Comments on: What is overachieving, exactly?

By: Overachieving & Choices « Soaring Mountains Academy

Overachieving & Choices « Soaring Mountains Academy — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:46:48 +0000

[...] for public school, I found this post over at Red Sea School very refreshing. Check it out here: http://redseahomeschool.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/what-is-overachieving-exactly/ For the record, I did not push Tyler to start school early. He was the one that wanted to learn [...]

By: Cher Mere

Cher Mere — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:36:51 +0000

I also love Chelsea’s response. Thanks for bringing this up. I just posted what my schedule for Fall and I am sure to some people it will seem overly ambitious. I am always nervous about posting what Z is doing because I usually get comments that feel judgmental.

But Z (like your girls) is intense and passionate and loves learning and *gasp* academics (this morning while I cooked breakfast she read a children’s version of the constitution while crouching under the table. Now she is under there reading a book about starting her own business.) She wants to learn so much that I need a schedule to help myself make it happen.

By: adsoofmelk

adsoofmelk — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:01:10 +0000

I loved Chelsea’s reply, which is exactly – EXACTLY — why I wish I had had the option to be homeschooled myself and why we’re homeschooling our child (among other reasons). I appreciate the fact that in homeschooling, she’s *allowed* to be in fifth grade for one subject, ninth grade for other subjects, college for others — basically, wherever she really needs to be regardless of where she’s “supposed” to be according to her age.

That’s why I think HSing is such a good fit for everyone who’s outside the main belly bulge of the bell curve — it’s tailored to fit wherever one happens to be.

By: JoVE

JoVE — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:45:42 +0000

Seems to me that it appears as overachieving to the same folks who wonder why anyone would read To Kill a Mockingbird for fun (to refer to something Rosie posted about the other day). There are lots of folks who can’t imagine why you would WANT to do long division at all. Ever. And having taught in a university, there are also plenty of people that think the point is the piece of paper and the prestige of where the paper comes from. You should have heard the reactions I got from students when I told them that I’d designed the assessment so that if you learned something you should do well and if you didn’t learn anything you wouldn’t. People dropped the class. (Good riddance.)

By: KarenDV

KarenDV — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:07:27 +0000

Thanks for this — I’m not alone in the homeschool blogosphere!

I’ve linked to your article on my blog.

By: Lizabeth

Lizabeth — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:25:15 +0000

This is an important point, and a really great post. Thanks.

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:55:03 +0000

I guess to me, homeschoolers don’t “overachieve” because they are working to the best of their abilities. Overachieving would be pushing past those abilities and thereby causing the “system” to break down in some way.

Of course, I just graduated my homeschooled son and he leaves in less than a month to a top ranked college on a full tuition scholarship.

I don’t feel he “overachieved,” he was studying things that interested and challenged him.