S/O Ninth Grade Disaster: preparation

[Critterfixer]

Now that you mention this, I think there is a learning curve there for 9th grade homeschoolers who haven't been held to a certain "body of work" in the younger years.

 

I think this is true. My expectations in the prior years weren't near where they are for high school. I am hoping that dd does get it for 10th.

 

It is understood that school WILL continue through the summer at a minimum of three days a week/4 hours a day (unless it is a pre-planned break) until all of the work for the year is completed. (It is a great incentive to know that when the work is completed, then school is done. Period.)

 

These quotes come out of the thread on ninth-grade disaster, which would seem to apply to eighth grade as well, going from my own experience as an eighth grade homeschooler.

 

The quotes above intrigued me. I don't want to hijack the other thread, and I know that it might be unusual for a mother with boys who are beginning second grade to post over here, but I really would like to hear from mothers who have accepted the challenge of high-school age homeschooling.

 

When you talk about the body of work in younger years to prepare for the challenges of high-school; what does that entail? Is it simply holding a child accountable to complete things on time and on schedule or is it more than that?

[J'etudie]

:lurk5:

[Ester Maria]

It is not only about holding the child accountable - however, a certain degree of self-discipline should definitely be accomplished by high school. Elementary and middle school, IMO, are "playgrounds" at which one exercises discipline and good work ethic; in order to function properly at an academically demanding high school level, one should have acquired those skills before. The transition should be rather smooth in that aspect.

 

However - and perhaps even more importantly - the transition with regard to academic demands should be fairly smooth as well. A child that was well-prepared in elementary and middle school, with a solid foundation, does not experience a *shock* with high school demands - rather, what they experience is an upping of challenges, but which comes naturally as each previous year was also a year of upped challenges compared to the one before. The thing is, you have to accustom the child to concrete - small and digestible, but still concrete, tangible - daily chunks of academic work. If my previous point was about organizational habits and personal responsibility, this one is about cognitive habits and mental stamina one should have accumulated by high school in order to proceed smoothly.

Put simply, the body of work is a matter of habit, akin to physical exercise. You do not suddenly double the work / triple the intensity / expect an unusual sudden shift in perception and depth, it is a process and the key is to have a child be able to adequately work at a high school level by high school, if possible, rather than have them frustrated and overloaded in high school. This is why the middle years are crucial, IMO, both for building a solid knowledge foundation (as high school level is more about the manipulation of information than acquiring knowledge and basic connections per se) and working on mental stamina / personal responsibility / skills in general. If you start high school well-prepared, the transition will not be a shock.

 

(Not that there is something 'wrong' with an experience which carries a bit of a shock in itself, but it IS stressful and maybe it can be avoided in many cases.)

[Elizabeth in WA]

I'm no expert, though I have a tenth grader and an 8th grader doing mostly the same courses as said tenth grader. For us, much of the transitional problem has to do with the volume of work. For most colleges admissions purposes (and state graduation guideline) you need 6-7 high school credits per year. At one hour per day per credit as a rule of thumb (and some things like math and chemistry may take longer), you end up looking at a much greater volume of work for high school than you do for elementary and middle school.

 

I do plan to ramp up volume during 6-8th grades for my youngers, though I am already having trouble holding line on that with my current 6th grader. :lol: I guess I don't actually feel sufficient sense of urgency with the younger set as long as they are hitting math, grammar, writing and some kind of science and history daily.

 

I have talked myself into pushing them harder on Latin, actually. Starting effectively from ground zero in Wheelock's and completing it in two years due to being too laid-back about the Latin Prep the older two had done before has not been fun and has added to volume problems; an hour a day hasn't been enough without heavy summer work for my guys to really nail the forms and vocabulary. So, I am pushing my younger two to have a good bit of the forms and some vocab memorized, along with some translating before they hit whatever we will call Latin I. (I subscribe to the strict view of what constitutes a year of high school Latin; grammar should be mostly all covered in two years with the third year mostly devoted to translating something like Caesar with just a few advanced grammatical constructions introduced this far into the sequence.)

