Homeschooling an Einstein
By Mimi Rothschild
Homeschooling allows parents to afford a personalized education for their highly gifted child. Often, gifted children are stuck in classroom situations that do not provide adequate educational challenges. Frequently children in such situations become bored and lose motivation, even developing behavioral problems due to the lack of cognitive stimulation. This is even true in schools that offer mentally gifted programs.
Homeschool parents are able to offer their children the benefit of an education that is tailored to their needs, personalities, and interests. If a parent discovers one of their children is a math wiz, she can create a curriculum that allows him or her to explore math on a higher, in-depth level. Likewise, if a parent discovers their homeschool son or daughter has the makings of a great scientist, they can encourage his or her interest by providing resources, materials, and lessons geared to both her intellectual level and interests.
As an adult, you know just how frustrating it can be to work at something you find utterly boring all day long. If you’ve performed the task numerous times, only to have to repeat it again and again, you may grow to hate it. With the right resources and a dedicated homeschool parent, the highly gifted homeschool student never has to know such frustration. Instead, he or she can breeze past topics that are too easy, diving headfirst into subjects of interest.
Often, those unfamiliar with homeschooling question how parents can provide education in higher-level subjects without any real expertise. What they don’t know is that dedicated homeschool parents don’t just sit around waiting for resources to fall into their laps. Instead, homeschool parents take an active approach to finding help with more difficult subjects. Help with homeschool lessons and materials can be found on the Internet, at public libraries, and in the community. In fact, many homeschool parents seek out the help of others in teaching certain higher-level subjects. After all, why teach aeronautics by yourself, when you can hire someone in that field to provide help?
Homeschool parents act as facilitators. While they do teach many of the subjects necessary for homeschooling, they also enroll their homeschool children in classes, buy special books and tapes, and enlist the help of college students and experts in tackling more difficult subjects. With a little planning and creativity, these parents are able to give their homeschool students a superior education at home.
If you believe you’re raising a budding Einstein, you should consider homeschooling. When you homeschool, the world can be your classroom and there are virtually no limits to what your children can learn. Homeschooling highly gifted children may not be easy, but most parents will agree that it’s well worth the effort.
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