What Can Homeschooling Teach the Rest of Us?

What works educationally for one family, or for one child, may not work for another. If you read my book, Raising a Gifted Child: AParenting Success Handbook, you will see that my mission is to inform students, parents, and teachers about the many educational possibilities and resources that are available so that they can make better choices.

Whether or not you homeschool your child, you will find that many helpful ideas come from homeschooling networks. Parents choose to homeschool their children for a variety of reasons. One common reason is that they have found that their children's academic needs are simply not being met through traditional schooling.

At A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling, there is an entire section dedicated to homeschooling gifted children. This website provides answers to the following questions:

• Why do some parents choose to homeschool their gifted students?
• How does one know where to begin the process of homeschooling?
• Where can one find mentors?
• Where can one find good distance learning programs?
• What problems might one encounter when homeschooling gifted students?
• How can the social needs of a homeschooled gifted child be met?
• Where can high-quality resources such as books, forums, and e-mail lists be found?

Much of this information can be important to both parents who homeschool their children and to parents who offer their children a more traditional education. Parents and teachers should remember that it is possible to combine traditional schooling with homeschooling. For example, a young person may attend regular school for part of the day and then be homeschooled in an area of particular strength after school.

A System for Bringing Speakers (Based on Student Interest) into the Classroom

Bringing weekly speakers into the classroom broadens the interests of students and encourages individual passions. The setting is more intimate than a school assemble. By inviting speakers to your classroom, you will:

• expose your students to a wide range of subjects and people
• show young people that their interests and ideas are valued
• begin career education at an early age

Here are a few examples of student interest and speakers used at the elementary school level.

Student interest: Astronomy

Speaker: A scientist from The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) brought a wonderful slide show on solar flares and explained their many effects to students.

Student interest: Animation

Speaker: The owner of a local animation company brought in a short video about his company, presented some animation production cels, showed the kids how to make flip books using their own animations, talked about jobs in animation, and explained the education that one should have in order to follow a career in animation.

Student interest: Snakes

Speaker: A member of the local herpetological society brought in some live snakes and talked about his own personal interest in the animals, their life habits, and what we should all know and understand about snakes.

Parent Volunteers

Because it can be very time consuming for teachers to find speakers, parents can play a vital role with the teacher's guidance. Here are some suggestions for setting up a similar program:

• Survey students to find out areas of interest that they would like to learn more about. Do not give them a list of possibilities to check off. Instead, just have each child write on a piece of paper at least three things that he or she would like to explore. These ideas do not have to be academic.
• Have a small group of volunteer parents sort through the students' ideas and try to group them. Are there some recurring themes?
• Have the same group of parents brainstorm about places where they might find speakers that would address student interests.
• After discussing their ideas with you first, parents begin making contacts.
• Once schedules are set up for speakers, ask parents to contact the speaker again a week or two in advance to confirm the date and time and find out if there is anything special that the speaker will need.
• Make sure that parents keep you informed of any communication that occurs with the speakers.

Locating Potential Speakers

• Start close to home. Are there people you know personally who would match a student's interest?
• Are there parents at the school who have a strong personal interest or a profession that would match a student’s chosen topic?
• What are some of the companies in your community that might have individuals who could present? Many larger companies actually have speaker bureaus.
• What about people who work at museums, theaters, orchestras, or universities? Or, what about individuals who work as mathematicians, authors, or cartographers? No matter what the interests of the students, you can probably find a speaker nearby if you live in a large metropolitan area.
• Don't be afraid to approach people. They can always say no, but I think you will be surprised by the people who say yes.

Setting Up Guidelines for Speakers

• Decide what day and time you would like to have the speaker. (I always chose Friday afternoons, because it was a nice end-of-the-week activity.) We tried to have a speaker every week that it was possible.
• Be clear about exactly what time you need the speaker to start, the physical condition of the classroom, the types of students that they will be working with, and whether or not you want the talk to be interactive. Sometimes those outside the school system don't understand the difficulties that are presented when an expected person doesn't show up right on time, and so be careful to explain all of that.

Making the Speaker Feel Welcomed

• Make certain that the class has reviewed appropriate behavior for honoring a guest in the classroom. Remind them that this is a special occasion and a privilege.
• Have someone meet the speaker at the front door of the school building. This could be a parent and/or student (depending on the grade level). Let the speaker know how much the class is looking forward to the presentation.
• Have the student or students who chose the area of interest briefly explain to the class why they selected that particular topic.
• Decide on a way to thank the speaker for taking time to come to the classroom. Students may write letters, draw pictures, create something to send to the speaker, or anything else that you feel suits the situation.

