needs/level of your child so your day can be much shorter. And you can do many more excursions than any school! Those sorts of things are beneficial to all children in the family anyway. Also, you can take advantage of weekends or evenings or whenever you have another adult around to do things with specific children. Maybe a grandparent who loves playing math games, or whatever applies in your situation. You can be creative in that way!

It is hard work, and I sometimes get frustrated, but right now, it is the best choice for my children and my family. And most of the time, I quite enjoy it too. Although, sometimes I'd love to have just a few minutes more peace and quiet. But hey, don't we all?