Finding the most suitable methods, curricula, and teaching resources can be a little confusing for any homeschooler, but throw in a gifted or highly talented child and the homeschooling parent’s patience and know-how can be sorely tested. Although there are many more resources available to gifted homeschoolers today, parents of these children may still require help in finding a good place to start researching their options. Here are some valuable resources that offer parents additional information when it comes to homeschooling gifted and talented children.

Articles:

Gifted and Learning Disabled: A Homeschool Perspective
This article focuses on a situation that is increasingly common in the homeschooling community: a child who is gifted in some areas with learning difficulties in others. Varying degrees of asynchronous development are common with gifted children, and this article includes ideas on teaching and adapting curricula to fit the needs of the child.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/4336/ldgift.html

Helping Your Highly Gifted Child
This article deals with areas of concern and provides practical suggestions based on the experience of other parents and the sometimes limited research available.
http://www.dirhody.com/discanner/highly.html

How Do I Homeschool My Gifted Child?
Parents can learn how to choose the right method of teaching to fit their gifted child’s learning style, and how to find materials and resources.
http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/articles/howtohomeschool.html

Homeschooling with Profoundly Gifted Kids
This article is a book excerpt from High IQ Kids, by Kathryn Finn, showing how home-based education can grow, expand, and accelerate to meet the needs of gifted learners. It also addresses the challenges and joys of teaching a gifted child.
http://www.homeeducator.com/FamilyTimes/articles/81-4.html

When School Fails, Is Homeschooling Right for You?
Here’s an article that focuses on the lack of resources for gifted children in public schools and why homeschooling best suits these children’s needs
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/schools_fail.htm

Services:

Prufrock Press
One of the nation’s leading resources for gifted and advanced learners. Offers articles and other resources, including curricula, textbooks, and more.
http://www.prufrock.com/

Moving Beyond the Page
A comprehensive research-based curriculum, this service is designed to challenge and stimulate gifted and creative homeschoolers.
http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/?gclid=CKjfkeW1rI8CFQtFgQodLzrE8w

Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted
Open to anyone interested in the support of highly gifted children, they are especially supportive of homeschooling families. Membership includes the Newsletter and access to resources and networking services with other families of highly gifted children, professionals, schools, and organizations having expertise with these children.
http://www.hollingworth.org/

The Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY)
Dedicated to developing computer-based multimedia courses in Mathematics, Physics, English, and other subjects to gifted students, their goal is to present gifted students with the opportunity to take courses suitable to their ability. http://epgy.stanford.edu/index.html

Books:

Homeschooling Your Gifted Child: Language Arts for the Middle School Years
Lee Wherry Brainerd, Wendy Moss
This book is full of ideas for teaching gifted kids at home. It includes information for determining whether and how a child is gifted.

Creative Home Schooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families
Lisa Rivero
Parents can find helpful hints for homeschooling gifted children in this book. It includes an entire section entitled ‘At Home With Gifted Children’ and addresses areas not usually covered in homeschooling books, such as asynchronous development, perfectionism, and learning for self-actualization.

Parent’s Guide to IQ Testing and Gifted Education
David Palmer
As a reference for parents in an easy-to-understand language, this book gives those with little or no background in IQ testing and gifted education a close look at how the system of screening, testing, and programming works.

Additional Links:

Is it a Cheetah?
This thought-provoking article uses a great analogy to help get you thinking about how to identify gifted children. Because of many circumstances, gifted children may not all be able to live up to their abilities, and may not always be the highest performing students.
http://www.stephanietolan.com/is_it_a_cheetah.htm

Asynchrony: Homeschooling an Exceptionally Gifted Child
This article talks about exceptionally gifted children and how homeschooling can help. It also includes additional links at the article’s conclusion.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/asynchrony.htm

National Society for the Gifted and Talented
This resource for parents has additional benefits to those with membership.
http://www.nsgt.org/resources/parents.asp

Homeschooling Mensans YahooGroup
This online support group is for anyone desiring support in homeschooling gifted children.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolingmensans/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=4

Accelerated Learner Forum at The Well-Trained Mind
This online forum is for parents whose children are advanced in one or more areas.
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7

Notes and Advice:

When it comes to homeschooling gifted or talented children, parents should remember that regardless of their intelligence, the child is still just a kid and not a little adult. Parents sometimes panic when they learn they have a gifted son or daughter and wonder how they can possibly homeschool when their child’s IQ may even be greater than their own.

Although that may be the case, intelligence isn’t determined by how much a person knows, but rather by their potential to learn and reason. The mere fact that parents have lived decades longer than their children means that they begin with more experience and factual knowledge. The parents may not learn as quickly or remember as well, but their years of experience on this earth have equipped them to find materials and methods that will help their child learn and develop. The numerous resources now available for teaching gifted children make the parent’s job much easier than in times past. It is no longer necessary to re-invent the wheel!

One difficulty that many parents face is finding enough material, and finding it quickly enough, to keep their gifted child mentally fed. Because of the raging mental appetite that gifted children sometimes have, finding subjects of the greatest interest to the child is a good way to begin homeschooling them. Once they realize that they have the capacity to learn a vast amount of information very quickly, and that they will retain most of it, the world of intellectual challenges opens up like the gate on a playground.

Parents may find that they need to work harder to support their child’s emotional development. It is common for gifted children to be perfectionists, or to become easily frustrated by asynchronous development. Some may also need support and encouragement to develop satisfying relationships with other children, since they may have a hard time relating to how others understand the world.

To help keep up with your gifted child’s needs, sharing communicating with other families with gifted homeschoolers can be especially helpful. By reading all you can, and developing supportive relationships with other homeschoolers, you will have the resources and confidence you need to help your child thrive.

See Popular Product Reviews for Gifted and Talented Homeschoolers at ChoosyHomeschooler.com: 

Miquon Math

“Miquon Math certainly teaches a child to think mathematically. My 7 year old who learned the Miquon way when she was 4 has an understanding of Math that sometimes surprises me and I attribute it to her early experiences with Miquon.”

RightStart Math

 ”That’s one thing I really love about RightStart math: rather than rote memorization, it encourages the child to explore the math concepts he or she is learning.”

The Well Trained Mind: Classical Education at Home

“The Well Trained Mind sets the academic bar high! Any family following this educational model will find that they are being challenged intellectually and can rest assured that their children will do well in whatever roles they choose to pursue post high school. “