Posted on 10/03/2007 10:42:03 AM PDT by Blueflag
I seek the advice of FReepers on home-schooling an academically gifted 8 year-old. We've had it up to 'here' with Creekland Middle School in Gwinnett County. (Georgia)
How to get started? Best Curricula? Best web sites? Ideas? Challenges? Risks?
How to get started? Best Curricula? Best web sites? Ideas? Challenges? Risks?
All well-reasoned FReeper replies welcomed
A little too emotional at the moment. My daughter is an academically gifted 8th grader, not an 8 year old. (sigh)
She’s 13, not 8.
We homeschool in Florida. I’d suggest finding a homeschool group, usually thru a church. They can provide lots of information. Be careful purchasing curriculum as there are tons and tons of options. Many good and many not as good. Consider options such as online, DVD, computer based, and books. Different kids do better with different formats.
Its challenging but also rewarding. My kids do not want to go back to public school. Socialization is an issue so be sure to budget time for field trips and other events.
Lol, I was going to ask if you were time traveling. I wouldn’t send my kids to public school either, if I had any.
Hopefully metmom and/or Dave will ping their lists to get you some good advice.
I was homeschooled from Day One so I don’t really know what I’d advise someone transitioning other than this: don’t tie yourself to the public school’s schedule. Not their class schedule - it shouldn’t take you seven hours to teach your daughter what she needs to know. Give her time for her own hobbies and interests. Not their what-should-be-taught schedule: if they would teach World History this year but you think she needs American History, teach that. And not their school year - modify it to work for you. School year round and take two week breaks every two months, if that works for you. Teach on Saturdays and take Wednesdays off. Whatever works for you.
First and foremost, check out the law in Georgia. Go to the HSLDA’s website and seriously consider joining the HSLDA - at the very least for your peace of mind. Their webiste also has very good resources to learn the laws.
Ask metmom for help. There are many really nice & helpful freepers who will be able to help you. Many are helping me as I try to convince my husband to let me home school our 7 yr old. Get on metmom’s ping list too. ~Pandora~
Can you get her into Gwinnett Charter School of Advanced Mathematics, Science and Technology instead???
Thanks. Turns out we have 8 kids just in our neighborhood who are home schooled. AND our church does have some good resouces. Also, one of our church-lady :-) friends is also one of the head administrators at the HS. The HS is fine, but the middle school has turned into a prison culture. It’s no way to treat academically gifted, socially responsible kids. We want to make certain the program we pick is a good one — cuz it’s only going to have to be good for one year - for my daughter to finish 8th grade. She’s totally absorbed in her friends’ activities and also in competitive swimming — both of which would be unaffected by homeschooling.
We are fortunate to have all the options readily available — PC, supportive homeschooling familes (younger kids though) and a daughter who hungers for learning. We just want as always to present the best choices and options to her.
She took the SATs as a 7th grader and scored in the top 5% of all HIGH SCHOOL students. Yikes. We know she has a bright academic future if we can just make the right paths available to her.
If you happen to watch the TV show BONES, my daughter is a lot like the character who plays “Bones” the forensic anthropologist, except she is very socially adept and not nearly as literal.
If you don’t mind me asking, what curriculum do you use? Which did you choose to NOT use?
Thx.
CHECK YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES!
Worth a shot. Never heard of it. Imagine that.
I’ll check it out.
We homeschool from a Christian perspective, so we have used Rod & Staff, Bob Jones, and others.
Good for you in your decision to homeschool. I think you will be surprised at just how much support is available for you out there.
David —
Thanks, but it won’t open til next year :-(
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/pages/Enews_MathScience_3_06
Will do. thx as always.
We’ve tried Abeka, Bob Jones, and a couple others I can’t remember. They were ok but our boys have a tough time only using a book. And for the higher math learning from a DVD can be tough when Mom or Dad can’t remember. This year we are using an online public school our county offers and an online private school.
Seems more interactive and catches their attention a bit more. Also keep em active in sports, and church activities. All in all the socialization isn’t the problem many of the anti-home schoolers preach. You have more control over who your kids spend time with which is a good thing IMO.
Many people will critisize homeschoolers saying your child isnt around other kids their age. To that I make the argument that at no other time in our life are we segregated by age so why is it so good for our kids.
All in all its much better but more expensive. metmom is a good source so ask her like the other folks have suggested.
The great thing about home-schooling is that one can develop unique courses. In addition to the 3 Rs, marksmanship, Bible, and riding can be taught. Build on her strengths. If she doesn’t like math then just teach to the SAT/ACT and do some practical math (word problems, metric conversions, and all manner of percentage problems). If she loves literature then make it at least 30 percent of your schedule.
I don’t know how feasible this is, but you could relocate in order to get her into new school until the magnet school is open (note: don’t let the move jeopardize chance of getting into the magnet school).
You could also do a “send her to live with grandma ;-)” for a change of address (like A LOT of Georgians do).
My oldest falls into that category also.
For math, Saxon Math, hands down. An engineer friend of mr. mm’s said it’s absolutely the best for real life applications.
We used Abeka for science, SS, and health and found them quite thorough. The history was actually pretty rigorous. If you have a real history buff on your hands, it’ll be fine, but I thought there was stuff in there that was unnecessary to know (Like who DL Moody’s songleader was).
We tried Alpha-Omega LifePacs for history one year and my daughter liked that a little better because she said it explained why things happened in history instead of just memorizing facts.
For English and reading, I think what the schools do is fine, read books and do book reports. Maybe if you could find someone who is an English major or supportive teacher, they could help you in that area.
Here’s a link for a place to get curriculum about as cheap as I’ve seen it:
I think for just the remainder of the year, see if you can borrow some Saxon Math and give the Alpha-Omega LifePacs a shot, along with the local library.
College and university libraries are sometimes open to the public. In NYS, if you’re a resident, you used to be able to borrow from the SUNY college libraries. That was some years ago and I don’t know if that’s changed, but it’s worth a shot. You’ll probably get better resources.
Who does your daughter swim with? Our kids did the Y and my son decided to do this year also, his last.
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