While it is daunting at best for a normal parent to begin homeschooling a gifted child, the track can get even rockier when there are other siblings around. Here are some things that you can consider doing in the homeschool classroom to keep things at an even keel.
Give each child lots of love and your personal interest
There is a need to ensure that you spend an equal number of hours in the homeschool classroom with all of your students. There may be either a tendency to either let the gifted child get more attention as his grasp is good and you want to cover more topics with him, or he gets less attention because you figure the other children need more help. The truth is each child needs the same amount of attention from you. So make sure that you give equal love and personal attention to all your children.
Allow them the space to discover themselves individually and as a family
Being a part of a group or a team is a good feeling. Give your children opportunities to work as a team in the homeschool classroom. Give them a collective task and leave them to define roles and duties amongst themselves. A common goal to achieve can bring them together and forge stronger family bonds. Also give each child individual tasks that they can handle to do on their own so that they can have their own ten minutes in the spotlight.
Let them have the time they need to develop their imaginations and knowledge bank
While structured studies has its place, your homeschool students should also be allowed to develop their own imaginations. Gifted children are often very creative and empathetic. Allow them to discover what they are interested in on their own. They can even include their siblings in their quests for more knowledge. A free hand on developing a project at home such as an automated garden watering system could be a great idea for the children to start with. More complicated projects could follow in the homeschool classroom to allow the whole family to work together at creative problem solving.
