I'm trying to find parents of highly gifted children, but I'm having a hard time. Does anyone know of forums or something like that? I know there's a gifted academy in Austin, but that's $10k/yr, and we'd really rather homeschool anyway. I found a yahoo group, but there are only 2 members, and I'm still awaiting authorization. I found a gifted "forum" online, but it's not a forum... it's a website. Not sure why they call it a forum. I'm a member of another board that has one forum for gifted parents, but again, there are only 2 members. They can't answer my questions. I'd really like to find some like-minded kids for my son to play with. He's ... I hate to say "weird" ... but yeah, kinda weird. He doesn't form relationships the way other kids do. He likes older kids, but older kids don't like him. He doesn't like kids his age because they don't "get" him. He doesn't like younger kids because they're babies (he's only 3 himself). It's frustrating for him. Can anyone point me to articles, research, or anything that talks about children who graduate way ahead of schedule. I mean, like I graduated college with a 12 year old. He sat next to me in algebra. His mom had to escort him to all of his classes. Very weird. I don't want that life for my kids, but that's the direction my son is headed. People who say "just let him play and explore on his own" obviously don't understand the type of child I'm talking about. That's even more frustrating. I could go on and on, but I feel lost. When I've asked questions on other forums in the past, people were offended. (Yeah.. offended by just a question. :roll: ) I'm pulling my hair out.
I believe ivillage has a message board about gifted children. I don't think it has anything to do with homeschooling, but it might help: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppgifted.
Take abreather, IT does get scary when they are young like that and doing older kid work, but you will make it through this. IT is awesome that you home school! http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-tell-if-your-preschooler-is-gifted_65003.bc http://gcq.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/25/3/129 I know it sounds funny, becuase being ahead is a cool thing when you home school you can keep going to wherever the child levels off at. But for his sake don't mention to others what level he is at, the kids will think he is too smart to play with. ( like I said it sounds odd but its a fact) and they often are intimidated. Someplace out there there are kids who don't care how smart the kid is!
Thanks for your responses! And yeah... we don't go around advertising, but he certainly does. LOL! We get strange looks everywhere we go because he's loud and obnoxious like a 3 year old, but the loud part isn't "mommy, I want this, mommy, I want this", it's "P-H-A-R-M-A-C-Y. Mom! That spells pharmacy! That's where you go when you get sick. You get medicine. Never take medicine without asking your doctor. D-R. That stands for doctor. It stands for Drive, too. We're at the pharmacy at Medical Drive, momma! Hey, momma. Did you hear me?" (Yes, dear... the people in the next county heard you, and now they're all staring at you... not that I'd tell him the last part, of course! ) Seriously, the kid never shuts up, and his only volumes are loud and louder. He's so proud to be "in kindergarten" that he has to tell everyone at the check-out, too.
You can find like-minded children if you know what areas your child excels in. What are his interests? Or do you need to help him channel his enthusiasm into a specific direction? If your child loves to read, you can find other parents of early readers. Or if you want help on teachign him to read, you can find a ton of info online. I'm partial to the Glenn Doman method, at www gentlerevolution dot com. If your child is musical, you can find lots of new playmates at your community Suzuki music program. My youngest took violin lessons at age 3. Suzuki is a great program, because it does so much more than teach a kid music. It develops excellent listening skills!!! And it's goal is to teach kids to have "beautiful souls". If your child is physically gifted, maybe you can find a preschool gymnastics program. Giftedness is a buzz word that gets a lot of people's dander up, which is ridiculous. My son was labeled "gifted" while in PS, and we ended up homeschooling him because of how he was treated at PS. Meanwhile, my firstborn was NOT labeled gifted, yet, she was much more advanced than my son in several subjects. She learned to read at 2, he did not read until 5. Many children are gifted in some area, some children are gifted in many areas. Glenn Doman and Dr. Suzuki believed that all children had the potential to be gifted. I wish you luck finding support and friendship for him. Lorelei
I totally agree! We're both musicians, so of course we hope the boys will also enjoy music. I started to teach him piano, but he has delayed motor skills, so he's just not ready for that yet. He's always hated art, drawing, writing, coloring... anything that requires fine motor skills. He started talking at 3 months and reading at 22 mos, so he's definitely an early reader and has a pretty good grasp of language. He's on about a 3rd grade level now. Maybe 4th? He enjoys science, especially animals, but I don't think he's really found a niche yet that he just "loves" in any subject.
