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my little brother is homeschooled, he has ADD and anxiety, neither of which work well for school in NC. he loves it. just get connected with a homeschool group. the social part is the only thing that homeschoolers tend to miss out on.

páidín wrote:my little brother is homeschooled, he has ADD and anxiety, neither of which work well for school in NC. he loves it. just get connected with a homeschool group. the social part is the only thing that homeschoolers tend to miss out on.

I missed out on it even going to public school.

I learned a lot of lessons about social interaction in school.

Mostly those falling into the category "How not to treat your fellow human beings"

oisin718 wrote:

Redwolf wrote:
That's putting it mildly! I'm probably going to be homeschooling her after next year, and the thought scares the cac out of me!

I've found the notion of homeschooling interesting. What is prompting you to consider that option?

On the one hand, I hated having to get up early and walk a mile to school every day, and spend 7 hours with people I at best tolerated but generally despised. And there were quite few teachers I could have done without, as well as the time in 11th grade when I was attacked by a 19-year-old escaped felon with a stool and needed 12 stitches in my head. And the she-beast of a vice-principal who was convinced I was part of a "counter-culture" (she never did explain to me what the hell that meant).

On the other hand, neither my mother nor my father could have possibly taught me history, science, math, etc...All the stuff you need to get a regents diploma. I could have done it myself, but I know that I don't have the ambition or self-discipline without an schedule, a routine, a deadline, and an authority figure.

Usually I hear homeschooling being promoted by scary people who are horrified at the prospect of evolution being taught in biology class, and resent the fact that they can't have Glory Hallelujah evangelism revivals in homeroom, and since those people tend to oppose practically every political cause I stand for, I get scared by the mention of "homeschooling."

This is certainly an unfair characterization, and since you seem reasonably sane and not at all scary, I'd love to learn why you are considering homeschooling and how you plan to go about it!

In our case, it's because of the truly appalling situation in the public schools in our area. Johanna has been in a private school for gifted children since second grade, but the money for that will be gone after she "graduates" from sixth grade at the end of next year.

In our local public schools, kids who perform outside the average are looked upon as problems. The kids who perform on the lower end of the curve are provided some supplemental services because the law requires it, but kids who perform on the upper end are, at best, told "you're smart...you don't need our help" and at worst, told "You're a problem. You should be like everybody else." Johanna spent one year in public schools here, and spent the year being told by her teacher that she was "a trial" and that "anybody can do what you do...you're not so special" (this was a child who was doing sixth-grade algebra at the age of four and who has been reading literally since she learned how to speak). The official motto of the school district is "all kids are equally gifted."

What do you do with a child who is 11 years old, but who is performing at better than high school level in all her subjects? If it were only a matter of social interaction, she'd probably do fine in a public middle school, but she desperately needs intellectual stimulation...the thought of spending the next four years going over the same stuff she learned in third and fourth grade is already boring her to tears. There is no true "Advanced Placement" system here. In the local school, "AP" consists of a not-for-credit broadcast journalism class you can take in fifth grade.

It doesn't help that she suffers from both ADHD (emphasis on the "HD") and anxiety disorder. She receives medication for both, and is doing well, but that makes the standard, overcrowded, understaffed classroom a serious problem for her.

If we were still in NC, she would still be in public schools, because the magnet school system there was astoundingly good (she was in a pre-International Baccalaureate school for kindergarten), but we don't have that kind of thing here. We do have a couple of charter schools, including one that caters to advanced students, but admission to those is strictly on a lottery basis, with hundreds of students competing for about 50 spots every year (because they're charter schools, they can't use testing or similar criteria for admissions...they have to be "technically" open to anyone, even if about a third of the kids who start at them end up dropping out and going back to regular public school because the curriculum's too demanding). We will apply to the charters, but we also have to be realistic and think ahead to what will happen if she doesn't get into one. Homeschooling really is the only option, unless we want to move (not a very good option, I'm afraid, in today's job market).

As far as how we plan to go about it...I'm actually in the process of feeling that out now. There are various curricula available (and I would want to work from an established curriculum), and I'm trying to decide which would best suit her (and me!). There are several homeschooling groups in the area (as well as lots of support from area libraries and museums), and I'm looking into those as well. By law, the local public schools are required to provide classroom space for homeschooled kids in areas that the parents can't easily cover (for example, for foreign language instruction, science labs, PE or art), though, to be honest, most of those we will be able to provide.

It's interesting: If you look at homeschooling discussion sites, there really are two groups. One is the one you mention...the people who don't want their children exposed to certain subjects in school. The other is people like us...people who don't want their children subjected to a public school system that isn't serving them, but who lack the funds for a good private education (most of us being middle class folks, who don't qualify for much in the way of financial aid).

