If your child is gifted and an outlier, did you homeschool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homeschooling will make your child an outlier these days, especially if you teach them to read using phonics and actually teach them spelling, grammar and critical thinking.

Oh, please. My 7th grader in public schools (FCPS) just took the Lexile reading inventory--which assesses reading comprehension-- and scored in the 99%ile -- and the average scores in FCPS on this national assessment are far above average. In her history class they are currently reading the original texts of the 13-15th amendments of the constitution, primary documents about the controversies at the time and writing critical responses on how and why different elements were included and why they were separated into these different amendments. The next assignment is to write responses to relate contemporary issues to these same issues (looking at voting rights laws). We haven't supplemented academically (outside of schools she studies music, plays a sport, and volunteers in a nature preserve) and have been happy with her schooling.

It's fine if you want to homeschool, but you then have little insight into what is actually taught in schools.