Vol III, No 7 - August 21, 2021
FROM THE EDITOR
Picking curriculum for your student is the most exciting and overwhelming part of homeschooling. It’s full of hope and promise and glitter and rainbows and little puffs of unicorn laughter. By the time you’re six weeks into the new school year, that glitter has ground itself into the carpet until the heat death of the universe and the unicorn laughter takes on an evil cackle. It was tough back when I started homeschooling almost ten years ago, and I guarantee it’s even more so now, with all the new online options not yet developed back in the day. 
Celi Trépanier has chosen curriculum as both a public school teacher and homeschooler. I shall call her a unicorn wrangler, perhaps glitter abatement expert. No? Darn. Well, she knows her stuff regardless and quite literally wrote the book on the subject. As we gear up for the school year, please enjoy this excerpt from her book, Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling.
My friends, we’re embarking upon another school year that’s shaping up to be as wild and wooly as the last. Reach out when you need help, whether to friends, professionals, or us here at GHF Learners. Homeschooling is tough enough without leaning on each other. Good luck and I’ll catch you next month!
Jen Merrill is a writer, music educator, and gifted-family advocate. The mom of two boys, she homeschooled one twice-exceptional son through high school while happily sending the other out the door every morning. Her book, If This is a Gift, Can I Send It Back?, struck a nerve with families; her second book, on the needs of gifted parents and selfcare, is in progress. In addition to writing on her longtime blog, Laughing at Chaos, Jen has presented at SENG, NAGC, and WCGTC.

Jen brings both her acquired wisdom and her experience as a teacher and mentor to her work in the service of parents, teaching them techniques and mentoring them into their own versions of success. Her goal is to support parents of gifted and twice-exceptional kids, because they are the ones doing the heavy lifting and are too often ignored, patronized, and discredited. It is her hope that her sons never have to deal with these issues when they raise their own likely gifted children.
A excerpt from the GHF Press book,
Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling

by Celi Trépanier
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Sorting Through All the Exquisite Resources

The one downside to the plentitude of all the wonderful homeschool resources, besides buying too much, is sorting through them to find the right fit for your gifted child. Gifted parent forums can be highly informative places where you can chat with and ask questions of other parents who are also homeschooling their gifted children. The knowledgeable experience of others can greatly benefit you here. Learning from other parents’ experiences with specific programs and resources, and getting recommendations from other parents, is undeniably helpful when navigating the plethora of educationally rich resources. Whether you are looking for the best math curriculum for your visual-spatial gifted child or trying to find an engaging Latin program for your gifted ADHD third grader who learns with short but loaded bursts of information, online parent forums can provide a wealth of parental experience, solutions, advice, and recommendations for you when trying to find that just-right class or curriculum.

Finding the Best-for-Your-Gifted-Child Resources

Choices in educational materials and resources should be based on your child’s needs and your family’s needs. What works extremely well for one child may end up being a huge disappointment for another. This is unavoidable and it happens to all of us. When this happened to me, I tried to look at it another way: if your child were in a traditional school, they would not have an alternative—every child must use the same state-adopted textbooks. Your child would have to learn from curriculum choices made by someone far removed from the classroom who doesn’t know your child or their educational needs. But, with homeschooling, you do have a choice in resources and educational materials, and some of those choices may not pan out. Don’t feel like you have to use it just because you bought it. As I mentioned before, you can likely sell it. Of course, the online classes you paid for, only to discover that they bore your child, cannot be sold, but subscriptions to educational websites most often can be canceled. The advice here, and yes I have been guilty of this also, is to not force yourself to use it if it is not working for your child. Again, I suggest researching and getting recommendations for online resources from gifted parenting forums or websites.

When purchasing homeschool materials:

1. Look to gifted parenting forums and websites and to other gifted homeschoolers for help and advice on resources and materials before you buy. Ask lots of questions.

2. Homeschooling books, materials, and other resources can be sold or possibly traded when you no longer need them.

3. If a program, resource, or curriculum that you purchased does not work for your child, don’t feel the need to use it just because you bought it. You can buy and sell used homeschooling materials through many different venues.

