Introduction This article, written by Meghan, outlines one parent's views on the advantages to enriching our childrens' education at home.  While many of us naturally do so, we tend to keep quiet about the process for fear of being labelled 'pushy', being told that our children are only gifted because of what we taught them, or being critised for creating the bordem/lack of novelty within the classroom.  Meghan clearly illustrates the advantages of enrichment and makes a compelling case for following your child's lead.   **************************************************** Oftentimes, as the parents of young gifted children, we hear the warning, "Don't let them learn THAT, they'll be bored when they get to school!" Now, this presents an interesting problem. If my 3yo asks me to teach him to read, should I? Will he be bored when they teach reading in school? If my 5yo is fascinated by multiplication, should I explain it to her? Will she be bored in grade three? I think the answer to this is obvious. Yes! They will indeed be bored, if they have to sit through a class in which they already know most of what is being taught. But does that mean I shouldn't teach my children anything they might someday be taught in school? If I carefully avoid teaching them anything even remotely academic, will that ensure that they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and eager to learn by the time the school gets around to teaching them the concepts they were fascinated with years ago? And to that, I would have to say, no, they will likely still be bored, because mainstream school is often boring for gifted kids. Gifted kids aren't gifted because they know more obscure facts than their peers. They aren't gifted because they can read bigger books or do harder math. They are gifted because they learn faster and they learn more easily than 95% of the rest of us. So whether your gifted child has learned how to multiply by grade three or not, she's still going to be bored sitting through a class in which the teacher ever so slowly, and with ever so many repetitions, goes through one 'fact family' a week. She's going to be bored having to fill out endless sheets of drill, designed to cement the facts into minds that need much more repetition than hers does. She may indeed learn her multiplication tables, or she may not. She might even be so bored that she will turn off entirely and her mind will travel off to some brighter coloured plane and she will fail week after week of tests and you will wonder what happened to the child everyone said was so bright. Whether she ever learns her tables or not, she may very well decide that she hates math. And that would be a shame. So, if your child wants to learn something, teach them! Start teaching them right away and if they pick it up, continue the lessons! Teach your children to love numbers for their own sake, and teach them to find joy in books. If they are bored in school, at least they will know that it is the SCHOOL that is boring them, not math or reading. Because they will love math and reading and they will know they are good at those subjects. That little boy who learned to read when he was three can be given books to read on his own while the rest of his kindergarten class spends a week learning the letter A. The little girl who wanted to multiply when she was five might find that thinking of herself as 'good at math' makes up for a lot of the boredom - and anyway, she knows this stuff so well it only takes a moment to finish her work. And in a way, it's even easier for us as parents if we allow our children to learn what they want to learn, even if it's earlier than the schools generally allow. We can say (even though we KNOW that it isn't what they know, but how they learn, that makes them gifted), we can say to the schools, "Look, my kindergartener is reading on a fifth grade level. She's multiplying and dividing. What are you going to do for her?" Giftedness is so much easier to prove when the child is working above grade level, than it is after the child has begun to underachieve. If your child is interested in something academic, explain it to them just as you would explain any non-academic subject. Go to teaching supply stores, search the home schooling sites on-line, and don't be afraid to try different materials at home. Think about your ultimate goals for your child. Do you want a child who loves to read, who is fluent with math, who has a solid grasp of history or science? Then teach them these things. Pass on your own passions, whatever they are. There's no real reason why it should be any more acceptable to teach your preschooler to cook, knit, dance, play a violin or play soccer, than it is to teach your preschooler to read or add. Schools don't have a monopoly on knowledge. Knowledge is free, and young gifted children love learning. So, give them their wings and let them fly!