This morning I read the story of a young homeschooler named Julia Nepper who is working on two Associates degrees at 14. Prodigy or not (she doesn’t like that word), her capabilities clearly outpaced the traditional school schedule. Neither the junior high school nor the high school that she went to for one semester each would promote her due to ability so she continued homeschooling and landed in college at 11 years old.
“The atmosphere was too much of babysitting people’s problems,” her father said. “Here, it’s quiet, the institution is excellent and the students are focused.”
While my kids haven’t shown this level of acceleration, from as young as Kindergarten, I could see that traditional schooling ate up a great deal precious time. While public school is probably appropriately paced for the majority of students, there is still a large population for whom it moves too fast, or too slow. For most, that pace varies from year to year. For example, the first year we homeschooled, my daughter completed two grades. The second year, she completed a half grade. She has slowed down and sped up each year according to what she was studying and her interests in the subjects. At this point she is on average one grade ahead, and more in specific areas.
I think the lightbulb fully came on for me the summer after my daughter was in Kindergarten. She had not learned how to read. With the purchase of a $100.00 online program called Headsprout, and an hour a day during the summer she was up to speed when she started first grade. So my question was, was all the time she spend in school a waste her precious time?
I figured out that if we took on the job of homeschooling our kids, we were giving them back the gift of time. They save time each day that is not spent waiting for the class to come to order, or waiting in line to go to the bathroom or have lunch. (The average homeschool day is four hours shorter than a public school day, especially if you include transportation.) We could also save them time in years. For example, many homeschoolers complete middle school in two years, and in some cases, one year. Julie Nepper, for example, (mentioned above) sped right through middle and high school. This is not uncommon in homeschooling circles.
This has got to be my favorite thing about homeschooling. Whether the child is highly gifted, somewhat gifted, or even moderately gifted, they are able to work at a pace that is optimum for them, and frees up their time for other interests and more in depth study.
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?