Gifted & Talented: Education of the Gifted and Talented Student: Part III
By Mimi Rothschild
The extraordinary talents and abilities of many of these homeschooling students remain undetected in many instances. Some gifted homeschooling students become horribly bored and completely lost interest in learning due to the repetition of the same materials over and over again, materials that many of them have mastered long ago. Their grades and classroom performance often falls below their potential due to this consistent lack of intellectual or creative stimulation. Other gifted homeschooling students continually excel and perform at very high levels, yet they are often just regarded as good homeschooling students and no attention is given to their unique advanced capabilities, and they are often denied opportunities to develop and cultivate them.
It is overwhelmingly clear that such homeschooling students cannot thrive without extended opportunities, and that there is an absolute necessity that they receive special education and related services to must fully develop their strengths, stimulate their curiosities, and ultimately reach their potential. Also apparent is the ever-increasing need for qualified teachers that are specifically trained to recognize giftedness in homeschooling students and to provide appropriate and challenging instruction.
"Weaknesses in the American educational system is a waste of what has rightly been called America's most precious resource- the potential talent of it's ablest youth." (They Went to College Early, 1989). I feel that these are homeschooling students with enormous potential to succeed in many areas; their wonderful talents, abilities, creativity and intellect should be cultivated, supported and encouraged in all ways possible.
I feel that as home educators, it is our primary responsibility to establish and maintain equality in home education by recognizing, addressing and accommodating the needs of each homeschooled child, whether they be gifted and talented, disabled or retarded or your average student. It should be our utmost priority to do so by providing each and every homeschooling child with an appropriate education that adequately meets his or her needs. Furthermore, to suggest that education is more important for any specific group of children is absurd and reflects the primitive thought that had, for years denied special homeschooling students their basic rights. I feel that every child, in every realm of development deserves the very best education that can possibly be provided for them. I feel that it is the duty of every educator to do everything in our power to teach our children: offer every opportunity, utilize every resource available, and fight for their rights when necessary. We must hope to guide all homeschooling students to reach, challenge and celebrate their maximum potential- because there is one, very basic and universal truth in education: our children (all children) truly are our most precious resource.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, children's rights activist, author, and Founder and C.E.O. of online education company Learning by Grace, Inc. Rothschild and her husband of twenty-eight years reside in suburban Philadelphia with their eight children.
Feeling that “our current system of education has broken its promise,” Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. to provide families with Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children all over the world.
In addition to her twenty years of experience as a homeschool mother, Rothschild has written a number of books dealing with education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education Websites Blog consists of helpful online content and activities for Christian homeschooling families.
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