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HOME SCHOOL: FAST-TRACK HITS STRIDE AT U OF M(EMPHIS)12 YEAR OLF FINALLY FINDS A CHALLENGE
The Commercial Appeal ^
| 4/9/02
| Ruma Banerji
Posted on 04/09/2002 5:40:44 AM PDT by GailA
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FYI
1
posted on
04/09/2002 5:40:44 AM PDT
by
GailA
To: GailA; BibChr; 2Jedismom; Aquinasfan; lsucat;
Thanks for the post, GailA.
Homeschooling bump!
2
posted on
04/09/2002 5:46:57 AM PDT
by
Artist
Comment #3 Removed by Moderator
To: semper_libertas
It can't be healthy to send a 12 year old off to college. "Can't"? I lean towards your opinion myself (as another HSing father), but isn't that part of the point of HSing? That decisions like this be made by those who know and love the child best?
And you have to love the part about the "experts" trying to pat the parents' little heads and disabuse them of their delusions. I've not had that lecture, but I've had that tone. "Yes, Mr. Phillips, we are aware that at one time [i.e. back in the Cenozoic era, when you were a child] school was viewed as a place to learn academic subjects...."
Dan
4
posted on
04/09/2002 7:01:05 AM PDT
by
BibChr
To: GailA
Sat next to the kid and his mom together in the campus cafeteria a couple of months ago. Knew nothing about them, but suspected that the kid was taking college studies. Very, very tall for his age, even nowadays, and didn't look as though he got any outdoor exercise at all (how can he, between 18 hours of classes and 12-15 hours of commute a week!) Mom seemed extremely "hands-on" and dominating, even during what should have been a relaxing meal.
5
posted on
04/09/2002 7:20:07 AM PDT
by
willieroe
Comment #6 Removed by Moderator
To: semper_libertas
Yep. Actual
experience of public schooling was a large part of what moved me, some 8+ years ago,
from being rather strongly opposed to HSing
to being deeply convictedly in favor of it. One of the very best decisions we've ever made; NEVER regretted or second-guessed.
Dan
7
posted on
04/09/2002 7:31:13 AM PDT
by
BibChr
To: GailA
yeah.....well..............um ....... urm.........just
THINK of all the
DIVERSITY and
TOLERANCE training this kid missed out on by not going to public school!
I'll bet the little bugger's a RACIST JERK! < /sarcasm >
To: GailA
See? See? All the best kids are being taken out of public schools with the result being that no longer will their mere presence in a public school classroom, by osmosis, I guess, cause all the dullards to become smart. And it's just not fair for the public school teachers to have to take a lot of time and effort to educate kids who can't educate themselves. Having the smart kids taken out increases their workload and level of job frustration. Those inconsiderate home schooling parents!
9
posted on
04/09/2002 7:36:49 AM PDT
by
aruanan
To: Artist; BibChr
McCarter gently tells him no, his "judgment isn't fully baked" and he's still "a child." "Don't call me that," he says.
"OK, sorry, young man," she adjusts.
When I read this I remember one of the things my son's pediatrician told me when we found out how gifted he was. She said "He's going to be smart enough to want to take control of everything...even your lives. You need to set the rules and stick by them or he'll walk all over you." So kindness, humility, courtesy, and self-sacrifice have been just as important as grades. Correcting an adult is a big no-no.
To: GailA
Homeschooled? Hillary's Village would put him in prison.
11
posted on
04/09/2002 7:45:35 AM PDT
by
moyden
To: GailA
Well obviously the boy's genius is not the product of homeschooling, BUT without the homeschool enviroment he probably would never of reached the level he has today as soon as he has.
Bumping home schooling!
To: semper_libertas
We have a gifted child whom we homeschool.
However, we decided not to fast track him and give him a normal childhood instead.
We were quite put off by the behavior of some of the parents in the gifted program and didn't really appreciate their elitist attitude.
Also, we figured that it would be better for him to have his childhood WHEN he's supposed to be a child than for him to try to regain it down the road. There's plenty of time to develop his intellect.
13
posted on
04/09/2002 7:53:33 AM PDT
by
Carolina
To: 2Jedismom
Agreed; I frowned at that.
Dan
14
posted on
04/09/2002 8:13:25 AM PDT
by
BibChr
To: Carolina
we figured that it would be better for him to have his childhood WHEN he's supposed to be a child...I guess that's a relative issue, isn't it? There was a time in this country when adulthood began at about this kid's age. Anymore we expect so little of our youth--and we get it. It's refreshing to see someone not bogged down by the sorry expectations of this culture.
15
posted on
04/09/2002 8:15:20 AM PDT
by
Egg
To: GailA
"He wasn't getting enough. And when I would go to the school and talk with the principals and tell them he needed more, they would politely tell me my son was not different and that I was just one of those parents who wanted my son to be seen as different.""
Best reason in the world to take the kid out of school.They would have destroyed his abilities.
To: Carolina
Same thing with us...we homeschool our gifted boy and although we do have him on a sort of "fast track" as far as academics are concerned, in all other areas he's treated as a normal 6 year old. I estimate he'll be acamemically ready for some college courses when he's 14-15 years old. At which time, the local junior college has already said he could attend. And since my husband's not a neurosurgeon and I don't have time to paint the walls much less a picture, junior college is going to have to do.
I, too, was put off by the local school for gifted children. Arrogance is not a virtue. I prefer this beautiful goofy (sometimes intense) little boy who comes in so filthy from playing in the garden that all you can see is the whites of his eyes!
To: Carolina
Also, we figured that it would be better for him to have his childhood WHEN he's supposed to be a child than for him to try to regain it down the road. There's plenty of time to develop his intellect. I feel bad for exceptionally gifted children. There is so much pressure on them to do something spectacular in adulthood, like becoming the next Bill Gates.
I don't see anything wrong with beginning college at 16 if the child is mature.
To: semper_libertas
Some kids are different. I also home school my 3 boys. One of my boys at the age of 11 began practicing his violin all day. We thought we had to limit his time spent on the violin, thinking we were not doing the right thing by letting him loose his childhood working instead of playing. He did not want a childhood he wants to be a violinist and knew it at an early age even if it took his parents time to realize this.
He now spends at least 6-7 hours a day sometimes more practincing and we drive him to Chicago for lessons every week end(6 hours away from where we live). He is so much happier now that we have freed him to persue his dreams.
To: Aquinasfan; 2Jedismom; Egg
I feel bad for exceptionally gifted children. There is so much pressure on them to do something spectacular in adulthood, like becoming the next Bill Gates.Our son's giftedness is in math and music. It was astonishing to us when he hummed tunes of whole songs when he was 8 months old in perfect pitch. He taught himself to read at 2 and was reciting math tables to us at 2 1/2 years. When at 3, he began a discussion with me one day about the skeletal structure of the human hand, I got down on my knees.
My husband and I prayed a great deal that God would lead us what to do with this child. So, we are here at home working on his whole character. And he is perfectly happy conjugating his Latin verbs, learning his theorems, composing his pieces on the piano and challenging himself on difficult violin pieces.
On top of that, he is earning his Scout merit badges, acolyting at church, and learning to be a cantor.
He just became a teenager, and so far, praise be to God, he is blessedly free of that youthful angst so prevalent in today's teens. Plus, we have other children and it would not have been right to have focused all our energy on just one child's pursuit of excellence.
By the time he's 16, he will probably be at the local university taking calculus and music theory classes. In the meantime, we try to enjoy him and his siblings because they truly are a joy to us.
20
posted on
04/09/2002 9:48:41 AM PDT
by
Carolina
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