BellaOnline Forums Education Gifted Education at a crossroads with my gifted son

Zandes--Try your local library and, possibly, the local health-food store. We are religious but not what you'd call fundamentalists, and we had trouble finding homeschool groups that fit our outlook. We homeschooled at a time when it still was not so well accepted, and we never really found a single group we'd term "our community." We made up for it chiefly by just sticking with pursuit of the kids' personal interests. Gradually, the kids met people they enjoyed--one via art classes, the other via horseback riding activities.

Dispite the lack of "community," both our kids swear by homeschooling and plan to homeschool their children. When you think about it, there's really no absolute need for kids to associate only with other kids. There are advantages to having friends in all age groups. (Of course, you want to keep a close eye on things.)

Our local librarian says they have tons of homeschool associations visiting the library all the time. That's where I got the library idea for you. The one about the health food store I remembered from our homeschooling days. We have a wholefoods co-op in our area, and they maintain a bulletin board. It occasionally has info on what might be called "alternative" homeschool groups.

Lorel - The public school process is going to drive me crazy. We're now shifting teachers to try and resolve some issues. I keep hoping the magnate school will call and say they suddenly have a spot open again. Ugh!

Lynn-

How is your son dealing with the situation? Is he very upset?

Is it likely that the other school will have a space at this point in time, or do you think you are stuck with the troublesome public school for the entire year?

Sigh...

Lorel

Yes, the DS is fairly upset. He didn't want to go to school at all this morning and asked if he could go back to the school he attended for 2nd grade. We're giving the Pub School 2 more weeks with the new teacher. If we don't see some changes we're just going to bit the bullet and go back to commuting an hour and a half so that he can attend a school he's comfortable in and benefits from. Even if they don't have an accelerated program.

Hi, Lynn--I just went back through your posts. Your description of what true education should be sounds like being homeschooled by a dedicated parent. I would encourage you to look at homeschooling again.

The time it is taking to straighten out DS's school situation seems worrisome. Kids perceive time so differently from adults. The time it's taking could seem like forever to him, especially if he is enduring something you are unaware of (like teasing). (I know you haven't mentioned teasing, but one of our children experienced this without telling us until years later--after we started homeschooling.) Kids have such a hard time verbalizing what specific emotions they are experiencing. They can be miserable and only reflect this in questions like "Why can't I go back to my old school?" Then they wonder why we don't fully perceive their distress.

Another factor is that DS is a boy. I'm convinced that schools are not usually geared for the normal activity level of a lot of boys. Schools can be too quick to label a boy as having behavior problems or as being hyperactive. They want kids who are pretty cooperative about sitting down most of the day.

Anyway, with homeschooling, you are completely free to help your child explore whatever he finds interesting. Judging from your signature add-ons, it looks like you'd be more than qualified to homeschool DS.

Good luck to you.

We've evaluated our options and unfortunately full-time homeschooling is not a realistic option for us at the moment. So we endure.

He is, however, doing better with the new teacher (much better, quite honestly, than we expected he would). We'll continue to monitor progress closely and to reinforce and supplement the curriculum at home.

Lynn, you sound like a wonderful mom and a fantastic advocate for your son. Keep pushing, even when the system pushes back.

MsA, Punished By Rewards is one of my favorite education books, as well as Genius Denied.