There is a yahoo groups called HSGifted, I think...I'm a member but don't participate a lot. http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ is the resource that was suggested to us from the Center of Gifted Ed at the College of William & Mary (when our girls took a summer gifted enrichment class). There are a few homeschooling gifted books out there....most are also applicable to any child. Several colleges like W & M have gifted programs. Johns Hopkins and Duke have big programs but I don't know for the K age group.
hsgifted@yahoogroups.com I'm a member, rarely post. My daughter's areas are music & art ~ NOT math or science & while above average in the humanities not overly interested. The group is pretty academically geared. They have a forum/chat board that I can't access. Something to do with my server I think. Lots of parents with very bright littlies.
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolingmensans/ That group has over 900 members and should be very helpful to you.
Whew! deep breath, it will get easier. We have a profoundly gifted daughter and I really get all of these concerns. She is about to turn 11 now, so we've survived so far. :wink: A great spot for all things gifted: www.hoagiesgifted.org Also www.davidsongifted.org , when your ds is over 5 you might want to check out their young scholar program. It is a great help for profoundly gifted kids and their families. For a email group for finding homeschool resources for gifted kids try TagMax you can find it at www.tagfam.org Preschool age was tough for socializing. Our dd went to Montessori and hung out with the teachers most of the time. It seemed to get easier when she approached 5 and older kids were more accepting. She has several peer groups really. Kids her age range for park play and pretend play, older kids for academic/intellectual interaction, and plenty of adults she likes to hang out with. When she was tested at age 8, the professional testing her strongly suggested we have her take the SAT and start talking with the university for math classes within the year. While I've heard of plenty of kids handling college classes at 9, it wasn't what our dd wanted or needed. We've found tons of other resources to keep her challenged at home. She's been craving more group interaction so she is now attending a couple of high school classes at a local charter math and science high school. After the initial shock of kids going, 'You're only 10!!!', she has really enjoyed her classes. She was appalled at her fellow students algebra skills during the initial review in her geometry class. She spends a good deal of time in class studying her classmates like they are an anthropological study, but some lessons just aren't in a textbook. LOL We're hoping that part-time high school, some dual enrollment classes at the university in a couple years and homeschooling will keep her busy and happy until near typical college age. However, we reassess every year. The best benefit of the Davidson Young Scholar program has been hearing so many families' stories of raising profoundly gifted kids. There have been kids who enjoyed and thrived at their local public school at grade level. There have been kids that went to college at 8 and had graduate degrees by 17, and thrived. There have been kids who went to college at 11 and then went back to high school at 14. There have been kids who homeschooled happily until 17 or 18 and went off to highly selective universities. There is no right answer for your particular kid. It will depend on his personality, the resources in your area, the cohort of kids he finds, etc. Don't worry too far in the future, just keep as many options open as you can and follow his lead. It will be fine, and a whole lot of fun despite the intense worry. Oh, and research to back up acceleration - google _A Nation Deceived_ it is a free collection of studies on various types of acceleration. The research is overwhelmingly positive that finding an academic fit is more important than staying with agemates for social as well as academic growth.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HSGiftedChildren/ Also, this website is full of wonderful articles.... http://www.sengifted.org/articles_index.shtml I wish you all the best!
WOW! All of you are wonderful! I could almost cry. I've gotten nothing like this from any other forums I'm on. Just... wow. Thanks!
