HOME SCHOOL: FAST-TRACK HITS STRIDE AT U OF M(EMPHIS)12 YEAR OLF FINALLY FINDS A CHALLENGE

The Commercial Appeal ^ | 4/9/02 | Ruma Banerji

[Redbob]

So what's this kid going to do with his life? He'll have a doctor's degree at what Fifteen, sixteen? But won't be old enough to work until he's 18?
When and how is he going to learn to be a human?

[Carolina]

LOL!

It's interesting that there is only one reference to this kid's dad in the whole article.

[Egg]

I guess that gives him a good 2 years to lie around smoking pot and doing nothing else but watching television. <\sarc>

There's more to life than work and school, that's for sure, and there's no rush to get the necessary education out of the way. But there's also no need to squander the extra decade this kid will have on his peers. When they are finished "finding themselves" in their mid-twenties in college, they can submit their applications for employment in his company.

[JenB]

we homeschool our gifted boy and although we do have him on a sort of "fast track" as far as academics are concerned, in all other areas he's treated as a normal 6 year old. I estimate he'll be acamemically ready for some college courses when he's 14-15 years old.

I think you're a very wise lady. I was never genius level, but I was smarter than most kids my age, and definitely a few years more advanced than they were. My parents, by homeschooling, helped keep me from getting either lazy or arrogant - I know I have tendencies toward each, but I have to ask myself what I would be like if I had attended a school where almost all the other kids were slower, and the material didn't challenge me at all. I was ready for college at 16, and fortunately had the emotional maturity to handle it. And better yet, I had a childhood. Sounds like your son will be the same way (but then I already know you're a great mom!)

[2Jedismom]

I already know you're a great mom!

Thank you! I can always depend on you for encouragement!

[Aquinasfan]

He just became a teenager, and so far, praise be to God, he is blessedly free of that youthful angst so prevalent in today's teens.

I'm convinced that teenage angst is caused by the environment at school and popular culture and is not a natural part of becoming an adult. I'm equally convinced that homeschooling is the best way to educate children. I've found that homeschooled teens are much more mature than their peers.

By the time he's 16, he will probably be at the local university taking calculus and music theory classes. In the meantime, we try to enjoy him and his siblings because they truly are a joy to us.

Sounds like you've handled your child very well.

[Aquinasfan]

He now spends at least 6-7 hours a day sometimes more practincing and we drive him to Chicago for lessons every week end(6 hours away from where we live). He is so much happier now that we have freed him to persue his dreams.

That's one of the many benefits of homeschooling. OTOH, I wish my parents had freed me from violin lessons and let me go outside to play street hockey. 8o)

My thing was art, and I wish I had been homeschooled and had been able to pursue it at an earlier age. I hated the get-in-touch-with-your-feelings school "art" classes. I wanted someone to teach me how to draw! I wound up learning on my own during and after college and now have a thriving career as an illustrator.

[tutstar]

bump

[Lady Heron]

LOL. My other 2 boys play in-line hockey. So, if we are not at a music school we are to be found at an in-line hockey rink.

[BeverlyG.]

I ran across this article in the recent Univ. of Memphis Alumni magazine about the same boy you commented on back in your April post where you said you saw them on campus. It sounds like he is well rounded, happy, *and* very athletic: 3rd degree black belt in Karate, fencing, racquetball, etc. He also doesn't appear from the photos to be exceptionally tall- he looks like he is 12. Perhaps you saw someone else that day? The article is found at the following location: http://www.memphis.edu/magazine/v20i2/feat4.html Perhaps early college for exceptional kids such as this young man is a good option. It also sounds like it could not have happened if he had not been homeschooled. Just a thought.

[willieroe]

I'm certain that I saw the one identified in the article. His picture, included with the CA article, matches the face I saw. I'll look for the Alumni article if I haven't thrown away the magazine, as my wife is a UofM graduate, but it sounds like a mother's press release to me, LOL.