What type of school does your DC attend?

[AllisonR]

Do you home school, or does your DC go to public school, private, Waldorf, Montessori, school specifically for Gifted Children? What are the positive / negative aspects? I realize that just as there are different needs for a person of IQ 70 versus 100, there are also different needs between a person with IQ 130 versus 160. My main interest is in gifted children, but probably not highly gifted.

On the plus side, I have plenty of time to look into options. On the minus side, options are limited.

Home school is not an option. (no interest, full-time job....)
We have no Montessori schools in the area, or even in the country.
We have one Waldorf school within our area.
We have one Mentiqa school, with a long commute. It is specifically for gifted children. However, it is brand new. The 1st class starts August 2008, my child would start 2010 earliest. It is based on two other Mentiqa schools in the country, that opened within the last 6 years.
We have several public schools. One has a good reputation and is very close by. I have no experience myself within the danish school system. I will say that I have been very pleased with the public daycare and kindergarten my DD and DS have thus far been involved in.

[EXOLAX]

Our youngest attended a play-based preschool this past year and will go back for another 2. Our eldest went to the same school through pre-K and we love it. The days are short, and they teach in much the same way we parent with more of a focus on communication then standard education. They do include childrens' interests into daily activities and support their individual development. It has worked really well for both our girls.

Our eldest started at a Reggio school in K. Something tells me you may have one in Denmark. I _love_ the Reggio Emilia teaching methodology and find that it works really well for kids of all levels, gifted or not. It is probably easier for gifted kids to get into the groove because there is a lot of independent activity and I've seen first hand that kids with the early drive thrive. Basically Reggio is a child led learning environment, where the teachers consider themselves 'observers' and they classroom is considered a teaching tool. Lots and lots of hands on exploration with teachers establishing what children are interested in. They use a project based teaching approach, so if the kids get into butterflies because they see some on the playground they will include butterflies in art, science etc.... Our eldest is loving school and I think much of it has to do with their view of children as independent learners, and taking the needs of ever child into consideration. Through their observations they learned which areas she needed more challenging activities in and supplied them all for her. It's a great environment for gifted kids of all levels. I don't feel like I _have_ to advocate for her, by the time we've had concerns they've already figured out a solution.

[AllisonR]

Xaxole, I will check out Reggio.

I think I wasn't clear in my original post. I meant school for higher grades - like 1-12. We have daycare and Kindergarten covered, and love it.

[supervee]

DS went to a project-based charter school similar to what xaloxe described above. I loved the philosophy, but it didn't work out for DS. He needs more structure in the classroom and more quiet time to focus. I also think that the kind of environment with mixed classes doing project-oriented work doesn't work out for every type of gifted kid. Some crave purely academic things and need stimulation from other gifted kids. He will be going to a public school next year, with gifted services.

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by xaloxe

Our eldest started at a Reggio school in K. Something tells me you may have one in Denmark. I _love_ the Reggio Emilia teaching methodology and find that it works really well for kids of all levels, gifted or not. It is probably easier for gifted kids to get into the groove because there is a lot of independent activity and I've seen first hand that kids with the early drive thrive. Basically Reggio is a child led learning environment, where the teachers consider themselves 'observers' and they classroom is considered a teaching tool. Lots and lots of hands on exploration with teachers establishing what children are interested in. They use a project based teaching approach, so if the kids get into butterflies because they see some on the playground they will include butterflies in art, science etc.... Our eldest is loving school and I think much of it has to do with their view of children as independent learners, and taking the needs of ever child into consideration. Through their observations they learned which areas she needed more challenging activities in and supplied them all for her. It's a great environment for gifted kids of all levels. I don't feel like I _have_ to advocate for her, by the time we've had concerns they've already figured out a solution.

DS started at a Reggio school this past fall and we've had a similar experience. It has been *wonderful* for him. Another quality to our RE school is that it has multi-age classrooms (K-1, 2-3, 4-5) and that students stay with their teachers for 2 years before moving on. This will hopefully eliminate a lot of the "getting to know you and assessing where you are at" at the beginning of the each year, only the initial year of the new classroom.