Redwolf

páidín wrote:my little brother is homeschooled, he has ADD and anxiety, neither of which work well for school in NC. he loves it. just get connected with a homeschool group. the social part is the only thing that homeschoolers tend to miss out on.

Whoa! My kid too! She's doing well on Strattera and Zoloft, but she still doesn't quite fit into the "norm." We're finding that to be true of a lot of HG kids...her school would make a great study lab for people who want to explore the subject of frontal lobe disabilities among gifted children! In fact, a lot of psychology and psychiatry students DO do testing there.

Redwolf

I should add, re homeschooling: Not every parent should attempt it...at least above a certain level. In our case, we each have particular skill sets that will be particularly useful: My husband is a gifted mathematician; I have a very strong background in language; and we both have solid training in both the sciences and philosophy (thanks to a good liberal arts education!). Hubby graduated with a degree in geology and minors in computer science, political science and (believe it or not) theater arts. My degree is in English, with a combined linguistics/literature focus. We've both worked as tutors (he in mathematics and the natural sciences; me in humanities). I think, between our backgrounds and the impressive support of the various homeschooling groups in the area, we can provide Jo with both the education and the socialization she needs. We'd actually be doing this backward...most people who homeschool do it with their elementary aged children and then let them go to public schools for middle or high school for the "socialization."

Redwolf

Your daughter sounds a lot like me. I was at least four or five grades ahead in reading at school, and maybe two or three years in math. My mother sent me first to the parochial school of our parish, and that was a nightmare: that school's motto was like the school you describe -- they were committed to hammering every peg into the same shaped hole. I finished my work before everyone else, and got bored very easily. I've never been diagnosed with ADHD or anything similar (I don't recall hearing about that when I was that age) but when I didn't have anything else to do, I got into mischief. My status as an only child of over-protective parents never gave me much socialization options, so I was acting out inappropriately, getting sent to the principal's office practically every week.

After an IQ test, I was moved to the public magnet school which had some excellent teachers, and also let me go to the "Gifted and Talented" program (which has long since closed ). But even then, I was ahead of almost all of my peers, and I too became a "problem student" and I was forced to endure weekly counseling sessions for about a year or so in 5-6th grade. Neither I nor my mother have any idea what that was supposed to have accomplished.

In high school, I was lucky that there were 2 or 3 really excellent teachers, one of whom I idolized and attached myself to. I did very well in school, but I was "different," and the administration kept being "concerned" about me, especially after the attack in art class. Junior year was a hell, what with the counselor and the vice-principal hounding me wherever I went, afraid I was "traumatized" and might "go off." I was a loner, had peculiar interests, and was different. I thank God I was old enough not to be in high school after the Littleton massacre, or who knows what they might have done to me.

I would much rather have been homeschooled by someone like you and your husband than have gone through this hell. College was only marginally better, because for the most part they treated me like an adult while they continued to hound me and treat me as if I were somehow emotionally disturbed. Why can't they just let people be who they want to be?

Yup. Been there too. I was lucky, when I got to secondary school, that the Catholic school system in Spokane, WA, WAS up to the task of educating an extremely bright but very introverted and socially inept (and now, as I know, ADD) child. I would have been eaten alive in public secondary school (when I wasn't being bored out of my skull). My husband had it even worse...he is severely dyslexic (to the point where he didn't even learn to read until someone figured it all out when he was in fourth grade), which landed him in the euphemistically named "Special Education" program during his brief stay in the California public school system (at one point, his teacher said to his mother "I just can't explain it...Tony's so smart! Why can't he read???").

I think there are SOME extremely bright children who can do well...even thrive...in public schools. Typically they're the ones who are socially capable and well-organized enough to provide their own intellectual stimulation. Unfortunately, as we're learning, genius, emotional/mental issues (such as ADD, Asperger's Syndrome, Anxiety Disorder and Bi-Polar Disorder) and learning disabilities (such as dyslexia and synesthesia) often go hand-in-hand...and THOSE kids are not well-accommodated in most public (and many private) schools.

The big challenge for Tony and me, as potential homeschoolers, is our introversion. He is introverted to the point of being almost cripplingly shy. I'm not quite that bad, but almost. Johanna, on the other hand, is extremely extroverted...she's going to NEED that social interaction, and somehow I'm going to have to find a way to provide it, even if going out and finding other people to interact with is extremely challenging for me.

Redwolf

Wow - I've just being reading this thread -- Johanna is lucky to have parents who are willing to commit this much of their time to her education. She'll appreciate the effort one day.
I'm also sure you'll find a way to make it all fit together...

Maybe you can find groups or organizations for gifted children in your area and that would provide good social interaction for her & maybe get you some networking with parents such as yourselves... maybe you can get some useful advice from them.
As my grandfather used to say - everyone's a doctor once they've been cured.