From public to homeschool with a gifted child...question for those with this experience

[Phoebe]

X-posted in Learning at Home and Beyond

Ds is in 2nd grade and is in the school's GT program.  The program is just not nearly enough.  We have seen our son go from a passionate learner to a student that just seems to float around school, barely noticing that there is anything academic going on there.  He is loosing his interest in learning, big time.  I know that there are bound to be phases and ups and downs but this has progressivly gotten worse. 

But this isn't a question of whether or not we should homeschool him.  We are starting next year. 

What I'm wondering is:

From those who have made this transition, what can I do to get him back into the old swing of things?  I know that it will need to be a gradual process to reaclimate him back into his own individual mind, out of the go-with-the-group mentality.  How to best go about this?

BTW, we are not planning on going with a set cirriculum.  Pretty eclectic and somewhat unschool-y. 

Maybe someone can talk to me about this de-schooling idea?

TIA

Amy

[joensally]

DD started homeschooling after public schooling in grade 6.  DS homeschooled grade 1 after a year in public K.  He did not require de-schooling; DD required 10 months.  The rule of thumb is one month per year of school.

I am not an unschooler.  I have never used a pre-packaged curriculum, and we've used different math programs for different units.  

My kids eat information so like a certain amount of structured information depending on the subject.  In our experience, some subjects are deftly handled in a more open-ended fashion (history, for example), others with some loose structure and varied resources (science), and still others with a curriculum (math).  It can be a lot of work to keep kids resourced, and curriculum can shorten the process of finding good resources.

[crunchyxianmom]

Hi there, my kids haven't had to transition from school to home since we've homeschooled from the start, however, I've been able to compare my own experience as a gifted kid in school with that of homeschooling my gifted kids.  :)  Have you already made a list of things he has enjoyed in the past?  What was he excited about last summer before school started?  Talk to him about it. Ask him what he would want to do if he didn't have to be at school all day.  Go to the library, find things you think would be interesting to read about together, and let him pick out what he wants.  Read together, play together, go places together. The nice thing about gifted kids is they do learn easily from everything around them!  Have some fun together, and his natural curiosity will reemerge.  :)

We began as unschoolers, but eventually found ourselves with more structure -- mainly because my oldest was asking for it. (Like Joensally said, he eats information! LOL)  He'd exhausted a lot of resources on his own, and wanted me to show him what he didn't know.  We're following a very relaxed classical model, chronological history and Latin, etc., because I wanted to learn history better, and my little science professor wants a head start on his Latin roots. :)  My middle son wanted to do French instead, so we're doing that together.  My 5yo is teaching himself to read, taking viola lessons, and learning to control his temper!

Anyhow, I hope that helps a little.  The main thing is, homeschooling is SO flexible, and gifted kids need that flexibility, so it should be a good fit. :)

[Phoebe]

Thanks so much to the both of you for the insight. It sounds like my preconceived notions about how this might work may be about right.
My gut has felt hsing was right for several years now. I think we can do this!

[pigpokey]

I guess I just wonder why not now?  Why not go ahead and deschool the rest of the year?  It doesn't sound like he's learning much.

[Callimom]

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Edited by Callimom - 2/11/12 at 6:12pm

[dessismama]

My DS was in public school for 7 years. This year we are homeschooling.

He took the full first year of Spanish at the local state university at 12, and now he is taking the first semester of intermediate (summer session 1) with great success. He did complain for the first several months of HS about wanting to go back to PS so he would not have to think this much... he adjusted well.... it has been great--he has learned so much more and has had time to practice his cello. Now he wants to accelerate through high school, with lots of State College credits, and go to conservatory at 16. I am treasuring every minute, since he will fly away too soon...

[serenbat]

From those who have made this transition, what can I do to get him back into the old swing of things?  I know that it will need to be a gradual process to reaclimate him back into his own individual mind, out of the go-with-the-group mentality.  How to best go about this?

BTW, we are not planning on going with a set cirriculum.  Pretty eclectic and somewhat unschool-y. 

Maybe someone can talk to me about this de-schooling idea?

we pulled out at mid point of 2nd- we found a homeschool program at the local science center and that is what helped us (a group of like minded yet individual interests, but all are different)

pick a passion and give it the all for at least awhile- if he is into birds or painting - push in that area, let him express a passion-the other stuff will work it's way in-that is what I have found

I also found that making a big deal about the new adventure helped- we prepped for HS as we did for entering K, new supplies, etc----you can do this and still be in a unschooling approach  

example- my DD was into birds, HS ment we got a new set of binoculars,a life log, we planned a outing that she would not have been able to attend had she been in school, we did noting else for weeks but work on her passion and what she wanted to do with it- you can easily apply this to one of his, pushing flexibility now that your time is freed up

I do feel meeting others doing the same is helpful - to know you are alone, seeing that others HS in different ways helps to pick a style he may want to try (key being "try"- knowing that with HS you can change things up at any time)

good luck