[amtmcm]

My DD's were both in private school before homeschooling. When DD9th was in 5th grade at school, the teacher spent the whole year forewarning the class that there would be more work and higher expectations the next year when they started middle school.

 

DD came home for school in 6th, but this idea stayed with me and I reiterated that high school would be harder than middle school so she was expecting it. I also slowly increased her workload each year so it wasn't a shock.

 

I also nipped in the bud all of her bad habits (dawdling, incomplete work, lack of effort) in middle school. If she skipped an assignment, she lost a privilege. If she dawdled over assignments, then I started setting a timer and gave her a set time to complete it. Whatever wasn't finished was "homework" for the evening. Incorrect work needed to be corrected and if she scored below an 80% she had to do the assignment over. These consequences quickly taught her it didn't pay to dawdle, work sloppily or "forget" to do an assignment. She has developed good work habits and our transition to high school has been pretty smooth.

 

It also helps a great deal for a child to have an incentive to get their work done. DD6th loves to play on the computer. She's not allowed to even breathe on the computer until all of her schoolwork is completed for the day. DD9th likes to hang out with friends and she stays on top of her work so she doesn't miss out on fun events.

 

I'm not saying this is easy or that I'm perfect. It takes a lot of effort, but I think it's been worth it.

Edited November 23, 2011 by amtmcm

[Critterfixer]

Ester Maria--do you mind if I copy your post and paste it in the front of my teacher's notebook, the front of my desk and the head of my bed?

That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

 

I guess I don't actually feel sufficient sense of urgency with the younger set as long as they are hitting math, grammar, writing and some kind of science and history daily.

 

Yes. I find that some days I feel so tired and I'm just sure we've done enough for one day. And they are young, so...I let them down. I think I've done enough, but I don't know. Which should be a cause for concern and shame on my part.

The thing is, I need to prepare for the challenge of the high-school years as much as they do. It is easy for me to "let them off" when I know they could do it, and that I should do it, and that the reason we might be having a late day is because they didn't apply themselves earlier in the day and I was a bad teacher because I let myself be distracted by what I felt to be worthwhile (but could have waited until we were finished for the day.)

My boys are still grappling with the skills they will need in the coming years, so it seemed important to me to consider now what I need to be doing to have confident young men who can step up when the time comes to take hold of their educational goals.

[MtnTeaching]

I also posted on the other thread and was the one who made the comment above about schooling through the summer.

 

We are just in our first year of high school, so not exactly sure how this will play out, but here are a few random musings:

 

1. This 9th grade year just seemed to really take on a whole new look for us. Everything has sped up and the pressure has increased to "get everything done" academically while trying to meet the other "required" aspects of college administration, such as, volunteer activities, sports involvement, test prep, extracurricular interests, and social involvement.

 

2. The schooling through summer comment was made because once we hit high school, suddenly it required that we cover all the information and the time it takes to get a full credit. Prior to this, if we did not finish a book or study, I did not stress out. I would do a quick overview of the rest of the material and move on. Now, I cannot in good conscience do that. It would be shortchanging my ds, not to mention dishonest.

 

3. We have had to change our view of what school looks like, and to be truthful, both ds and I are having a hard time with the "requirements". I have always been a planner and have liked having a good plan, but the pressure to cover "everything" and check every box at the expense of the interest-led rabbit trails is rubbing us both the wrong way. I just need to find a way to do both if possible.

 

4. As far as preparation in the earlier years, I think that a gradual implementation of more structure, responsibility, and study techniques before the 9th grade year would have helped both of us more with the shift to high school. I, as teacher, had a tendency to "let things slide" like due dates and assignment requirements. I regret that now, because we are both paying for that lack of structure. This is a learning process for both of us and I think that I should have been preparing myself for high school as much as I should have been ds!