[purslaine]

I have 3 children - all will be homeschooled next year.

My children are not profoundly gifted, more 98%, iykwim.

There may be a touch of 2E going on with my DC (dysgraphia and ADHD, BUT dysgraphia and ADHD are difficult to diagnose in gifted kids, so that might not be right either.....)

We live in a rural area, with little school choice, and the school that does exist does a lousy job with gifted children (as far as they are concerned: "your kids meet the curriculum expectations. We have kids who do not. Why should we focus energy on your kids when there are so many other kids who need real help?"

That being said, I do not only HS due to lack of good schools, I like HS in and of itself for many reasons. My DD has been HSing for 2.5 years, and we love it. This is the first year HSing my son, we will see how it goes.

Kathy

[psyche]

I'll preface this by saying that my children are probably not profoundly gifted, but rather your ordinary, average, run-of-the-mill bright kids who would easily qualify for gifted services if such a thing were offered.

My oldest went to a Montessori school for a couple of years before kindergarten*. If we had no public school options I probably would have wanted him to continue on through elementary school because the method worked quite well for him.

However, we were "lucky" enough to move to an area that gave us adequate school options through several charter schools and a magnet school that have similar philosophies. My son goes to an "open school" that contains the following in its philosophical statement:

The following describe classrooms at [school]:

• Classes run on a continuum. Each class has two or more grades and students remain in the same class for more than one year.
• Curriculum is developed by the teacher in concert with the children. Emphasis is on learning through experience using ever-developing problem solving skills. Academic goals are achieved through an integrated approach linked with the children's interests and needs.
• The teacher supports the learning environment as well as the learning style of each student. Attention is paid to the variable ways in which children learn. The idea is not what children should do at a given age or time, but what the child needs to help them develop to their full potential.

So far, so good. Due to the multi-grade classrooms the teachers really do have to be very attuned to what each child can do because there is such a range of abilities.

But mostly I was looking for someplace that wouldn't be soul-crushing.

[tangent]

Public.

It's our only option, as I must work and I refuse to send her to Catholic school. I really wish we had more choices in our town.

eta: about Montessori... When dd was 3-ish, she was in Montessori and going to a child psychologist for counseling related to the divorce. The psychologist was the first to say she was most likely gifted based on her assessment. She surprised me in firmly stating that my dd needed to be someplace other than Montessori. She said Montessori was far too restrictive for her, that she needed a learning environment with more creativity. I didn't understand what she meant at the time, but within a month, it was really clear that she was right. Not saying all Montessori schools are like this, perhaps it's just the ones in my area, but I did see what she meant about it being too restrictive. She was strongly discouraged from exploration during the morning Montessori part. I took her out and put her back in a regular preschool where she did much better.

[eilonwy]

Well, my preface will be somewhat different from the preceeding ones: Right up until I read the psychologist's report on my oldest child, I would have told you that my kids weren't profoundly gifted. Bean's scores qualify him for Davidson Young Scholars, and we were told very clearly that it was only a baseline; He will probably score better when he is older and more able to sit still, and his handwriting improves. I guess what I'm saying is, don't sell your kids short too soon. They might be smarter than you think.

BeanBean is enrolled in a cyber charter school. I don't know about Denmark, nor do I know about other schools, but I do know that K12 has an international program (I haven't done much reading, except to acknowledge it's existance and file it away). The school is not particularly designed for gifted children, but it has been very gifted-friendly for us.

[bug-house]

We home school. DC went to a Waldorf school for k-2 and it was not a good fit. I wish we'd home schooled from the start.

[LeftField]

We homeschool, using an unschooling type approach. My oldest son, in particular, is a daydreaming type and is very self-driven to follow his own pursuits, so this works best for him. I was a daydreaming type in school so I can relate to him; I was punished for it. I think my second son might be Ok in school due to his personality but I think it could be really bad for my oldest due to the daydreaming. I'm sort of scarred by my daydreaming experiences in school, however, so I probably have a bias.

