I told Patience that I’d link to an old post that also linked to another blogger talking about the way parents of gifted children often try to downplay their kids’ abilities.
So the old post is called Dirty Words
But if you don’t want to read that, I’d still suggest looking at the post linked there, from the now-defunct (I think) Yet Another Homeschool Blog.
Since this is a blog about homeschooling and giftedness, it may seem strange for me to say that parents of gifted kids downplay their kids’ abilities. But this is my one outlet — my one place to connect with others in the same boat without having to see the looks on the faces of those who disagree or disapprove. Most of the time we’re on “orange alert”; I can say one of the benefits of taking up knitting is that in groups of parents talking excitedly/heatedly about school or education, I can look intently at the needles without feeling too awkward!
Red Sea School 
Thank you for sharing this. It’s so true. As is everything you wrote. I loved the phrase “orange alert”.
The thing that makes me sad is that I love talking with other homeschoolers about what they’re doing, how they form their lessons, what they like to study. I want to talk about my school with others too. But I absolutely can’t. I don’t even feel really comfortable doing so on my weblog.
Usually I am good about being upfront with strangers. They are more interested than condemning, anyway. They ask me why I homeschool and I shrug and say in a casual voice, “she’s very advanced academically.” If they ask for more information, I give it to them. The response is generally, “wow!” And then they move on. But when it comes to other parents, especially homeschoolers, I get all tied up in knots. We have actually lost “friends” after they discovered what level Rose was working on. So yesterday when I told this mother/maths tutor and another mother standing nearby what maths level Rose was at, I prefaced it by saying I was very reluctant to do so, because people usually didn’t understand. I have a feeling the maths tutor mother didn’t, although she was polite – so we shall see. (As I said in reply to your comment at my weblog, I couldn’t use Rose likes maths as my excuse, because she’ll find out soon enough how wrong that is!)
Sorry for another looong comment.
Things are resonating. Must read the other linked thing now but just reading your old post made me realize stuff that I’ve just been avoiding.
I guess maybe it’s kind of lucky that the things Tigger really likes and is good at are things they don’t do at her level. So I’ve been able to say, “well she’s really interested in history and they don’t do that in grade 3 so homeschooling is working really well for us”. And I’m such a non-conformist that the fact that I don’t care what’s in the provincial curriculum doesn’t really surprise people.
I remember that post.
I try to be pretty open but I have certainly taken flak for it. All I know is that it is not easy.
Your old post and your link post are both great. I am really struggle with this.
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