 

5. I have decided that I need to re-evaluate what it is that I really want for ds and his high school experience. Do I want him to stay on the stressed-out path we are currently on, trying to fulfill every requirement a college application to an Ivy League could put on him? Or do I want his requirements to be more balanced with interest-driven learning? It is so easy to get on this spinning rat wheel of "he's got to cover everything" and excel at all of it in the process!

 

6. Ds and I started homeschool with the desire to instill a "love of learning" in our children. High school, so far, has seemed to us like one great big checklist. Hurry, hurry, hurry. More preparation in the earlier years would have helped with this, but would it have been to the detriment of instilling the love?

 

Sorry for the long-winded musing, but I thank you for asking the question. It has, in a round-about way, made me realize that I need (with dh and ds) to reevaluate the goals for this year and for the entire high school experience. It is also awesome to get the thoughts of the veterans on this board when it comes to things like this.

 

As for you, I think it is wise to look at what you can be doing to prepare your children for high school, even in the earlier years. They continue to grow up, even as we wish we could stop time for a while. Having said that, I still believe that instilling the love of learning, growing those family bonds, and wide-eyed exploration of the wonders of knowledge are the best things you can be doing in those earlier years. (Ok - reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, too.):001_smile:

[Jonibee]

Lesson plans are really helpful. I give a syllabus for each class, listing what is required for a week. The weeks are generally equal in the time requirements, although dawdling through writing assignments can vary by choice. Allowing the kids to get in a rythym of how low things takes is a learning experience.

 

I've graduated 3 (and have 3 more) and in my home, taking over their own week's worth of studies happens in about grade 4-5. Providing a daily syllabus for the first couple of years, then gradually to a weekly one. There are no grand surprises at the beginning on ninth grade, except that the work is harder, but they are smarter and sometimes (!) the material is more interesting, so it is not a problem.

 

I would not allow any of my kids to fall behind over a week unless it is justified (sickness, etc.) Every week it is either done during Mon-Friday or on weekends. There is an often repeated saying around here that only what gets checked gets done, and I consider it my responsibility to make sure the work is getting done daily. I would not be surprised at the end of the week, because I know daily how it is going.

 

I think that falling behind and taking twice as long to do what is necessary is really a character issue (unless there is a learning disability, in which case you would have to adjust your expectations). Not doing the work at all, or doing it as if the student were 5+ years younger, well, I would handle it as a character issue.

 

To me, school work is serious business. My kids know that. I don't change my mind on my expectations frequently. I don't allow my kids to whine their way out of school work. We are very businesslike about it. I totally agree with incentives for good work, doing things over if sloppy, using timers, etc.

 

We set regular hours for study. No one hides in their room to get distracted when they should be working. My kids study in the kitchen and I am there, working with my 8-year-old or other paperwork. They do not use cell phones or other gadgets while studying. Computer is for study and it is in the open where we can all watch each other.

 

Checking work daily and asking about progress is important. It is not just nagging (or at least I tell myself). It is also just about being interested in my kids. I am their greatest cheerleader and constantly tell them they can do this! ;)

 

(Edited to add to the OP: When my kids were young, a wise person told me to essentially remember the 3 R's. Every day. Reading, writing and math. If you cover those daily, you will make progress and your kids will grow. It is the routine more than anything that is helpful for prepping for high school, I think. Routine. Do the basics. Every day.)

 

- Joan

Edited November 23, 2011 by Jonibee

[Critterfixer]

The schooling through summer comment was made because once we hit high school, suddenly it required that we cover all the information and the time it takes to get a full credit. Prior to this, if we did not finish a book or study, I did not stress out. I would do a quick overview of the rest of the material and move on. Now, I cannot in good conscience do that. It would be shortchanging my ds, not to mention dishonest.

