Has anyone just give up and homeschooled?

[Anonymous]

^ pp, I know many gifted kids in math, music, chess, etc who qualify or would have qualified as 2e and they all were excellent students across the board in all subjects except they were exceptionally talented in one of the above mentioned areas: So having "savant" level skills in math does not mean they are "bad" at English just not as exceptional/strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My suggestion for the first year would be to "detox" from the school environment, and do mostly child-led learning. In other words, decide what is most absolutely essential for actual, sit-down schoolwork. Probably math, right? Because that is sequential, and he would need to stay on track if you decide to put him back in school. Look at Teaching Textbooks, which is a complete curriculum that you do not need to help him do--he can do it all himself. Then for everything else, just let him be. Take him to the library every week. Go to many places. Go to cultural events and shows. Have him listen to books on CD. Let him build with Legos endlessly. Have him write letters and emails to family and friends. Maybe have him start a blog to keep track of his new homeschooling life. Keep him involved in daily physical activities. Sign him up for clubs in your local homeschool group. Read out loud to him every day. That's all. Let learning be fun and organic again, like it was when he was a toddler.

Not OP. This sounds great for a toddler and early elementary school but for middle school and quite possibly high school?!? I can't imagine...

You'd be surprised! Though it doesn't need to be just math--OP would determine which subjects were non-negotiable for daily work, and math is the one that springs to mind first, but it could be the three R's, or the three R's plus history and science, or whatever she prefers.

And it doesn't need to be a whole year of detox. Maybe all her son would need is a month of relative freedom. I don't know his special needs, but OP does. She would know what to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a former home school SN parent and a former public school teacher. I think PP's point about de-toxing is that so much learning can (and should) take place outside of a classroom. We tend to get so focused on the academics that we forget there is a real world out there. I agree that some detox is necessary when starting homeschooling. Kids and parents new to homeschooling need to lose their school-based anxieties. But a year while just keeping up with one subject also seems excessive to me. I would say that if reading (for example) were causing a lot of anxiety, I would totally back off the 'learning to read' component of reading and just read to my DC and discuss books (and you'll be working on comprehension and vocab while you are doing this). Once the anxiety surrounding learning-to-read is reduced, you are a lot more likely to have success teaching it (or recognizing when you are out of your league and hire a tutor). If math is the culprit, go back as far as you need to go and find where math is easy and fun. It may be skip counting or counting backwards. It may mean rolling a lot of dice and figuring out all the ways to add up to 7 (or 5 or 9, etc). This is ok. This is the beauty of home schooling ... you can move at a pace appropriate for your child and avoid cycles of failure.

OP, I would strongly urge you to make contact with local homeschool communities and talk with people in your geographic area who are homeschooling. Only you know yourself and your DC well enough to be able to say whether the circumstances are right for both of you to make this jump. Many people are able to make this leap and it is an option well worth considering. There are lots of curricula on the market, and as you mentioned, there are on-line options. Some people have weird prejudices about socialization and home schooling. I can assure you that school socialization is quite often a very negative experience for our kids and their social skills can be well nurtured outside classroom settings.

Lots of wisdom here!

[Anonymous]

Families interested in exploring the online public charter school in DC (CAPCS Online) can attend an open house event on Friday, December 14th or make plans to attend the DC Public Charter School EXPO on Saturday, January 5th. The open house for CAPCS Online on Friday, December 14th is located at Fort Dupont Ice Arena and families can mingle with the school communtiy during this winter social where staff from the school will be present to answer questions. Hope this helps!

Community Academy Public Charter School (CAPCS) Online
http://www.k12.com/capcs/event/capcs-online-meet-and-greet-2