If you homeschool your child/ren due to giftedness, do you hs the others, too?

[Spetzi]

The question in the title tells it all. My oldest is in ps, my middle two are extremely bright/gifted and it was obvious that they would do better at home. My youngest is bright (above average, but not off the charts), but not as academically inclined so far (she's nearly 6).

 

There are pros and cons to both homeschooling her and having her go to ps, but I'm trying to figure out the definitive factor that might make the choice obvious to me. I'd welcome opinions, experience or thoughts on the matter.

 

TIA,

Edited April 15, 2011 by Spetzi

[2smartones]

I'm of the school of thought that if one is gifted (assuming they all have the same biological mother & father), they're all gifted. If one doesn't seem as gifted as the others, it's because there's a hidden reason ... a learning disability, an undiscovered gift, a personality clash, or something. I would look at your own personal pros & cons for homeschooling in general and leave out the gifted part. They're probably all equally gifted.

[regentrude]

My kids are both gifted, but there was a period when one was homeschooled and one attended school.

I homeschooled DD earlier because she was clearly unhappy not being challenged, and was also bullied. I left DS in school because he was quite happy and the minimalist, the lower academic level did not bother him. Until it DID start bothering him - then I pulled him out a year later.

 

I would always decide what is best for the individual child. It can work having some home and some at school. (Of course, we never lounged in pajamas while DS had to go off to school - DD began working the same time as her brother. )

[boscopup]

We plan to homeschool all 3. I won't know for a while yet if they're all gifted or not. I found it difficult enough to deal with one in school before I was homeschooling. I much prefer the homeschool lifestyle. I'm not having to get 3 kids ready to go so early in the morning, and I'm not having to ruin my youngest's nap time in the afternoon to pick someone up! Plus there are the fundraisers, field trips, and various events. And the homework, which had to be done while I was cooking dinner - the "witching hour" for young children. :tongue_smilie:

 

So whether my younger ones are gifted or not, they'll be homeschooled. I think they all deserve a good education, and I can give them a personalized education, playing to their strengths and helping them with their weaknesses. They'll have strengths and weaknesses whether they're gifted or not. So I don't really see much of a difference.

[zaichiki]

We started homeschooling in order to keep our oldest challenged/learning something new. By the time his younger sister was old enough to go to school we had come to appreciate other benefits of homeschooling. So, gifted or not (though all three oldest are), we are homeschooling for now.

[Enough]

Ditto some of the other posters.

 

I began homeschooling because of a gifted+special needs child, but I am so, so, so totally sold on the HSing lifestyle that I will be HSing no matter WHAT my other kid's intellectual capacities are (she's only 4 and seems fairly normal so far). :)

[JeanM]

We started homeschooling in order to keep our oldest challenged/learning something new. By the time his younger sister was old enough to go to school we had come to appreciate other benefits of homeschooling. So, gifted or not (though all three oldest are), we are homeschooling for now.

 

:iagree: Except I only have two dc...

[TKDmom]

When I started homeschooling my oldest, I decided that I would go ahead and homeschool all of them. It's no fun to have to get some kids up and ready for school, be tied to the school calendar, AND be homeschooling full time. I'd rather have them all at home.

 

Besides, as time goes on, I'm realizing that they are probably all gifted. Even the one who I used to think was "slow". He just has different strengths than the others.

[cylau]

I currently have one in public school. My oldest's homeschool is actually with a public charter, doing a couple days a week on campus. So for a few days a week, I have to run to 2 schools. Our local public school is very crowded. I have to put up with two different school calendars. I hate my schedule. I am going to pull my younger one out to put her together with my oldest next year.

[Donna]

I homeschooled all my kids up until 2 years ago when my oldest started public school for 8th grade. He was academically accelerated at the time but has sports interests that could only be followed by going to high school so we put him in a year early to adjust.

 

His brother wanted to see what school was like so we put him into public school this year for 7th grade. It was a great switch for him. Having to be accountable to someone other than mom really helped him to be a better learner and to take more responsibility for his work.

 

Homeschooling was a year by year decision for us. I still homeschool my youngest because it is the best choice for her at the moment.

[Crimson Wife]

I would for K-8 unless I had a particularly compelling reason to keep one in school (like getting special ed services that I couldn't afford privately).

[SnegurochkaL]

I started homeschooling from the beginning and I don't have any desire sending my kids to a public school. I was only considering a German Language School on Saturdays but this is still in work. My goal is teaching them how to learn on their own with some encouragement and help from us. So far I am succeeding with my 8 years old daughter and my son is just trying to keep up with his oldest sister. My kids are bright but I haven't tested them for giftness. Since they are homeschooled we just trying to keep them busy which is hard to do.

 

My daughter is working hard on finishing her Basic Skill Program to move on to Figure Skating. All my kids skate and we all love doing it. So PS would not give them any figure skating opportunities.