 

Last year I decided to school through the summer with both boys. I had planned a relaxed schedule, but we had not finished our history. I decided that it would be important to finish, not because they would never have that history again, but because it was simply important to have them see something 'finished'. I think that was a good thing.

 

I think that falling behind and taking twice as long to do what is necessary is really a character issue (unless there is a learning disability, in which case you would have to adjust your expectations). Not doing the work at all, or doing it as if the student were 5+ years younger, well, I would handle it as a character issue.

:blush:

Yeah, that would be me. And since I didn't nip it in the bud early it's my job to improve my own character. I'd like to make sure that my boys do see good character in me as an example of how they should approach things that are not their favorite things to do.

[74Heaven]

I think it is important to take puberty into account. So far, one of my children has had a complete personality change during puberty. A second child has also been majorly affected. I was prepared for neither.

 

We have been rigorously homeschooling from the start. The major "ramp up" some discuss happens around 7th grader here. So high school ramp up is really how the "measuring" becomes real and often, codified in high school. And the "weight bearing" really switches to the child in high school. Whereas mom has been discerning for years if a child is "giving his best effort", all the sudden in high school, there are grades that usually "must be given" (I know there's no you-must-grade law, but most of us are filling out a transcript.).

 

And the "excess" time seems to cease to exist. All of the sudden wasting 3 hours mid-day taking a sick child to the doctor and attending theatre class has given a biology /algebra student 2 hours of catch-up to do. A tough new concept in algebra might take 60 minutes to master - a similar 6th grade "tough subject" might have taken 20minutes of mom-help to really grasp.

 

The workload is just harder. I think you can prepare, you can plan, but puberty is a real wild card!

 

Lisa J

[mcconnellboys]

I really begin to ramp up the writing in logic stage.

 

I keep on a schedule to finish up spelling by the end of sixth grade so that we can start a concerted effort at word study during the rest of middle school (in prep for SAT's, etc.).

 

I continue grammar, going more in depth than in the elementary years.

 

We finish up elementary level math and move into higher level math.

 

Language study becomes more formalized and there is more writing involved with it in middle school.

 

World religions are studied and discussed, as well as other more mature topics related to religion (and there's more writing involved).

 

Rather than just reading good books, we begin more in depth discussions, outside group classes are joined for further discussion and written work, and we do more study of literary terms, styles, etc.

 

Physical sciences are covered more in depth than during the elementary years (and there's more written work involved).

 

History is studied to a different depth. Again, as with lit, instead of just reading and enjoying good books, we're doing a lot more discussion of what we're reading on a daily basis and there's more written work involved (although what that is varies from year to year).

 

We begin the study of informal and formal logic.

[Julie in MN]

These quotes come out of the thread on ninth-grade disaster, which would seem to apply to eighth grade as well, going from my own experience as an eighth grade homeschooler.

 

The quotes above intrigued me. I don't want to hijack the other thread, and I know that it might be unusual for a mother with boys who are beginning second grade to post over here, but I really would like to hear from mothers who have accepted the challenge of high-school age homeschooling.

 

When you talk about the body of work in younger years to prepare for the challenges of high-school; what does that entail? Is it simply holding a child accountable to complete things on time and on schedule or is it more than that?

 

Oh, I feel famous -- I wrote the first quote :) However, I think maybe my quote is being misinterpreted, or at least used in different ways than I intended it.

 

When I referred to "9th grade homeschoolers who haven't been held to a certain 'body of work' in the younger years," I was not speaking as if I had regrets for not making K-8 the same as 9-12.

 

I very intentionally do not like K-8 to look like 9-12. I don't think kids learn in the same way in the earlier years, and I just don't think it promotes a love of learning to spend 13 years cracking the whip.

 

So in the younger years, we had a math text, but we might or might not finish it during the school year. We certainly did math at our house, as I am an academe at heart :) but it might be math games, we might pick up a different math program for a while, or we might focus on math facts or fractions or something instead. But in high school, an Algebra I credit is a known quantity. It stands for something, and we must do it all in order to put Algebra on a transcript in good conscience. There are ways around this, since my local public school has math credits like "core plus." But at my house, we do Algebra, and that has a certain standard meaning. Same with most other classes we do at my house in high school. So that's a transition.

