{"id":4053,"date":"2018-10-02T19:57:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T19:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/?p=4053"},"modified":"2018-10-08T15:45:55","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T15:45:55","slug":"the-chronicles-of-homeschooling-gifted-learners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/?p=4053","title":{"rendered":"THE CHRONICLES OF HOMESCHOOLING GIFTED LEARNERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Record:<\/strong> Jennifer L. Jolly & Michael S. Matthews, “The Chronicles of Homeschooling Gifted Learners,”\u00a0\u00a0Journal of School Choice<\/em>, vol. 12, no. 1 (2018): 123-145.\u00a0 DOI: 10.1080\/15582159.2017.1354644<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong> Jolly<\/a>, an associate professor of gifted education at the University of Alabama and\u00a0Association Editor for the National Association for Gifted Children, and Matthews<\/a>,\u00a0Program Director for the Academically\/Intellectually Gifted graduate programs at UNC Charlotte, here collaborate on a qualitative study examining a group of homeschooling mothers of gifted children who publish blogs about their experiences.\u00a0 The current study builds off of a previous publication by Jolly\u00a0 and Matthews that investigated the reasons why so many homeschooling mothers blog their experiences.\u00a0 A review of the earlier piece can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.
\n<\/p>\n

Jolly and Matthews begin by explaining some of the background and current trends in homeschooling in the United States. They explain how homeschooling has been a relevant and meaningful school choice option for many families and how the stereotypical white conservative Christian homeschool family is now joined by a wide range of families choosing the practice. Jolly and Matthews touch on the growing diversity among homeschoolers, both ethnically and economically, as well as the different rationales cited by homeschool parents for why they chose to make the switch.<\/p>\n

The authors next analyze gifted-specific homeschool scholarship. According to their research, many parents of gifted children are opting to homeschool as a way to meet the needs of their children in ways that the school system has failed to do.<\/p>\n

Jolly and Matthews base their own study around homeschool blogging mothers of gifted children. They contacted fifteen bloggers to participate in their study. Four responded and agreed to participate. Two of the four indicated that their child had not only giftedness but an additional exceptionality as well.<\/p>\n

After comparing interview responses, Jolly and Matthews identified four factors that all subjects shared: unintentional homeschooling, curricular pivoting, reflection as progress, and reaching forward and back.<\/p>\n

Unintentional Homeschooling:<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>None of the\u00a0four participants planned on homeschooling for the long term. Each one cited frustrations with the school system her child was in as the push factor getting them out of the public schools, and homeschooling was intended at first to be a temporary plan until the parents were able to find something better. As their child\u00a0began to succeed and complete the curriculum, however, continuing to homeschool seemed like the best option.<\/p>\n

Curricular Pivoting:<\/em> This term\u00a0refers to the personalization of curriculum that is available with homeschooling. Since parents are not bound to school standards and pacing, they are able to pick and choose curricula (within state standards) that best suit their child. This allows students to work at the pace that is best for them, and in the case of gifted students, they usually end up ahead of traditionally schooled students.<\/p>\n

Reflection as Progress:<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The mothers all cited blogging as a great resource for homeschooling curriculum and activities. It can function as a “digital scrapbook” of lessons and academic accomplishments. Since the curriculum is so flexible, the blogs help the mothers keep track of what they have done with their children. Blogging has also been a good source for reflection for these mothers to see what works, what does not, and how to move forward in their child’s education.<\/p>\n

Reaching Forward and Back:<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>Each of the participants entered homeschooling from a profession other than education. The homeschooling blogs helped these mothers navigate the broad scope of home education and find a support system. These blogs have created a sense of community and have served as a way to “reach forward and back” to other families by leaving an open record of homeschool experiences.<\/p>\n

Appraisal:\u00a0<\/strong>The results of this study were not surprising.\u00a0 Some of these themes had been previously found by Jolly and Matthews in their earlier study entitled Homeschooling the Gifted<\/a>, which\u00a0looked at thirteen families of gifted children who opted to homeschool.\u00a0 It corroborates what\u00a0other scholars\u00a0<\/a>studying the\u00a0special-needs subset<\/a>\u00a0of home educators have found.\u00a0 Most of these families are \u201caccidental homeschoolers<\/a>,\u201d or what Jennifer Lois has called \u201csecond choice<\/a>\u201d homeschoolers. \u00a0These families do it because they feel like they have no other option, not because they are committed\u00a0a priori\u00a0<\/em>to home education.<\/p>\n

A larger sample size would have made this study better. Since only four participants responded to the initial contact, Jolly’s and Matthews’ generalizations are on somewhat shaky ground. The four connecting factors found by Jolly and Matthews are useful, but are they representative of families who homeschool gifted children or of blogging homeschooling mothers generally?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marissa Donlevie, Messiah College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Record: Jennifer L. Jolly & Michael S. Matthews, “The Chronicles of Homeschooling Gifted Learners,”\u00a0\u00a0Journal of School Choice, vol. 12, no. 1 (2018): 123-145.\u00a0 DOI: 10.1080\/15582159.2017.1354644 Summary: Jolly, an associate professor of gifted education at the University of Alabama and\u00a0Association Editor … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,19,17],"tags":[1785,573,55,1017,574],"class_list":["post-4053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curriculum","category-parental-motivation","category-special-needs","tag-gifted-learners","tag-jennifer-l-jolly","tag-jennifer-lois","tag-journal-of-school-choice","tag-michael-s-matthews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4053"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4059,"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions\/4059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icher.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}