[Herdingmycats]

I have 3 children and the one who is officially designated "profoundly gifted" is the only one not homeschooled! I wouldn't have predicted that outcome in my wildest dreams when I started our homeschooling journey 5 years ago. However, the local school is going above and beyond for her and giving her access to many special and enriching things that I'd have no way to provide for her.

 

However, if that were to change, and with the perpetual state of flux gifted programing is in and the budgetary problems du jour the future is not certain, I'd pull her in a heartbeat and never look back. It is my humble opinion that bad, bad things can happen to gifted students if they are not able to work to their abilities.

[Ester Maria]

My initial position, intact for many years, was that I homeschool a child whom I can offer something more and better academically and who responds to that well than the school system can offer. Meanwhile, though, in the last year or so - and largely as a result of hanging on here ;) - I somewhat stepped away from exclusively academic view of homeschooling and started paying attention to additional benefits... the ones of lifestyle, of an emotionally safer environment that many children might need, of strengthening family bonds, of overall greater flexibility and a more ideologically "sound" environment than public (or most private, for that matter) schools are. Nowadays, I truly believe that homeschooling may benefit greatly not only an academically advanced child, but many quite diverse types of children, not all of whom are homeschooled primarily for academics.

 

That being said, I believe it is the kind of decision you have to take and retake on a case to case basis, estimating how much your child will "profit" from education at home and whether you even can address their particular educational needs at home. I for one am deeply skeptical that I would be capable of addressing every child's educational needs at home... but then again, now I would also consider other potential needs and other ways to profit from a home education, even if the original reason why we started homeschooling was the educational mismatch (and, to an extent, a cultural one).

 

Both of my daughters would be labeled "gifted" (although in at least one case I am not sure I agree, but let us not go into that net of semantics again :tongue_smilie:) and even if the choice to homeschool them was a "shared" choice at the beginning, now I have a whole set of reasons for each child in particular, and the decision to continue, at least for now (longer than I ever thought it would be), is very individual for each of them, made in accordance with their wishes too.

 

I often do wonder whether I would be able to teach and guide an average child, because I am "spoiled" by the two of them (and most of my extended family) that I often completely lose the hold of what is "normal". I am not sure if I could educate a child who did not respond well to my particular ideas of education, or if I would be willing to just replace at home what is done at schools... but maybe other particular needs of such a child would make me still be at home with them. I do not know. I think it is hard to teach what you are out of sync with, what is out of the realm of your experiences and where you cannot connect well.

[Abbeygirlsouth]

Yes, even though only my ds was labeled GT, when he began to have issues with sitting still and concentrating (3rd grade) we brought him, along with his first grade sister, back home. As it happens, shortly thereafter I realized that my dd had a processing issue and had her tested. I also later found out that her regular classroom teacher was out most of the year, and for 7 months the school brought in substitute teachers. If we had not brought her home, I am not sure when the ps would have diagnosed her LD.

 

So for us bringing both of my dk home was the right choice.

[RanchGirl]

I think that giftedness runs in families and it's not very common to have one gifted and others typical. Stealth giftedness is very common in younger siblings! But as to homeschooling one and not the others, I would be fine with that in general... my goal is to make the right decision for each kid each year, whatever that may be.

 

However, if Gifted George is homeschooling and loving it, but Average Annie is forced to go off to ps and resents this as another example of mom and dad investing more resources (and in her mind, love) in George, then I foresee a huge problem brewing. However if Annie loves going off to school and doesn't resent it, and knows she has the option of coming home if she so chooses, then by all means let George be a solo homeschooler.

 

Sometimes there are other issues with homeschooling just one. I have two boys at home and we are planning to start them in a private or charter school by highschool, but they do so much together right now that I anticipate younger bro will be very lonesome even with my undivided attention all day and plenty of social opportunities. I am just not as fun as big bro at their imagination games!

[JennyD]

I think that I would more likely to homeschool an average or struggling student (especially the latter), actually. But I don't homeschool my oldest because he's accelerated, but rather because I am generally sold on custom education, so I suppose that's not precisely responsive to your question.

 

FWIW, I myself was a very accelerated student as a child (just like both of my parents), while my brother was not. He had some additional difficulties to struggle through, but he was and is not especially intellectually gifted. I'd say that our thoroughly mediocre school district didn't serve either one of us all that well, but he really got the shorter end of the stick.

Edited April 21, 2011 by JennyD

[Desert Rat]

Yes, we homeschool both boys. My oldest is my smartie. My youngest is very intelligent but in a different way. I asked him at 5 if he wanted to go to school or stay home. He chose to stay home. I was relieved because, for us, it was the easier path and the schools are not so great in our area. But we do reevaluate our decision every year and try to make the right choice for each child.

HTH