 

However, I'm of the school that thinks doing something earlier doesn't make the transition easier. At my house, doing academic preschool is not done to prepare for the academics of K, because my kids learned K stuff faster and easier by waiting until they were about 6. Neither is grammar repeated for the first 7 years just to prepare for high school quality grammar. Instead, it wasn't until 7th grade that my students really needed to understand the grammar of their more advanced sentences, and my youngest learned it all in two years (older dd learned it all in ps over more years). So, yes, there is a progression, and there is preparation. But to me it isn't the same thing as doing it all for 13 years, or moving high school down into earlier grades. Instead, it's more like building a solid foundation underneath and then building a house, vs. building a house right off the bat, a little shaky, but reinforcing it every year, dozens of walls, over and over, on the same house.

 

Yes, I think there should be a gradual transition so the student is not totally lost. At my house, that starts with having set school hours in year 1, when only learning activities may take place. And every year, really, education naturally takes a step up. By 7-8th, we did make bigger leaps than we had before, with a little more involved science, serious grammar study, programs to see literature as more than a sequence of events, writing every day, taking Algebra, etc etc.

 

But at my house, high school is a change, a learning curve, a transition. However, I wouldn't fix that by moving a lot of the difficulty back to junior high. I choose instead to use K-8 to be more spontaneous. I just make sure I'm there in high school to help them through the transition.

 

Julie

Edited November 24, 2011 by Julie in MN
grammar

[Critterfixer]

Instead, it's more like building a solid foundation underneath and then building a house, vs. building a house right off the bat, a little shaky, but reinforcing it every year, dozens of walls, over and over, on the same house.

I'm sorry I took your quote out of context. My analogy of education as a building process is different. I think of it more like bridge-building, as in creating a bridge that they can use to go anywhere their intellect and hard work can take them. A bridge would be designed from the deck down; because the foundation must be able to support the overall design.

 

I don't think that K-8 ( or even K-4) would look anything like 9-12. But it does have to support 9-12 work. And 9-12 in the classical education model seems to me to be a pretty big superstructure. I like seeing and hearing how the construction has proceeded in the experience of others.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Critterfixer

[Julie in MN]

I'm sorry I took your quote out of context.

No apology necessary, we're just having a conversation. But thanks for the courtesy :)

 

And 9-12 in the classical education model seems to me to be a pretty big superstructure. I like seeing and hearing how the construction has proceeded in the experience of others.

I think we all like chatting and help in rising to the challenge. But I see a lot of threads that drift more towards prep for a 20th century textbook education than prep for a classical education.

 

Julie

[shanvan]

Holding a child accountable and to a schedule may be part of it, but to me it means giving them the basic knowledge required for more sophisticated learning in all subject areas. Lacking a working knowledge and set of skills that has been building throughout the younger years in all subject areas, the student (and parent!) faces a lot of remediating and reteaching that can hold him/her back in the high school years. Particular attention needs to be paid to areas of weakness. For my Ds it's math. For others it might be writing.

 

I believe that also applies to learning styles too. For example, I do not continue to cater to a child's primary learning style. Dd in 4th is terrible at oral comprehension. Instead of avoiding it, I'll continue to work with her to develop the skill to the best of her ability. She'll need it later when she has to take notes from a lecture. Ds had to work hard on math skills in middle school.

