Have you thought about homeschooling your gifted daughter? Here are 100 reasons I thought of to homeschool your gifted daughter.
1. Time to develop a better one-on-one relationship with your complicated, gifted daughter
2. Girls are often discouraged from displaying their intelligence in school settings
3. Being a second teacher to the other kids in the class isn’t fair to your gifted daughter
4. Asynchronous development means your daughter will often feel out of place in the classroom
5. Developing a personalized curriculum that suits her learning style
6. The opportunity to explore beginning her own business that suits her giftedness
7. Time
8. Skipping a grade in traditional school is often problematic socially
9. Your gifted daughter will learn more about managing her own life by less structured time
10. Giving your gifted daughter options she will never have in a traditional school setting
11. No one will invest in your precocious child’s interpersonal needs the way you will
12. Mean girls
13. Meeting the needs of your gifted daughter may be seen as unfair special privileges by some schools
14. Teachers are stretched too thin to truly meet your gifted daughter’s academic needs
15. Traditional classroom settings are not conducive to gifted girls who love to ask “why” questions all the time
16. The freedom to allow your gifted daughter to indulge in hours and hours of reading what interests her
17. Drill and kill
18. You get the best hours of the day with your gifted daughter instead of scraps leftover from school, transport, and homework
19. You can teach your introverted gifted daughter how to succeed in an extroverted world
20. Teachers will assume your “smart” child will do just fine and doesn’t need any special help
21. Creative play requires lots of time
22. Your emotionally intense gifted daughter can better control her environmental triggers at home
23. Spending time with your gifted daughter is fun
24. The track record of many parents of gifted daughters pulling their children out of school and succeeding with homeschooling
25. Asynchrony and how our gifted daughters are such complex creatures
26. Teachers are stretched too thin to truly meet your gifted daughter’s social needs
27. Learning together over a picnic lunch
28. Because in all likelihood your gifted daughter will love homeschooling
29. Gifted girls like to ask questions and the traditional classroom doesn’t have time for questions
30. Time to learn practical skills at home
31. Extroverted gifted girls can benefit from time to develop their strength
32. Gifted girls spend a lot of downtime in a traditional classroom, waiting for the other students to finish
33. Online classes in topics she finds fascinating that aren’t offered locally
34. No evening homework battles, tears and lost sleep
35. Your daughter will not be “tracked” away from traditionally male studies, but can study whatever she chooses
36. The lunchroom
37. Less pressure for everything commercial
38. Delaying pressure to be boy crazy
39. You can help your gifted daughter understand and overcome her perfectionism
40. Your gifted daughter’s excitabilities will not cause social issues for her
41. You can be an example of how learning can be exciting
42. Your gifted daughter’s school may “meet her needs” by giving her more busy work rather than challenging work that pushes her to learn in individually appropriate ways
43. Starting learning at the time that works for your family
44. The freedom to make her own clothing choices without peer pressure
45. Imparting your family’s beliefs and values in a natural way throughout the day
46. The school bus
47. The ability to work at a job during the day and earn money
48. At home she has the freedom to be herself and not labeled because she is different
50. Your gifted daughter who is reading by age 3 or 4 will be profoundly bored in kindergarten
51. Excessive standardized testing that doesn’t recognize your gifted daughter’s unique gifts and skills
52. Craft foam, chenille stems and endless crafts all afternoon
53. Gifted girls rarely fit into a one-size-fits-all classroom
54. A twice-exceptional gifted daughter is going to find a traditional classroom very frustrating as it will be too easy and too difficult at the same time
55. You are the best advocate your gifted daughter will ever have because you love her more than anyone else
56. Cliques
57. Your gifted daughter may find a busy traditional classroom setting overwhelming and/or overstimulating
58. Flexible recess times when they are needed, for as long as they are needed
59. Avoiding the pressure toward too early sexualization of girls
60. Rather than spending every waking hour in school and on homework, your daughter can meet her academic requirements and pursue her individual passions
61. Being trapped in a building all day on a rigid schedule isn’t anyone’s idea of fun
62. Your gifted daughter’s value is far more than a test score
63. Gifted daughters can create ways to integrate topics such as Minecraft and history timelines
64. Pull-out options in a traditional school are not going to truly meet a gifted daughter’s academic needs
65. You will empower your gifted daughter to take control of her own learning and education
66. Traditional classrooms are oriented toward the middle of the learning curve and those at the top are generally neglected
67. More time for dress up, stuffed animals, and dolls
68. The power of quiet contemplation
69. Your highly distractible gifted daughter will flounder in a traditional classroom setting
70. At home your daughter doesn’t have to hide that she loves playing Minecraft
71. No pressure to perform in front of others
72. Locker rooms
73. Excessively stressful academic competition that destroys the love of learning
74. Your gifted daughter will hate and resent the meaningless homework she brings home from school
75. Gifted girls face their own mental health risks starting early in life
76. Teaching to the test in the traditional classroom will rarely (if ever) meet the academic needs of a gifted daughter
77. Cafeteria food
78. Some classroom teachers resent the presence of a gifted girl in the classroom as it creates more work and paperwork for them
79. Getting lost in a novel all day
80. You will be able to adjust the curriculum for your 2e daughter with dysgraphia to accommodate her learning difference
81. Favorite toys – all day
82. Traditional classroom teachers have no training in gifted education and do not have time to educate themselves to serve your child
83. Repeating field trips that interest your gifted daughter as often as you would like
84. Gifted daughters can pursue their academic passions when they are ready
85. Traditional education is not set up to promote individual talent
86. The best use of your gifted daughter’s life energy and skills is not to spend literally days worth of school time listening to other children read aloud from watered down and politically correct textbooks
87. No more morning rush to get your gifted daughter to school on time
88. Your introverted gifted daughter will get much needed time alone to decompress and think her own thoughts
90. Adapting to the unique sleep needs gifted daughters often have
91. Time to explore crafts and hobbies that interest her
92. Being able to spend time with a wide variety of people and ages each day instead of one group of children all the same age
93. Common Core
94. The freedom to be as geeky as she wants without fearing what others will think
95. No gym class embarrassment for your gifted daughter who is not athletically inclined at all
96. No worries about sick days
97. Spontaneous trips out for ice cream sundaes
98. Because other gifted daughters love it and share their enthusiasm for it with others
99. Because you can
100. Because you want to
101. Because you know in your heart of hearts it is the best thing for your gifted daughter
Multipotentiality, Niche Blogs, and Real Life
YES to all of the above. We are not currently homeschooling (and we have two boys with GIEPs, not girls), but have been thinking about jumping in to it next year for all of the reasons you’ve cited. (The list works for boys, too! 🙂 ) These points struck me because your negatives are the VERY THINGS other parents claim our kids “must experience” in order to fully understand the real world. Navigating the jerks in the lunch room, engaging in peer pressures, ogling and chasing girls, hearing gross language on the bus, etc. – somehow these are highly encouraged and expected facets of a young person’s education. How did this happen and why do reasonable people buy into it?
I love this! What a sweet post, Sallie. Thank you for including us.