Wow! I've just realised ALL my kids are academically gifted!

[DadAtLarge]

I've made numerous posts over the years about DS and his aptitude for maths ...starting with my original post as a confused parent requesting assistance because he was bored in school ...and continuing to my more informed posts in the last couple of years speaking as a (now) governor and authority on the G&T programme.

We were delighted with the school's (eventual) response in getting him a secondary teacher once a week for a maths lesson (from the end of Y2) ...and all the other effort they put in to cater for him. The school couldn't have done more. But we decided that best efforts ain't good enough.

Earlier this year we took all three children out of school permanently. There are various terms for it - home schooling, home education, dossing about....

I feel that what we do is more dossing about than anything else. :)

And voila! I find that my other two are gifted as well! The only reason I can think of that this didn't show earlier is because the first one spent more individual time with DW and me while the others had to share our time. Since taking the HE decision we've been able to spend more quality time with #2 and #3 ... and we discover they're just as or even more gifted than #1.

Yikes! I'm kicking myself now that we ever sent them to school.

A common theme in my posts over the last year has been that schools fail all gifted children. My apologies. They don't just fail them. Schools fail them in a monumental way. I know, I know, not all of you subscribe to that view and you believe that a single teacher catering for 30 kids of widely differing abilities, different social backgrounds, different needs, different level of parental support etc., can do justice to your DC. Good luck to you if you do. But ...

If you have the option to HE I urge you to investigate it. It's not as difficult as you may think, you don't need to be an expert in any subject, you don't need to have any teaching experience. From what I've seen of HE children, they are better behaved, more social (yes!) and friendly and they achieve GCSE results on par with or better than their school counterparts. If you're the type who loves having the kids around - rather than the type who can't wait for summer holidays to end - you'll walk around with a big grin on your face all day long.

I do. :)

Are you American?

my life and that of my children is ruined

why didnt i read this 11 years ago

A little word of warning-being gifted and talented /HE may not have any meaning or be such a blessing as an adult.

Excellent.

Good for you.

'Are you American?'

That was my first thought too!
Good luck OP, my DD is G&T and it is a challenge with some unexpected pitfalls. May your children stay balanced and this side of sane.
It is wonderful to watch a child fly beyond your comprehension though.

I've seen your threads about your ds dadatlarge - good to see that you've found a situation that you're happy with. Hope it works out for you. (you may well get flamed for that thread title though!)

Super.

Oh well, yet another way in which I'm failing my children. I've pretty much lost count by now, strange that I don't feel all that guilty.

I would love to HE 2 of my 3 my children.

But they won't have any of it! They prefer to go to school and doss around.....

So, given that them being happy counts for an awful lot, I put up with it.

OP - glad it's all working out for you.

I'm very happy for you, DadAtLarge

Me too, but now I Really Need To Know if you are American or not.
It's gonna bug me all day.

I'm the type that would be rocking in the corner mainlining gin if I had to spend 24/7 with my children. This is no reflection on them, and tells you enough about me.

Yikes indeed.

Ha ha ha ha ha!!

Excellent post. I have a big grin on my face now too!

(No offence to other HE'ers BTW)

'Are you American?'

how long does the G&T label last for? do you get to use it at job interviews? chat-up lines in the pub? what about getting into nightclubs? do bouncers allow you to queue jump if you say you were G&T at age 7?

Don't Americans say "Home-School"?

All mine are gifted,children,cat,fish...my dcs were diagnosed G&T as an embryo. I was failed from the Ante Natal clinic all the way through.

I'm glad that my parents didn't take your view. I loved school-so did my DCs-it is about so much more than the actual lessons. I am surprised that you can keep up with the needs of 3 gifted DCs of different ages, aptitudes and needs. I would come back in 12 months and tell us how it is going.

Gosh, I'm neither the type who likes having the kids (kid, actually) around ALL the time nor the type who can't wait for the summer holidays to end (dreading it in fact). Once again I fail to fall into someone else's crudely drawn and self-serving stereotypes. It's SO UNFAIR.

Also I have no idea if DD is G&T or not (probably not) as the school don't tell parents - apparently it makes parents quite insufferable when they're told. Who knew?

Nothing to inspire a G&T kid - or any other, for that matter, than two parents at home focusing all their energies on their children rather than leading by example by getting out there and engaging with the world in all its facets.

I think I was G&T all through primary school (though we didn't have the label then, but BIG things were expected of me). Sadly, it all evaporated in a cloud of pubescent hormones, and I have been bog standard ever since.

Peaked in infants. A warning lesson to us all.

I feel your pain crazynanna. I got pregnant the first time of trying because of a superior sperm/egg combo but the AN clinic/HVs etc refused to provide foetal enrichment activities. We decided to HI. (Home incubate).