Once you have decided on the best-fit educational resources for your gifted child, the learning begins. 
Celi Trépanier, M.Ed., is the author of Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling and writes for her own popular website, Crushing Tall Poppies. She serves on The G Word film Advisory Board. As an educator, Celi has taught in public and private schools as well as in homeschool co-ops. If you ask what her most significant accomplishment is, she may think she should say being a mom; ultimately, though, she’ll proclaim it to be her role as an influential gifted advocate.
Gruener Consulting and Counseling
The core of our efforts is to bring our group's passion and knowledge to the range of activities and populations that we serve. Through all of our services, we support you in not only surviving but thriving, creating more loving, more fulfilling, and more connected relationships with yourself and those you love.

For more information on our programs, email info@gruenerconsulting.com or call our office at (872) 204-1899

GHF® CHOICES: DIY Education
Most of us have watched DIY shows on TV. Handy people invite us to watch their creative approach to their current project. Have you noticed that the bigger the project, the more help they need? These folks consult experts, refer to source materials, explore options, and enlist help.

Your project is your child's education, with the goal of helping them learn what they need to become independent adults. Our kids may engage in higher education, trade school, careers, volunteer work, or go down a host of other paths, but our job is to help them be as prepared as possible to reach for their goals.

Homeschoolers do not DIY with only their own wits and limited materials. Homeschool parents are some of the most resourceful people in the world. They consult experts, refer to source materials, explore options, and enlist help. Sound familiar?
GHF® PRESS
We Hope You Enjoy This GHF Press Latest Release!
Need a boost supporting your gifted and 2e students?
GHF Press has just what you’re looking for!
“Their asynchronous development, eclectic interests, and intense emotions can make gifted kids prime targets for bullies, leaving compassionate parents, friends, and educators at wit’s end. In Gifted, Bullied, Resilient: A Brief Guide for Smart Families, Pamela Price draws upon her experience as a journalist and gifted advocate to provide individuals involved in the lives of these young people a plan of action to help those being targeted rise above their mistreatment and become emotionally stronger and more self-assured.

In this informative and insightful text, Price introduces readers to contemporary research, an array of social learning best practices, real-life anecdotes from veteran parents, and select resources of relevance to the families and teachers of bullied gifted children and adolescents.”
GHF® FORUM
A Supportive Community for Gifted Learners
Come join us in the GHF Forum, our new online community where GHF will be sharing all of our services and resources.
FREE ACCESS to:
  • Discussion groups
  • Parenting Gifted
  • Professionals
  • Parenting 2e
  • Homeschoolers
  • Ask Me Anything! with Experts
  • Coffee Chats
  • Live Gifted Home Ed Conference
  • Live Quarterly Mini-Con Workshops

UPGRADE to GHF Choices Membership:
  • GHF Choices: DIY Education
  • GHF Expert Series & Library
  • GHF Member Discounts
  • Forever Access to Gifted Home Ed Conference Recordings
GHF PRESIDENT'S CLUB
For those of you who can give at least $500 we have created a special recognition program where you will be listed on the GHF website and in our monthly newsletter, The GHF Journey, as valued members of the community. Donations may be kept anonymous.



ABOUT GHF
GHF connects all sorts of people who love gifted learners. We offer both family and professional memberships to support and encourage adults working to create new ways of educating gifted learners. Our members educate gifted and twice-exceptional kids, whether it's traditional homeschooling, running homeschool co-ops and micro-schools, finding a fit in public, private or charter schools, or a combination. Many write to foster understanding of gifted and twice-exceptional learners, mentor students one-on-one, teach online classes, provide services specifically designed to meet the social and emotional needs of gifted and twice-exceptional learners, and more. All are finding their way on the gifted and 2e path, and we hope to provide community for us, across the lifespan. We’d love for you to join us.

GHF is a 501c3 organization. Please consider supporting our community with your most generous gift today. For more information on our organization, please feel free to contact us at info@ghflearners.org. Thank you!