Homeschooling Freedom
Leo has always been different than other kids. Even at a young age, we just knew there was something about him. He was more intense, more spirited, more energetic, more demanding, just more than any of his peers. His thought process has always been unique. He was born a creator. He has an insatiable curiosity for the world. He reads books like he breathes air, as if he needs them for survival.
I knew he was gifted long before I uttered the word aloud. As an educator, I knew in my gut that the traditional one-size-fits-all education would not work for my atypical child. Still, I didn’t do anything about it until after the evaluation, when his giftedness was confirmed. Once those testing results came in, our world changed. Our gut feelings had been spot-on: we had an outlier among outliers.
Knowing that my son was gifted made me brave. It gave me courage to make choices that felt extreme and yet entirely appropriate. These choices set my son free.
This book changed the way I think about education.
Now, instead of sitting in a first grade classroom doing first grade work all day, he is free to work well above grade level and dabble in any and all subjects of interest to him. If he wants to learn about sharks on Monday, galaxies on Tuesday, create abstract art on Wednesday, build forts on Thursday, and visit a museum on Friday, he can. It’s okay. He no longer climbs into my car at the end of the school day with a grim look on his face, asking if he needs to go to school the following day. Instead, he is happy. His love of learning has been restored, and for that I’m am thankful.
Giftedness matters, and it matters a lot. This post is part of the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum September 2014 Blog Hop and the iHomeschool Network August 2015 link-up. Please click the images below to read more!
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School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence.
~ H.L. Mencken
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Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley
Cait is a school psychologist, mom to three amazing children, and an unexpected homeschooler. She loves nature, good books, board games, strong coffee, and dancing in her kitchen. You can read about all of these things and more at My Little Poppies.
Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Raising Poppies, a community for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.
Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool and GeekMom. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, and Scary Mommy. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram
and G+.
Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Raising Poppies, a community for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.
Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool and GeekMom. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, and Scary Mommy. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram
and G+.
Latest posts by Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley (see all)
- Delightfully Fun Math Books for Children - June 26, 2017
- Poolside Professional Development 2017 - June 22, 2017
- Simple Summer Learning with ‘100 Backyard Activities’ - June 19, 2017
Confirmation of gut feelings is crucial to confidently parenting gifted children. Thank you for sharing your story with the world. Best,
Jade
Thank you, Jade.
Yay for homeschooling!
Or, as my youngest would say, “Yay-hay!”
This. Just, This. Yes. “Knowing that my son was gifted made me brave. It gave me courage to make choices that felt extreme and yet entirely appropriate. These choices set my son free.”
Thank you for reading!
I have loved reading your blog since I found it through GHF, but I especially love this post. This is exactly why we are homeschooling - something I never imagined I would do. It has been so freeing for my son, for exactly these reasons. (And that is one of his favorite books, too! 🙂 ) Thanks for this post!
The book is amazing, isn’t it? Thank you for reading, Stacey!
Freedom to learn and to nurture their love for learning! That is what school is supposed to be about and sadly traditional schools don’t nurture kid’s love for learning, but homeschooling does! Homeschooling and gifted children just naturally go together, and your son is one lucky little man! Thank you for showing us how giftedness matters!
Thank you, Celi!
Freedom to learn at their own pace at their own level and to their desired breadth and depth is the great beauty of homeschooling and having giftedness confirmed can strengthen the confidence that it is a suitable choice
So true! Thanks for reading 🙂
I am so glad that we can homeschool also, for many of the reasons you mentioned. It’s so mind-blowing what our kiddos can learn when we allow them the right environment. Love your blog! <3
It IS mind-blowing. Thank you so much for reading, Nicole!
Thank you so much for your blog- I found it through the blog hop. I can really identify with your situation. I am also a mom of three who just this year started homeschooling my oldest, who is six. My situation is complicated by the fact that I just removed my son from the same district where I work as a School Psychologist. I look forward to following your blog as you navigate this journey as well. Best of luck to you!
Wow, Tara- we have a lot in common! I can only imagine how much more complicated our situation would have been, had I been employed by the school. Best of luck to you and your son on this journey. Please keep me posted!
Oh I love this story! It reminds me of what we went through with our youngest son that lead us to pulling him out of public school and homeschooling him at the age of 6. Such a difference it made for us and especially for him. We have never looked back. Three cheers for homeschooling!
Thanks for reading and sharing your experience, Camie! I am so jealous of your travels. What an amazing experience for your little ones. Plus, the ice cream guy? Love it!