Moving Forward

[Guest wittygal]

This is my first post and I am so excited that they had a specific section for accelerated learners. About three years ago my first son was tested and found to be GIFTED. Exciting right? Well after three full years of being my sons advocate for receiving this higher education I have yet to make a break through. It seems that his school teachers will either understand his academic needs or his emotional needs but never both. And yet neither need is ever met even though we have an IEP in place. I have become frustrated and am now taking a new route. I learned about Afterschooling on the Internet when I was collecting information on the character traits of the gifted child to present at yet ANOTHER parent conference. The more I read about the Afterschooling program the more I thought this may be exactly what I am looking for. I have four children and they are all very bright. My two oldest attend elementary school, their sister attends my home preschool and well the last is still just a toddler. I really feel like I am walking in circles with the school district and I really just want to start moving forward. Yes I will continue to be an advocate of education for my gifted son and my other children as well but in the mean time we have new direction and are moving on instead of pacing and waiting. We have only been actively afterschooling for a week but I can not begin to explain how happy I am with the program. I know many of you have been doing this for some time and I would love to hear your success stories and advice.

I started a blog to track our mighty adventure

http://adventuresinafterschooling.blogspot.com/

[Guest wittygal]

Sorry I may have posted in the wrong forum. I noticed their is a forum specific for afterschooling. However I have really enjoyed reading your posts. Especially the posts on curriculum choice for gifted learners. Thank you!!

[elizabeth]

You did not post in the wrong place. I am delighted that you have taken the big step into the unknown to supplement your childrens education. Be careful you might end up having way too much fun exploring the possiblities of no constraints learning . I afterschooled briefly and then dd's teacher informed me that I needed to stop pushing and just enjoy her. I knew at that point that three things were true:she had not a brain cell to spare, that I did not think she could enjoy challenging dd and third that I could could and should take over what I was already doing quite successfully. Goodbye attorney mama, hello homeeducating mama . 6 years later still going strong and genuinely having the time of my life. Your children look absolutely adorable and are very lucky to have a caring, supportive mom who will encourage and nurture them. So a warm hello to you and hope to see you here often sharing what works, what doesn't and so on. :party:

[Guest wittygal]

Thank you elizabeth, I was a bit nervous but really looking for support. Your words were kind and I look forward to posting more and reading more.

[MSNative]

I totally agree with you. We started out afterschooling and after a year realized that the time my kids spent in school was not terribly productive. We pulled them out and have been happily homeschooling since. Three years into it, I can honestly say it was the best decision we could have made. That said, I am thrilled that we did start out afterschooling. It made me much more secure in our decision. Good luck in the journey! Have fun and enjoy exploring the world with all your kids. That has been by far my favorite benefit of homeschooling - seeing the wonder of the world thru my kids' eyes.

 

Have fun!

[Storm Bay]

This is the right forum. Welcome. Definitely start with afterschooling and see if that's enough of an addition. There's so much you can do. I can tell you from experience, though, that I was bored in school for years and years, and that we pulled my eldest out after gr 2. However, some gifted kids enjoy school despite the lack of challenge.

[purplecow7]

Hi - I am an afterschooling mom of 4 too and my oldest tested PG in second grade. He is currently in a GT center school in our district and doing well. He actually gets real homework so afterschooling for him is mostly latin and some additional math. He is now in 4th grade. He is the reason why I started afterschooling. He was in a private K and doing great and when he changed to PS - he came home crying over math. So like you I found resources on the net. The best one for him was EPGY math (expensive, but he loved it). From there I jumped into doing alot of afterschooling with the all my kids. I think I was always doing it before, but now it is more structured. And I have learned a lot about different resources. Because what works for one child does not work for the others.

 

My dd is in second grade and has begun the testing process for GT. She is my workbook person and is also currently doing EPGY for math as her homework load is nothing, but busy work. She is also my reader and has about 5 books in her backpack that she is reading. Everything from Harry Potter to Geronimo Stilton.

 

My girl boy twins are 4 and are currently in a private K program. Since this is a year early we do lot of art and fun learning games. However, we also do HWT (handwriting without tears) and HOP (hooked on phonics) program. My 4 dd is reading so we have begun introducing early chapter books for her. My 4 ds is having some issues with blending so we have been playing with letter tiles. My ds has some sensory issues so we also do OT with him, heavy work and things to help him develop his fine motor skills.

 

Besides academics we do Tae Kwon Do, piano, violin and soccer - all I include in my afterschooling plan.

 

Welcome - this is a great resource. I tend to read more then I post.