This Q&A with Wes Beach is adapted from Davidson Institute’s “Twice-Exceptionality: A Resource Guide for Parents”, part of our collection of free guidebooks for gifted and 2e families. For a deeper dive into supporting your twice-exceptional child, we encourage you to explore the full guide.
Drawing on decades directing a public school gifted program and later leading Beach High School — a private school built around individualized paths — Michael Beach has helped many teens design accelerated, non-traditional routes through high school, from homeschooling and early college to full college application support. He believes there’s no single “right” path to advanced education.
Q. At what point should parents consider alternatives to their current educational path? How can parents determine when the path they’re on isn’t working?
A. Listen carefully to your student, observe her behavior closely and take into account any advice you’ve received from professionals. Most important, I think, are the intensity, breadth and consistency of your student’s complaints and/or signs of distress. A kid who hates everything about her schooling and does not suffer from a serious and independent-of-school psychological problem needs a change, possibly a radical one. Another who has conflicts with a certain teacher or difficulties with a specific subject may need only to have to have his program tweaked. I’ve described ends of a spectrum, and, in some cases, any decision may be not be an easy one. Think hard, and then go with your informed intuition; change direction when necessary.
Q. For parents who are beginning to think about alternative educational options, where do they start? How can they create a balanced and strengths-based educational program for their student?
A. Start by trying to empty from your head all assumptions, practices and timelines of traditional education. Focus instead on your kid(s) and what you judge that they need to nurture their strengths. Paying attention to college admission requirements will provide sufficient balance. A “high school” record can show both traditional and nontraditional subjects, and even the traditional subjects need not be studied in traditional ways. I assigned a year’s English credit for a student’s participation in an immersive, 30-day retreat during which she read a lot and wrote a 38,000-word novella. The same student was credited with a course titled “Alternative Education Studies.”
Q. What non-traditional options are available to students today? How can a parent research more about these options?
A. Options include modified and/or augmented traditional programs, nontraditional schools or a set of learning experiences outside of schools. You may be able work out a modified program with school officials or locate a local nontraditional school. Augmentation and outside-the-system programs can include:
- Any mix of classes at schools, colleges and in your community,
- Online and on site classes,
- Community activities,
- Self-teaching,
- Volunteer work or employment, and,
- Travel.
Possibly the best starting point for research would be an online search for the resource pages at homeschooling sites. But think widely and without traditional restraint. One of my students talked her way into doing research at a major university at age twelve. Another, beginning early, traveled globally with her parents.
Q. What steps can parents take to create a path that truly fits their student’s needs and how do they know if the new path is working?
A. Work with school officials, being both unfailingly polite and doggedly persistent, or take charge yourself. To find out how to do the latter, do an online search for homeschool support organizations in your state. Laws in your state will, to a lesser or greater degree, allow you to design a fitting education program using the elements described above. Homeschooling does not necessarily require parents to play primary roles as teachers. You may find co-ops, private tutors, homeschooling support programs in schools and many other outside-the-home resources. You will know your plan is working when your student’s serious complaints and signs of distress are substantially reduced or, hopefully, disappear altogether. The best possible outcome is enjoyment and deep engagement.
Q. Many parents are hesitant to step off of a traditional education path. What are the pros and cons of doing so? How can parents balance long-term and short-term academic goals for their student(s)? What are the prospects for college admission for young people who have prepared in non-traditional ways?
A. No matter what you do, you may need to spend extra time focusing on your student’s education. If you take matters into your own hands, there may also be extra expenses involved. Keep in mind, however, that it’s your kid’s education and happiness that are at stake. When you find an appropriate path, the young person you’re concerned about will have gained a great deal.
Having worked with many hundreds of young students who have created their own paths, I can say that everyone who has wanted to go to college has been able to. Many have begun at community colleges, often at young ages, sometimes starting as part-time students. In your state you may find “open admission” or very minimal requirements for admission. Transfer admission to four-year colleges and universities can depend entirely on one’s community college record. See “A Story of Academic Acceleration and Success” for one student’s story. Seven detailed stories of other students’ successes are in my book Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling. Some of these gifted people went directly to four-year colleges.
After completing a do-it-yourself education, direct admission to four-year colleges and universities, including the most prestigious ones, can be gained; it depends in large part on careful and detailed documentation of substantive achievements. See “Tips for Parents: Creating Effective Transcripts” and “Writing Transcripts-Excerpt from Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling.” There’s a chapter and more on writing transcripts in my book Self-Directed Education: Documentation and Life Stories. This book also includes more than two dozen stories of people who have followed extremely varied paths, some of whom have found fulfilling and rewarding vocations without having attended college at all.
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