Comments: Genius Denied

Lots of interesting/thought provoking things have been said in the last few posts, so I thought instead of doing individual comments I'd try to pull my thoughts together. (I did say try :-))

Re Sharon's post on Genius Denied, my initial thoughts are that one of the huge advantages of home education is that it can be personalised for each child. In any family there will be children who excel at some things more than others.  Teaching at most schools is going to be aimed at the "average" child, and although there are programmes aimed at helping those who need extra help, that can never be the same as a curriculum which is chosen with that child specifically in mind.

No one knows as much about their child as a mother does (esp talking about infants here), and I am thankful that I am able to make the decisions as to what they study and when.

I also have to decide (much wisdom needed!) when they genuinely need a break from learning a topic to give them time to mature an absorb what they have learned; or conversely, when they need to be encouraged to overcome natural reluctance (or laziness!)

Some of my children would have really struggled with being in an "average" class; others would have fitted in ok. But at home, nothing is average. It doesn't matter too much if you are "behind" or "ahead". And any intervention needed to help a child (either an under or over achiever) can be made much sooner than would happen even in a caring school environment.

That all sounds very efficient and professional, grin, but there are times when it goes wrong. I have had once to move a child back three years in Maths (though she quickly caught up) because although she seemed to understand the concepts, she was using only her short term memory, quickly filling in answers (correctly) and then completely forgetting what she'd learned.

I've also had the children who are tempted to copy the answers out of the back of the book, so I think they are progressing well, and it's only a chance question that reveals they know nothing at all about what they appear to have learned (I've gotten wiser now, I remove the answers from the younger children's Maths books. . . !)

(Random photo of three little boys coming back from an art session at the library)

Edited to add that I have found with one child in particular, giving him more and harder work has made him work more and harder; prior to that he was bored and could be disruptive.  An idle mind is as dangerous as idle hands.