On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 17:25:46 -0500, Matt Colie
wrote:


Would I subject two boys to this - in a heartbeat. They will be set in
an experience that they will able to draw on for a lifetime. The people
that they might not get along with aren't worth getting along with anyway.

Well said. I have a three year old son and my wife and I plan to world
cruise for five or more years starting in '08 when he will be seven. I
arrived in public school at age five able to read and count at about
the grade two level (at that time of 1966). I was bored out of my
skull in school and yet because the local principal didn't approve of
jumping grades I had to tough it out. It's said that kids who jump
grades seem socially inept because of their small size and so on. What
isn't considered is that the boredom of facing zero challenges tends
to make little age-appropriate troublemakers...thus I was the
brightest kid in detention until I learned the sort of base cunning
that will deceive a public-school teacher.

I would have been better off with an assignment list, a library card
and occasional appointments with a teaching mentor. I realize not all
kids fit this mold, but self-study on a boat is looking better all the
time.

R.