Jen, I'm sorry. I cannot believe that a child could be so mean and repeatedly. I hope the new seat assignments will put a stop to it and the child won't target her anymore.

Okay, I have to admit that I only read through page 3 of this thread, so maybe my question has already been answered. If so, please direct me to the right place.

I have considered homeschooling but my husband is opposed to it because my son (6 1/2) and I tend to butt heads quite a bit and I really do need some time on my own to accomplish my work (you know, housework, paying bills, etc) and also just for myself. Have any of you dealt with this? How do you do it? I just can't see myself with my son 24/7. My husband's work schedule is not at all flexible, so it would all fall on my shoulders. Speaking of which, I have physical problems and have to exercise regularly (water aerobics) and to to physical therapy twice a week. I just don't know how I'd do it all and stay sane.

If we did it, we would probably start with an "unschooling" approach, just doing things that really interest him, like Roman and Greek Numerals and Acids and Chemistry.

Any thoughts on staying sane, educating a kiddo, and getting your own work and private time fit into a day?

Childcare is a necessary component of home schooling for me. I'm an introvert who needs time alone for my sanity, and if I don't get it, I'm a wreck. Once you decide to HS, but before you actually start, find at least one college student or HSing teen--and two or more are better to have available in case one has a difficult schedule one quarter or someone gets sick.

Also investigate childcare options at places like the YMCA. My YMCA offers 2 hours of free childcare every day, and while you have to stay in the building, you don't necessarily have to be exercising to use it. (Though they do usually offer water aerobics classes, if those work for your condition.) Bring your bills and pay them while he's at the Y. I also like it because there are other kids around then, so it's social time for them while I get some time alone. That helps a lot!

I'm assuming your son is GT right? If not, what I say next may not apply in your situation. But if so...As for the butting heads, often when a child isn't bored all day in a classroom, behavior improves. So if the difficulties arose since your DS6 started school, HSing could solve those problems.

However, if the two of you have always had trouble getting along, HSing might be a challenge for you. To be honest, I worry a bit about HSing my second child (who is 3.5yo) because he's not as logical and easygoing as my first child, whose personality is very similar to mine. DS6 is easy for me to communicate with, while DS3 is not so easy. I, too, worry that my teaching DS3 would not be easy on either of us. For now he's in preschool, and he will be next year, too. The following year I'll probably send him to a half-day, nonacademic K class, barring changes to the plan. But what we do for 1st grade is anyone's guess. We're going to take things as they come.

Oh, and be prepared right now for the house to be less clean than you're used to. You can make cleaning up part of your homeschooling day--schools do, so we do, too! But there's just always a lot of stuff that's out and a lot less time to do housework. If you're really not okay with that, then HSing will be a problem for you, I think. Some people just need a spotless house, and HSing is not conducive to a spotless house.

Fortunately or not, I'm not one of those people for whom spotlessness is required...You can tell by looking at my not-spotless house!

Thanks, Kriston, he is GT and his behavior has gotten worse with full time first grade. He is not challenged at school, although his teacher and I disagree about that. The childcare is a wonderful idea. I didn't even think about that. My house-cleaning leaves a lot to be desired anyway.

LOL! I hear you!

The main reason we're HSing this year is because DS6's behavior was awful in 1st grade, and he had always been the most rule-oriented kid you'd ever want to meet for the entire rest of his life before that. But once 1st grade started, he was angry, frustrated and nasty to be around. Being bored stiff for 7+ straight hours will do that to a kid! It's disrespectful to him, really. Treat someone like they're dumber than they are, and they get annoyed, you know? Even/especially kids!

The very day we took DS6 out of school, his behavior improved. He has his bad days, of course, but overall, he's back to his sunny happy self, and went back to it surprisingly fast. The longer the child is bored, the longer it takes to get back to good behavior, from what I understand.

Never underestimate the power of childcare for preserving your sanity!

There is always Flylady.net for the housekeeping woes - YMMV, but I learned a lot about routines, and 'progress not perfection' at that site.

Amazing what the switch from half-time to full time will reveal! Squirt - I hope the homeschooling goes well - it seems to work great for many, but terrible for a few. I think that making the attempt is the most important thing.

BTW - I think that the early elementary years are the hardest. Once the child is older, then become better able to handle difficult situation altogether (well I can't speak for puberty, but latency is wonderful!) But I do think that school has the greatest gap for HG and PG young ones in those early el years. I mean, in 4th grade DS's class spent 6 weeks on perimeter - wow! Now in Middle School they expect the children to develop abstract thought. By age 12 there will often be the possibility of Commuinity College classes. So if you can keep him engaged and learning how to learn for a few more years more options may open up.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Yes, we're hoping to HS until maybe middle school and then get him into the local nationally-ranked middle school or the local GT school.

Either way, it seems to be elementary school that's the big problem.

My experience is that around age 11 the hormones kick in and kids are more motivated to have friends at school, and more able to handle that type of interaction. This is a huge generalization totally based on my own experience, but I think that we are somewhat programed to have an early need to explore how the world works up until puberty, and then we are somewhat programed to explore the worlds of other people for the next 10 years, so that if academic challenge isn't part of the regular diet by the tween years, it becomes difficult to introduce at that time. I saw the 'gates' of my son's academic interest start to close around late 9, which prompted me to take drastic action, but I feel he would have been much better off with an early enterance or earlier skip.

Now he loves the academic challenge, and I can see that spark of learning back in his eyes, but 'in theory' at least, he wishes he was going back to his old school with his old grade to be with his old friends. To some degree I think that this is a 'grass is always greener' problem, but I think that there is more to it than that. He is very outgoing, so if it wasn't for the Gifted Issue, he would be in full swing peer-oriented tweenagerhood, for sure. For some kids the pull of hormones and the call of peers isn't noticible until age 16 or college age, but I think the idea is the same.

Not that we want to throw out the old ideas of developmental norms only to create new 'half-baked' ones! I'm just speculating! There are probably 27 typical patterns for development for gifted kids - and I'm only talking about one of them. Shall I hit the delete button? Shall I trust you to toss my words if they make you feel bad? Ok, I won't hit delete, but only if you promise to do it yourself if you are seeing one of the other 26 patterns - ok?

Giggles,
Grinity

I can't speak for everyone, of course, but I promise!

Glad you didn't hit delete. I always love it when you theorize, Grin!