home educating - bright child

[tweety76]

My DS is now being home educated as he has been bored at school for a while. He complained that the work was dull time and time again and we found the school totally unwilling to support him by differentiating the work more for him.
I don't know that he is G&T but he is bright, he has level 4's across all subjects for year 3 SATs. We plan to start him on year 4 curriculum this term and were wondering if anyone has any experience with this? Has any one purchased a particular scheme of work that has been good?
We suspect that he is capable of working to a higher level, he read Hamlet with me two months ago and completely understood the plot, themes etc.
Any advice will be happily taken on board!
He is musical, violin & piano both at grade 2 standard. I think this is pretty good too but not terribly sure! There wasn't anyone to benchmark him against at his school you see.

Thanks!

[Roshbegosh]

Why are you doing this? What about his social development and just having fun with friends?

[prissyenglisharriviste]

I always think that it's a little odd to choose to homeschool, and then replicate a classroom and traditional curriculum.

I have three gifted kids, and if we could afford to homeschool, I wouldn't use any set curriculum - I would just be letting them loose and letting them devour whatever they wanted.

Maybe you need to de school a little?

There are loads of options though. But by limiting yourself to a year 4 curriculum you are essentially replicating what he would be getting in school, which is a bit of a shame when you've gone to all the trouble of de-regging.

Are you in touch with local he groups? There are so many ways to do this that you maybe just need to get some more confidence in what is right for your child, rather than try to find a different program to lock him into?

[seeker]

Why are you replacing school with school? Why not think outside the box a bit- what is he particularly interested in?

[tweety76]

Hi,
We aren't planning to simulate school but just want a basis from which to work with regard core subjects. we are both artists so certainly not conformists! One of the main reasons for taking him out was that he simply doesn't fit in at school and has been bullied for being different from the outset.
He adores music and home schooling means that he can play his violin whenever he wants without having to squeeze it into a couple of hours after school. He attends Saturday orchestral groups where he socializes for 4 hours and also is in an athletics group where he has lots of kids to talk too.
We are lucky in that we have a lovely green, wooded play park at the end of the road where he plays with friends that he has had for years. They are always climbing trees and alike!
We have no worries about the social aspect as at school all he has been taught is that he must compete for attention with 30 other kids and largely be ignored just because he can 'coast' with out any work from the teachers and that being subject to bullying is the norm. We have now shown him that well actually no, you don't have to conform there are other ways.
We will spend 2 hours on core subjects and then spend the afternoons painting, visiting places...
I just want to know if anyone has used a particular scheme of work. thanks!

[lljkk]

Think you need to post in the HE section, OP. Lots they can advise you on there. Your situation isn't really about G&T.

[prissyenglisharriviste]

I don't think anyone mentioned social concerns, did they?

We were just curious why you were looking for a grade 4 curriculum when you don't need to be tied to any such thing... Particularly as a school-age appropriate curriculum is apparently not right for him?!

Are you wanting to follow a scheme of work for your own peace of mind?

I'm actually quite pro he, as I said up thread, so I'm not sure why you needed to type a defence regarding social isolation?

Good luck, anyway. I don't think you need a y4 curriculum, but if that's what you want, there are loads of he-ers that will suggest stuff. Have you properly looked at unschooling?

[tweety76]

Apologies ladies - I have been out all day. Also, apologies for offending any of you - it was not my intention!
As I hope I said, I am new to mumsnet and I have obviously wandered into the wrong board and trodden upon a few toes.
I am sorry, I can be quite verbose. I will curb that right now.
Once again, apologies.

[lovelilies]

tweety I HE'd my dd on and off for a few years, we tended to be completely 'autonomous' : for us the whole curriculum thing didn't fit in with our objectives.
There is a good website called Education Otherwise, also you may find a local group via yahoo...
Good luck to you, it can be very fulfilling and rewarding, but be prepared to find it tough/ frustrating/ boring sometimes too

[Wiifitmama]

I home ed my three children. The eldest is finishing year 7 (if he was at school!) and has been home schooled all along. Seem of us are structured, contrary to what you read on here!