 

So, for us it has meant a very through grounding in the basics; computation skills for math as well as thorough understanding of middle school mathematical concepts, composition for English and a good knowledge of grammar and how to apply it to writing, literary terms, a basic ability to analyze literature, a good grasp of the flow of history along with some important dates, and knowledge of scientific terms, important experiments and methods. There are lots of resources out there that give list of the knowledge needed before high school. Of course organization, study skills and habits are a must, as are relationship skills, especially how to treat others, speak in public, etc. These are goals to aim for, but realistically, you take your child as far as you can take them given the time and resources available and the child's particular strengths and weaknesses. So, the basic areas of knowledge will look different depending on the child, parent and family goals (see my comment in bold below).

 

We are facing high school next year. I can see that school is going to be much more about fulfilling requirements and checking boxes than it ever has been. I have been discussing the rigorous requirements for top colleges/universities with a friend lately. It has me questioning just what my goals are for my Dc's education. I think that is a question that needs to be considered in deciding just how you will prepare for high school.

 

I find myself inwardly rebelling at the box checking and hectic extracurricular requirements I've been contemplating. And, I wonder about all the efforts homeschoolers are making at meeting demands of colleges. Will they end up producing students who look more and more like their public school peers? Will homeschoolers as students lack the drive, desire, ambition and initiative that attracted colleges in the first place? I don't know the answers to these questions--just something I'm pondering.

[MtnTeaching]

Holding a child accountable and to a schedule may be part of it, but to me it means giving them the basic knowledge required for more sophisticated learning in all subject areas. Lacking a working knowledge and set of skills that has been building throughout the younger years in all subject areas, the student (and parent!) faces a lot of remediating and reteaching that can hold him/her back in the high school years. Particular attention needs to be paid to areas of weakness. For my Ds it's math. For others it might be writing.

 

I believe that also applies to learning styles too. For example, I do not continue to cater to a child's primary learning style. Dd in 4th is terrible at oral comprehension. Instead of avoiding it, I'll continue to work with her to develop the skill to the best of her ability. She'll need it later when she has to take notes from a lecture. Ds had to work hard on math skills in middle school.

 

So, for us it has meant a very through grounding in the basics; computation skills for math as well as thorough understanding of middle school mathematical concepts, composition for English and a good knowledge of grammar and how to apply it to writing, literary terms, a basic ability to analyze literature, a good grasp of the flow of history along with some important dates, and knowledge of scientific terms, important experiments and methods. There are lots of resources out there that give list of the knowledge needed before high school. Of course organization, study skills and habits are a must, as are relationship skills, especially how to treat others, speak in public, etc. These are goals to aim for, but realistically, you take your child as far as you can take them given the time and resources available and the child's particular strengths and weaknesses. So, the basic areas of knowledge will look different depending on the child, parent and family goals (see my comment in bold below).

 

We are facing high school next year. I can see that school is going to be much more about fulfilling requirements and checking boxes than it ever has been. I have been discussing the rigorous requirements for top colleges/universities with a friend lately. It has me questioning just what my goals are for my Dc's education. I think that is a question that needs to be considered in deciding just how you will prepare for high school.

 

I find myself inwardly rebelling at the box checking and hectic extracurricular requirements I've been contemplating. And, I wonder about all the efforts homeschoolers are making at meeting demands of colleges. Will they end up producing students who look more and more like their public school peers? Will homeschoolers as students lack the drive, desire, ambition and initiative that attracted colleges in the first place? I don't know the answers to these questions--just something I'm pondering.

 

Very good thoughts. I am in the midst of reviewing my goals for my children and this is definitely helping with my musing.

[Critterfixer]

I think we all like chatting and help in rising to the challenge. But I see a lot of threads that drift more towards prep for a 20th century textbook education than prep for a classical education.

 

How depressing. But reality could dictate that some things go by the wayside. I remember reading in TWTM that at some point, those students who struggle through the math and sciences should be allowed to "rest upon their oars." (I don't happen to agree, because I struggled through some sections of math only to discover calculus and physics in college. I dearly loved both of them, and wish I'd had the fortitude to pursue mathematics earlier in life. I'm having all kinds of fun now teaching math and seeing connections I'd missed as a student.)

