For gifted students the great advantage of home education is the flexibility to tailor a program to their abilities and needs without the constraints of curriculum and age boundaries. There is no one right way to home educate gifted children Styles vary.

METHODS COMMONLY USED IN SCHOOLS TO ACCOMODATE GIFTED STUDENTS The Smorgasboard of Options Grouping Options Enrichment Options Counseling Options Fill your plate Accelerative Options See how these options can be provided easily and naturally with home education The options listed in red can all be used in home education

Accelerative Options Early school admission Grade-skipping Subject-skipping Credit by examination University courses in high school Telescoped programs Early admission to university

Grouping Options Special schools Schools-within-a-school Special classes Combined grades in regular class Cluster groups in regular class Pull-out programs Special classes Activity clubs Honours programs

Enrichment Options Independent Study Learning centres Field trips After school & Saturday programs Holiday programs Mentors and memberships Future problem solving Competitions Clubs & interest groups Community service groups

Counseling Options Personal Social Educational Career All cost money But most parents are paying for them even if their children are in school

Levels of Giftedness

Grade skipping In school the child is placed in a grade ahead of their age. This can be easily achieved at home by simply choosing curriculum materials from a more advanced grade or, if doing a correspondence course, by enrolling in a more advanced grade. The one-on-one teaching involved will provide the support they need if grade-skipping brings greater demands in some areas - e.g handwriting.

Acceleration The child works at a higher level and/or faster pace than age mates. e.g. Does grade two reading in grade one. Acceleration may be across the board or subject based. This can be achieved at home because of the flexibility of the home environment and, unlike school, does not involve going to different classes. This can also be done for individual subjects through individual programming – e.g grade five Maths and grade three English for the same child. In fact, home education does not have to have any grades at all.

Continuous Progress Curriculum The child moves through work/grades at his/her own rate rather than by their age-for-grade. Home education offers the perfect environment for this as there is no need to wait until the end of the term or year to move on to the next term’s or year’s work. Children can just keep going.

Compacted Curriculum The amount of time normally required for a subject or topic is reduced so the child can be freed up for other activities or to advance to the next level of work. This can easily be applied at home by doing parts of a course and moving on as a child has mastered each topic rather than insisting they work through every given example or complete every task. Some textbook work is just ‘busy work’ and, if the child already understands the concept being taught, there is no need to labour the point.

Pre-testing Children are pre-tested to find out what they already know and teaching begins from that point. This avoids teaching and ‘learning’ of material that is already known. This is easy to achieve at home and need only be done once rather than repeated with each new teacher every year.

Early Entry The child enters school either at an early age or by skipping the Prep grade. Again, this is easily achieved in home education because the child can simply start book- work when they are ready rather than having to wait until they reach ‘school- entry’ age. Even if no book-work is done, they will be learning huge amounts from their daily conversations and activities.

Enrichment Greater Breadth: Subjects are studied that are not usually offered eg. Chinese or Latin; or Greater Depth: Deeper treatment of the same subject. At home, children can be extended as far as you and they wish in chosen areas by using the family’s books, the library, community groups and clubs and the Internet.

Delight-led learning Home education offers the opportunity for in-depth study to a very high level. With good libraries and the Internet, young people can get themselves to a very high level of education by pursuing their interests passionately at home.

Computerised Instruction The child moves through a computerised course at their own pace. This can be done in home education - subject to the parent’s budget. There are many such programs available - the most difficult thing is choosing one. If you want to pursue this course, shop around, talk to other parents for recommendations and wherever possible, try before you buy. Beware of expensive programs - they may not be what they are cracked up to be and cheap mistakes are easier to walk away from than expensive ones.

Thematic Teaching All or most subjects are integrated in a common theme. Home education is ideally suited to thematic teaching and learning. EXAMPLE : CHRISTMAS THEME : A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE MATHS : A Partridge in a Pear Tree - how much would it cost to give all the gifts in the song today? MATHS : 3D Shape construction - Rainer’s star LANGUAGES : Christmas carols and Christmas greetings from many lands TEXTILES : 12 Days of Christmas quilt HOME EC Christmas cakes, Gingerbread house, Christmas hampers ART/ SOCIAL SERVICE Nativity windows