If we teach our children more at home...

[Little Nyssa]

... than the other kids in their PS class are learning, how do we keep our children from being a)bored b)know-it-all smartalecks?

 

Our kids are going to go to public school in the fall, which is the best decision for our family for right now, though we have thoroughly enjoyed our 1 year of homeschooling. I am trying to anticipate problems so I can head them off-- I certainly went through a phase in PS when I was a knowitall smartaleck and I would like to spare DS/DD from this-- and also spare their teachers!

Any advice?

[Roadrunner]

I think a lot depends on the school. My 5 year-old went through public K and we don’t have a single complaint. There are two kids in my son’s class (including my son) working above grade level. The teacher allows them to bring their books to read when they are done with class work. She also prints out 1st grade worksheets for them in math and basically works with them at their level. Homework was always challenging. She kept up with progress of all the kids and custom designed each kid’s homework. So, I guess it depends on the school and a teacher. We are very lucky to live in a small and wealthy (which means small class sizes, arts and music programs and excellent teachers) school district. I hope you will have a similar experience.

[Erika]

It truely depends on the school and the kid. My son does better at school when its something he has learned at home first and then he does it at school. So for us, I want to stay alittle ahead of his grade level. I think that will help him without him being bored.

[BabyBre]

If you have a truly dedicated teacher, yeah, I suppose the boredom could be avoided. We've had some fantastic teachers who have tried, but efforts often fizzle out quickly and I have to be a nag. Maybe it's specific to our district (although I doubt it) but our teachers are very heavily regulated and have to meet weekly deadlines for district assessments and whatnot. They're so focused on getting everyone over the bar that pushing some way beyond it isn't a priority. My kids are very often bored.

 

As far as dc's attitude, that's got to be taught intentionally at home, IMO. They're going to learn quickly that they're "smarter" than most of their classmates so humility, sympathy, etc. have to be deeply ingrained. My ds8 doesn't seem to have a problem with it, but dd10 is very proud of always having the right answer, etc, and it's sometimes hard for her to keep herself in check. We talk about it a lot.

[Carol in Cal.]

I think that one of the ways is to teach mostly in the context of enrichment at home. When my DD was in kindergarten, I taught her piano, history, and devotion (hymns and prayers) at home, and her school taught reading, writing, math, and religion. I took her to a lot of plays and science museum sites also. So mostly when she talked with the other kids about her life, she sounded like she got to do a lot of really interesting extra things, but not like a know it all. In fact, they regarded her as a good story teller, and thought that she was really interesting to talk to, and a fun kid to play with because she could come up with the best pretending games. And she always knew the hymn of the week by heart for chapel, but that was not taught to the kindergarteners, so although she would be the only one singing, it was not a show off issue.

 

Have you ever read "Bridge to Terebithia"? Remember how the girl moves to town and knows these great stories and enthralls her new friend? It was like that.

 

That enrichment stuff will pay off in the long run academically--foreign language, vocabulary, history, science, music--these are all things that are helpful down the road, and make life more interesting, too.