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Deborah Wuehler and family

One of our children struggled over the years; especially with schoolwork. She learned differently, she perceived things differently, she was easily bored, highly distracted, or in complete concentration. All her senses were on overdrive and all at one time. I thought she had some sort of learning disorder until I found some good information that really fit her--she didn't have a disorder, she just ordered things differently and was actually gifted! 

The first website I found was here, and then I found Maggie Hogan who wrote about homeschooling gifted children. You can see Maggie's gifted resources and other products here. Below is a great article Maggie wrote for TOS which explains how you can tell if you have a gifted child: Guiding Your Gifted Child

When I was growing up and in the "gifted" program at school, it meant that I got to be a teacher's aide for the younger grades, or be in a school play, or just hang out with other "gifted" kids. Nothing challenging--just different. Not just the gifted, but every child deserves a better education. Today, there are many resources for teaching gifted children. Here is a list of resources related to homeschooling the gifted child:

TOS Product Reviews:  

A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children

Gifted Child Today

Gifted Children at Home: A Practical Guide for Homeschooling Families

From our blog: 

American Mensa

HSLDA radio broadcasts: 

Homeschooling the gifted child

HSLDA website resource list: 

Gifted Learners

Finally, if you do a google search for "homeschooling the gifted child" you will find a vast array of resources and websites.

Whatever the needs of your child, they are ALL made uniquely by the hand of God to be used by Him, and for His purposes. God can use these particularly intelligent children to become the movers and shakers of the next generation, and maybe even orators for the Kingdom of God.

Each one is God's "poema," his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. God desires to use all of our children and their special needs and gifts for His Glory! In fact, in light of that thought, every child is a gifted child, and their education should be a gift as well! Give them the gift of keeping them Home Where They Belong.

~Deborah

TOS Senior Editor

SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com  

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Director of Marketing

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Diana Waring

Relational Homeschooling

www.DianaWaring.com

Diana is taking a break this week, but you can visit her website at www.DianaWaring.com and learn more about Diana and her wonderful work.

And as Diana would say, "Stay relational!" 

Raising Real Men

www.RaisingRealMen.com  

Hal & Melanie Young

Hang on to your hats--this is a topic we have a lot of opinions on. Both of us were labeled gifted as children and in fact, Melanie graduated in the first class of the first state-supported residential high school for gifted students. We've had children who fall in this spectrum, too. Here are our thoughts:

This isn't a contest. "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (2 Corinthians 10:17). It's heady stuff thinking you have a special gift, and even headier thinking your child does. Always remember, all gifts come from God and not because we deserve them. It's important to remember and teach our children that and focus on the responsibility a gift brings, not the glory.

Discipleship is critical. It would be heartbreaking to have a gifted, talented child use that gift against the Lord we love so much. Don't let your anything come between you and bringing "them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)

Diversification is usually better than acceleration. Melanie went to school with kids who'd been accelerated way beyond their peers and graduated years early. You could hardly set a child up for social and emotional disaster more thoroughly. There is a lot of growing up that happens in the teen years and sometimes it's more dependent on your hormones than your intellect! That made us wary of aiming to end our schooling more quickly than others. Also, we just cherished those years our children spent in our home. Why be in a rush and miss those opportunities to disciple?

Instead of forging ahead, we broadened out. We tried: seeking out original sources and more reading in an area, adding different subjects, taking up writing, starting a business, starting new activities, and more. There's a huge world out there to explore, you don't have to rush to the next textbook.

In high school, do advanced work, but keep homeschooling. You can manage that several ways: AP courses, online courses, CLEP test preparation, and dual enrollment. We would caution you when considering  dual enrollment to look at each child's readiness to deal with the peer environment, possibly hostile professors,  and managing their own work. We used AP classes as a flexible option that allowed challenging work and brought college credit.

Homeschooling works for gifted students. We've found college scholarship committees love advanced work in high school coupled with the very broad interests and activities we've pursued, too. We love seeing our adult children walking in truth and are thankful for those years at home. Don't let anyone tell you someone else can do a better job with your children. They were given to you, Moms and Dads, and God will equip you with all you need. Smart kids need the same things any child does--parents who love them enough to teach them about God and help them prepare for life.

Hal & Melanie

For more about this, get our workshops: "Homeschooling High School & Transcripts" and "Aiming for College."  If you'd rather think about the holidays this week, like us, download our practical, Christ-centered unit study for the entire family, We Gather Together.

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