Question for Parents of Gifted Children.

[TiredX2]

What are you doing for "elementary" school?

I consider our choices as follows:

Homeschool (unschool)
Homeschool (curriculum)
Public School
Private School
Charter School
Gifted School (part-time)
Gifted School (full time)

Well, realistically, we do not have a private school option ($$$) but the others are up for grabs.

[Evergreen]

: Umm, I voted for three of them.

Primarily because I just don't know! I voted unschool, because this is probably the most likely. I also picked "cirriculum" because I might want to have one for ideas, though I doubt a special cirriculum will be the central focus of our schooling. I also picked part-time gifted school. I don't really know what that is, though, we don't have any gifted schools around here, but I am hoping not to live in this town by the time she is school-aged. DD just turned two, so I have a while to think about this.

[darlindeliasmom]

Delia's in public school (she's 8). I'm not totally happy with that, but our realtionship is just so intense and I am (these days, anyway) feeling so old and tired that the unschooling I'm happy with I don't think would work out.

I think she needs more than the school gives her, and so we follow her lead and those hours of joint exploration are exhausting enough LOL.

We'll see whether they ever get a clue and offer her more enrichment at school. as it is, I just take her out when there's something she's interested in and could miss during school hours.

[rowantree]

my dd is in public school, not by my choice. we homeschooled ,last year and she was unhappy about the lack of friends in out area. There are quite a few groups but the only ones we liked we 30 min+ and thats tough. Shes doing well in school (of course), top of her class in reading and math. Shes getting help with handwriting. Shes made allot of friends, shes in skiing and gymnastics. Shes busier than I am!! Im suprising happy about the way its all turned out.

[oldcrunchymom]

We are unschooling. My oldest is third grade age but doing high school level stuff, so school just wouldn't work for us.

[LeftField]

We're definitely homeschooling, but the approach will likely evolve. We currently favor unschooling. I do get out the math rods and play train games with ds1, casually asking him questions. Lots wouldn't consider that real unschooling, because I'm intending to further his knowledge. We still stand strongly on the unschooling side. Ds is very strong-willed, hates performing and is resistent to being led. He basically chose unschooling, not us.

I found out recently that he can add/subtract single-digits in his head. And he read an unfamilar word in a unfamiliar Dr Seuss book, based on the rhyme and the first letter sound. But then, he stopped abruptly. If he thinks it's become a performance, he stops. He hates having attention placed on him and he's a perfectionist. So, he dictates the agenda and the pace. I think he'd get lost in school, because he's not the type to like attention and competition. And he cannot be persuaded to stop in the middle of a task. He must complete it, regardless of what else is going on.

I always add the disclaimer that we don't know if ds is gifted. I always feel paranoid about this sort of thing.

[resimom]

another option could be "charter school, virtual."

[USAmma]

We are going to have Abi lead the way. As her needs change we may rethink her schooling. For now she's only 4. She's been in preschool with mixed results and in the end we decided she would do better at home. She was regressing in that environment and not doing well some days. Other days she had fun, but overall was showing signs of stress. (She has SID issues)

Right now she's being homeschooled. We are using Calvert Kindergarten but she's breezing through most of of it. I think we should have started with 1st grade instead, but I wanted to cover all our bases. This is my first time homeschooling and I like the guidance and lesson plans. Maybe as I get better at it I'll customize her studies to her level better.

Right now we are behind on the school year due to illness, etc. and are just starting the unit on Halloween and fall. I'm off to the library to check out a bunch of books on the subject.

When she gets older we may consider public or charter school. There are some nice charter schools in our area that share many of my philosopies on education.

Darshani

[catgirl]

I clicked HS, both unschool and curriculum, meaning we follow his interests a lot, but I have HWT and Shiller math because I felt I needed some structure for those items. Apart from those I pick and choose - for example when I realised he was getting stuck on words of more than 2 syllables, I bought a third grade phonics book just for the two pages on syllable breakdown and that solved the problem. We're pretty flexible about what we do when, depending on mood/tiredness/the weather etc.

We also have a great local HS group with whom we have book club and science club on alternate weeks. I would say about half of those kids are gifted (there are about 4-8 families involved on any given week) and we also have a parent support group which meets every 4-6 weeks to yak about these issues (no kids; lots of yummy snacks!).

[Irishmommy]

Well she's not technically gifted, she just missed the cutoff on the testing, but we public school.

[The Lucky One]

Private school for us.

[TiredX2]

Anyone else?

Would you be willing to share how (and when/what age of your child) you came to your decision and how it is working out?

TIA,
Kay

[DebraStorm]

My son is in kinder in a public elem. school & we love it! He's in a special multi-age class called K-1 which is half first graders & half kinder. The class is awesome! It is more like a waldorf school & they use child-led learning...ie if the child is reading on a 2nd grade level but on a kinder level for math. Then they get 2nd grade reading materials & kinder math. They use A Beka, Learning Rods & other curriculums along those lines.

And DS was just evaluated for gifted & talented & met the criteria!

[dallaschildren]

DS # 1 started a pre-school program last year mid way through it. There weren't any openings and half way through they had a child drop out so we snagged the spot. So from 3 1/2 to 4 years old, he was in a private pre-school. This year I kept him in the same school for pre-school. Their curriculum is child led and based on INDIVIDUAL levels and does not have the mentality or teaching style that all kids are the same...because we all know they are not. I am currently researching homeschooling and if DS # 1 doesn't get into the new private school I am hoping he gets accepted into, then we will definately homeschool at least the kindergarten year.

[eilonwy]

I decided I would homeschool my kids long before I had them; I convinced my husband when BeanBean was about 13 months old.

We'll be doing The Well-Trained Mind, because I am tense and need to see progress to function well. :LOL I'm doing it with my niece right now, and she's really doing well with the program, and getting ready to finish second grade in another two months or so. I started with first grade in September because she was so far behind after two years in public school. :

Depending on how cooperative the school system is, we may have the kids participate in extra-curricular activites with the local schools, but for now I'm planning to keep them at home.