To answer your curriculum question, you will get as many answers as there are people as everyone does things differently. But I can recommend a website/publisher called Galore Park I use their English curriculum books with all my children as well as the children I tutor. I have also dipped into their history and French curriculums with my children. What I especially like about their English curriculum books is that they use extracts from classic books. They cover reading comprehension, writings skills as well as all aspects of grammar. My eldest son wold probably be conspired gifted in many areas, particularly English and these suit him really well. I also like that they are british whereas many of the popular curriculums used in the home ed community are American.

For maths, I have used this throughout and love it. It was originally designed as a maths enhancement programme by Plymouth university to raise maths attainment levels in schools. It is now used by many home educators. It's free, printable and covers all the way through all the ages. From my experience, I would say it runs about a year advanced from what children would be doing in school.

You don't say what part of the country you are in, but it is worth trying to hook up with local home educators. In London for instance, there are countless home ed activities you can join including everything from clubs, classes and museum trips.

And as has been mentioned, follow your child's interests. That is the joy of home ed. my eldest is a writer so I ensure he has plenty of opportunity to develop this. He is not artistic so although we did all the London galleries and ensured he had basic art experiences, it is not our focus. This is part of what I love about home ed.

Hth

[prissyenglisharriviste]

Tweety, I'm not marked, just a bit baffled. You have decided to home Ed because he's too bright and bored (fair enough) but then asked for a curriculum that will essentially be the same as that which you have removed him from?

Happy to chat, honest, but if I'd removed a child in those circs (and as I said, if I could afford not to work, I would - at least two of ,y gifted three would thrive out of school) I wouldn't be looking for an identikit curriculum... I'm really interested why you are? Not in a criticizing way, just a mildly curious one

Verbose is good. Tis a chat board after all

[WildAndWoolly]

I was taken out with my brother and homeschooled for a year when I was 12 (I'm 43 now, so it was a year or two ago!). It was an amazing experience, and taught me a lot more about learning for learning's sake than anything school taught me

My parents signed us up with an organisation called Education Otherwise, who had a few (a very few at the time) other home educators on their books - the nearest one with a child my age was half an hour's drive away! I think a lot more people are doing it now though, so it shouldn't be too difficult to hook up with others, and I know a couple of people in our area who home ed now (although we don't).

We had a tutor for a couple of hours a week to teach us basics and give us 'homework' (eg. go and learn about the Romans). My Mum drove us to the library twice a week and both my parents taught us some maths and English when they could. We would decide what we wanted to learn about that week and then follow it up. I read every book in the house and half the ones in the library.

I would say that I came out knowing a lot of stuff but at 13 didn't have a clue how to talk to another 13 year old. When I went back to school I was a year ahead of kids my age academically but had completely forgotten how to talk to other children and it took me a couple of years to catch up.

If you're thinking of home educating for academic reasons, it's worth taking into account social development - make sure your DS has enough other kids his age around that he can connect with (if he wants to).

[WildAndWoolly]

Sorry, just read upstream that you've already considered this! Good luck then

[tweety76]

Thank you for the help. It is good to hear that you enjoyed the experience WildAnd Woolly. I take on board your concerns about making sure he socialises, this is something we will take very seriously, he mustn't miss out.
Thank you Wilfitmama. We decided to use the Galore Park books, they all arrived yesterday and I am delighted with them. We are using the maths book from them but have looked at the Plymouth Uni link that you gave me and can not thank you enough - it is great and will prove very helpful.
We are like you in that we want to offer structure because our son needs it. I am not sure what your experience of the state education system is, but I wonder if you are like me in seeing how it seems to be failing brighter children. We couldn't keep him in a school where he was pretty much ignored and allowed to coast. He needs challenging. It has been affirmed this week with the work that we have started with, he has flourished from being given harder work.
It isn't all academic though, we are off on a bug hunt today in our local wood. I have found some lovely resources on www.naturedetectives.org for out and about activities.
I recommend the site.
Thank you again

[morethanpotatoprints]

Tweety.

Hi, I H.ed a G&T child in music. We have loads of fun and she is really happy. It seems to be working really well for us.
Please join the H.ed threads on here. There are some very experienced parents who can help with any queries or just a chat.
Go to education, more, then H.ed.
Grade 2 isn't particularly brilliant, but most good musicians don't measure in grades but ability to send goose bumps down your spine. Please pm me if you would like.