Home Options Curriculum materials Your own reference books Learning from real life & learning real life skills Internet – research and online courses Play – board games etc and imaginative play Experiments Conversation Natural learning Tutors Open Learning Reading Documentaries And so on…

Community Options Library Clubs & Interest groups Sports Tutors & Mentors Classes Public lectures Gifted holiday programs Museums/Exhibitions/Field trips Home Ed Group Activities Community work – interacting with the community And so on…

Further Afield Excursions Camps Gifted programs in other towns/states Field trips Early entry to TAFE and university Exchange student programs Traveling And so on…

Post-it notes can be used to fill in the Pyramid Back to our Pyramid model… For Home Education At Home Community Further Afield Flexible Pace Technology Touch-typing English Essay writing and research skills Maths Pi in the Sky LOTE Latin with VSL On an A3 pyramid sheet you will fit on lots of notes. You can change your plan often without having to redraw the lot. A photocopy record can be kept at each stage if desired. Notes can be ripped off and added as required. Science Cosmology with GERRIC Music Guitar lessons Phys Ed Netball team SOSE Environmental group

Advantages of Home Education Home education is, by its very nature, suited to individual programming and to delight-led learning. Whether you choose a school-at-home approach or pursue natural learning or anything in between, your children’s love of learning will be valued and encouraged and they will be able to pursue their passionate interests and read to their heart’s content. Reading for pleasure should not be thought of as a time waster.

Cross-age Learning Cross-age learning can occur very naturally in home education between siblings, in homeschool groups, and between children and adults

EXAMPLE : CHRISTIAN’S TEDDY DRAGONS Creativity and freedom of expression Tedling hatchingTedlings learn statistics by osmosis

Creativity and freedom of expression Hours of imaginative play encourage creativity, develop imagination and provide a wealth of material for story-writing.

Home educated gifted students revel in the conversations home education makes possible. They also have time left over for as much thinking and daydreaming as they wish. This is very important to any child but gifted children are more likely to be introverted than extroverted and will therefore thrive on the opportunity for reflective thought. The Gift of Time

Reduced Emphasis on Producing Work Due to the one-on-one nature of home education, parents are aware of where they are up to without requiring written evidence. Often gifted children plan huge pieces of work which they don’t finish. Many start more things than they can complete but will finish more and more projects as they get older. Sometimes they don’t finish things because the task they have set themselves is far too big. On other occasions they stop before they finish a project because they have learnt all they wish to learn about it for now. In home education children don’t have to produce something on paper in order to demonstrate that learning has happened.

Handwriting can sometimes be an issue for gifted students as their hand struggles to keep up with their brain. Handwriting Alternatives Use computers Use tape recorders Make a model/visual representation Dictate to a parent or older sibling A passion for story-telling is therefore not limited by the struggle to control a pen and the fact that the pen goes so much slower than the story happening inside their mind.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R. S - SUBSTITUTE (a person, place, time, situation) C - COMBINE (bring together assorted ideas and situations) A - ADAPT (or adjust to suit a purpose) M - MODIFY P - PUT TO OTHER USES E - ELIMINATE A FEATURE OF THE STORY R - REARRANGE OR REVERSE THE SEQUENCE OF THE STORY

Finding Resources Complete courses Libraries TAFE, Community House etc. Courses OLA Open University Internet courses Gather collection from book shops, Op shops, garage sales, fetes, etc. Write own units Home schooling expos Otherways and similar publications

Some of Jo’s favourite resources…

Utilising the Internet Research On-line courses Contact with peers of all ages & friends around the world Contact with tutors & mentors Participation in projects Support groups