It takes quite a bit of time and organization to set up a program like this in a classroom, but I know that you will find it well worth the effort.

Free University Video Lectures

Do you have a high school student who is ready for more challenging material or has a strong interest in a particular subject? More and more of the nation’s best universities are posting free videos of selected lectures on the Internet. Learning is no longer confined to the university.

iTunes

Once you have downloaded iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for iTunes U. You will find an enormous selection of free courses and lectures from some of the country’s best universities.

MIT 

This site contains more than 9000 videos covering all subjects at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, plus guest speakers and events.

MITOPENCOURSEWARE 

Lecture notes, assignments, and online texts are available for over 2000 courses. There is also a special section titled Highlights for High School featuring MIT OpenCourseWare materials that are most useful for high school students and teachers.

Princeton University Lectures 

Includes lectures and special events.

University of California at Berkeley 

Videos include campus seminars, courses, and events.

Mensa for Kids Website

Mensa, the high IQ organization, has website titled Mensa for Kids. The site provides

• numerous interactive educational games and puzzles
• a monthly feature written by Mensa members on a wide variety of topics
• lots of information and resources for parents and teachers, including articles, booklists, lesson plans, and Internet resources
• additional resources for kids, K-12

The site is colorful, easy to navigate, and continues to grow in content. It is one more worthwhile resource you will want to bookmark.

Gifted Education Books for Parents

Want to learn more about parenting the gifted? Read some of the following books (in alphabetical order):

Being Smart about Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators, by Dona J. Matthews and Joanne F. Foster

The authors describe ways to develop children's natural abilities.

Bright, Talented, & Black: A Guide for Families of African American Gifted Learners

What it means to be young, Black, and gifted, and how families can help gifted children to understand their differences, navigate complex peer relationships, find their rightful place in community, and make best use of the school system.

Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students, by Christine Fonseca

Helps parents to not only understand why gifted children are so extreme in their behavior, but also learn specific strategies to teach gifted children how to live with their intensity.

Helping Gifted Children Soar: A Practical Guide for Parents and Teachers, by Carol Ann Strip

This user friendly guidebook educates parents and teachers about important gifted issues, an ideal resource for the beginner to seasoned veteran in educating gifted children.

Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners, by Cindy West

Focuses on special considerations that often go along with gifted children such as providing challenging curriculum, offering outlets for artistic and creative talents, accelerating students into college courses early, and finding them true intellectual peers.

On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children, 4th ed., by Tracy Cross

In a thoughtful, conversational style, the author offers an in-depth look at the complex social and emotional issues faced by gifted children.

Parenting Gifted Children: The Authoritative Guide From the National Association for Gifted Children, Editors: Jennifer L. Jolly, Donald J. Treffinger, Tracy F. Inman, and Joan Franklin Smutny
This comprehensive guide covers topics such as working with high achievers and young gifted children, acceleration, advocating for talented students, serving as role models and mentors for gifted kids, homeschooling, underachievement, twice-exceptional students, and post-secondary opportunities.

Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy and Successful Gifted Children, by James R. Delisle

Provides a humorous, engaging, and encouraging look at raising gifted children today with practical, down-to-earth approaches. Goes beyond the basics, focusing on attitude, reflection, and subtle changes, rather than specific, cookie-cutter recipes for action.

Parent's Guide to IQ Testing and Gifted Education, by David Palmer

Great introduction to IQ testing and gifted children. Answers your questions, from “Why test?” to “What do the scores mean?” and “What about scores of twice exceptional children?”

Parent's Guide to Raising a Gifted Child, by James Alvino

A practical, informative, and authoritative primer for raising and educating gifted children from preschool to adolescence. Beginning with sensible strategies to determine whether, and in which area, your child is gifted, this book takes parents through selecting an appropriate day-care center, a school, and a home reference library.

Raising a Gifted Child: A Parenting Success Handbook, by Carol Fertig

This book offers a large menu of strategies, resources, organizations, tips, and suggestions for parents to find optimal learning opportunities for their kids, covering the gamut of talent areas, including academics, the arts, technology, creativity, music, and thinking skills.

They Say My Kid's Gifted: Now What? by F. Richard Olenchak

Offers background and advice from the identification process, to choosing a teacher, to gifted programs and curriculum.

Your Gifted Child: How to Recognize and Develop theSpecial Talents in Your Child from Birth to Age Seven, by Joan Smutney, Kathleen Veekner and Stephen Veekner

How to recognize giftedness, from the obvious signs such as advanced language, math and motor skills, to the less obvious ones such as sense of humor, good memory and active imagination. The book also offers a variety of age-appropriate techniques to stimulate your child's curiosity.