I don't see why a math/science student should "rest on the oars" when it comes to lit and history later on (or Latin or Greek) but my boys are still so young. It may well be the ignorance of youth and inexperience clouding my vision.

 

I believe that also applies to learning styles too. For example, I do not continue to cater to a child's primary learning style.

Well, let's just say I let that wagon leave without me. I don't think I'm wise enough to pick my child's primary learning style, since I can't even determine my own. I just try to teach. If something doesn't seem to make sense to them, I try it from another angle.

I also agree that weaknesses need to be handled. Right now with second graders who were slow at reading everything feels like it is weak. Hence the post, since I know I've got my work cut out for me.

 

It has me questioning just what my goals are for my Dc's education. I think that is a question that needs to be considered in deciding just how you will prepare for high school.

I really like the classical education model as laid out in TWTM. (It's too weak on the tech and science end of things, but I imagine (probably that ignorance of youth again) that it is not incompatible with a good science foundation. Currently I'm just extending the year (we go year round) so that I can spend more time expanding science for them.

[shanvan]

I really like the classical education model as laid out in TWTM. (It's too weak on the tech and science end of things, but I imagine (probably that ignorance of youth again) that it is not incompatible with a good science foundation. Currently I'm just extending the year (we go year round) so that I can spend more time expanding science for them.

 

I agree that academic goals are important to determine and TWTM certainly lays out worthy academic goals. What I really meant (and did not explain very well) is that you have to think about what type of lifestyle you and your child are pursuing. Are you looking for an extremely rigorous education leading to a demanding job after graduation, or a life that is more oriented towards creativity, or a job that allows for a generous amount of family time? Also, what level of rigor can your Dc handle? Where do his/her gifts lie, and most importantly what is your dc's basic personality and what sort of life will he/she find most fulfilling? What makes some kids thrive would lead others to a nervous breakdown! The answers to these questions will determine what your Dc pursue in college, which will determine what your high school years are going to look like, which will, in turn, influence how you prepare for high school. These are the types of questions I am considering as I ponder various choices for high school based on the requirements of various colleges.

 

Of course, your Dc are young to be considering these things, and a mix of exploration, academics and work habits are good areas to focus on in the younger years along with a careful and thorough building of foundational skills. A lot of parents get so excited that their dc can perform x,y,z that they very quickly move on before really suring up a skill. After a while the rapid movement through material backfires as the child 'forgets' skills that were never really practiced to the point of mastery. I was guilty of this with Ds, which is why he needed to focus on math so much in middle school. It's not a mistake I am repeating with Dd.

 

Though your children are still young, it's not too early to envision what type of future might best suit your dc and to be on the lookout for what sort of path would be best.

[Critterfixer]

What I really meant (and did not explain very well) is that you have to think about what type of lifestyle you and your child are pursuing. Are you looking for an extremely rigorous education leading to a demanding job after graduation, or a life that is more oriented towards creativity, or a job that allows for a generous amount of family time? Also, what level of rigor can your Dc handle? Where do his/her gifts lie, and most importantly what is your dc's basic personality and what sort of life will he/she find most fulfilling?

I'll be in trouble then, since I can't even determine a primary learning style, won't I?

I'm not sure I could even begin to figure this out. I was drawn to the classical education model as one that provided ample opportunity to explore things that wouldn't be part of a career minded approach. I liked the depth of it as much as the breadth. It seems to be an education that can be used as a bridge to many different places. I'm not so much a niche person as an opportunist when it comes right down to it.

I assume these are questions to ask later on? Because right now I've got an engineer/tiger and leopard tamer and a vulcanologist/space explorer/ chicken farmer/ veterinarian/ general scientist/inventor/ artist sitting around my kitchen table parsing sentences.

Other than a desire to expand their interest in science (there's a strong science/math direction in the family) I wouldn't have an opinion about their educational direction, I only want to be sure they don't narrow their fields too soon.