We do get involved in formal classes at times. My oldest son is very into his art classes and he wants to start drama in the fall. My 4 year old is already in drama and wants to add Irish step dancing in the fall.

[mom2ponygirl]

We homeschool. There aren't too many school options here, but I have to say I'm glad we were forced to try homeschooling. It has been a great 4 years and we're looking forward to more. Our daughter may end up part-time at either a local charter high school or the local university before long, but we're enjoying at least the next year on our own schedule.

[royaloakmi]

My twins are only 4.5 yo, but they have been in a home-based Waldorf preschool/kindie from about age 3. We plan to transition them to one of the local Waldorf schools when they are about 6 or 7.

One challenge with Waldorf is that entry to 1st grade is aged based, not ability based. While it's hard for me to judge right now, we may appeal to have them start 1st grade a year ahead of normal. If the Waldorf school can't accomodate that, we'll probably look at public school or the local gifted private school.

Another challenge is that your child's teacher in Waldorf (maybe any classroom) can really make or break the experience. We have been very fortunate in that regard.

One thing I have really liked about Waldorf for my kids is that it is totally play based and involves lots of movement, song, stories, using your body and hands. I think it's a great balance for my kids who might otherwise be very caught up in their heads. (And my son, in particular, would not be able to just sit in a regular classroom.) There is no focus on letters or numbers till 1st grade, but mine seem to be satisfied with doing things at home. I have just responded to their inquiries, not introduced anything till they've expressed an interest.

My daughter may have done fine in a Montessori school, but it wasn't logistically practical to have them attend two different schools.

Good luck!

[ChristaN]

We've done public school with a pull-out TAG program and a charter school. The charter did subject acceleration which was a good fit, but had serious administration and ethical problems that made it impossible for us to stay. The pull-out program has been one hour/day 5 days/week, but it wasn't enough. Dd#1 got an extra independent study with a parent helper (me) enrichment for math last year, but again it wasn't enough.

For her, we are skipping a grade next year and hoping that she'll have more options in the middle school than an elementary. She'll be in the gifted English class, probably accelerated math, and standard 6th grade everything else with a MYP IB program (middle years program International Baccalaureate).

Part of the issue with the public school TAG (aside from only covering a small part of the day) is that it doesn't start until 4th grade here, so my younger dd who also has a GT identification won't start with any of that for another year.

Private school is beyond our means and there are really only two private schools locally that are not religious and they only go up to 6th grade and are not likely to offer more for GT kids from what I hear.

[Minxie]

Montessori; he's gifted but I don't know precisely where he will fall on the scale as he's only 2.5 right now. He isn't quite reading but he's on the cusp; he understands numbers enough to add simple amounts like 2+2=4 and 5+1=6 but still doesn't always stop counting at the end of a group (though he can tell you how many are there.)

He's a talker with a great memory and good imagination but you have to keep up with his experiences to know what he's discussing. Like me, he picks up conversations right in the middle and makes leaps that seem obvious to us.

Today he ate pineapple and a PB&J for lunch today. He wanted pineapple juice to drink so I poured what was in the tub into a cup for him. It wasn't much and he drank it right down, then asked for more. :

I told him we didn't have any more so what does he do? First he squeezed some pineapple into his water, then took a sip. Apparently it wasn't pineapply-enough so he takes his cup to the bathroom and pours out the water. Then he comes back and squeezes his pineapple into his cup so he could drink the juice.

I'd love to homeschool but have to work; single parent and we need to eat. I MUCH prefer Montessori over any of the daycares available to us but the other options you mention, Waldorf and Reggio, aren't available in this area so I can't say whether I would prefer them more. He really enjoys his school; most of all, I appreciate that the teachers and staff treat him with respect. He wasn't getting that at the daycare and I was NOT happy.

Fortunately, the Montessori school here managed to find him a spot relatively quickly though we had to compromise and start him in the Toddler room as the Primary class was full. In August, they're opening a second Primary class so he'll change to that room then.

[Meli65]

My ds1 will start first grade in the fall in an immersion program for gifted students -- two classrooms of all gifted kids who stay together all year, and for the next six years. I'm thrilled and hope that it will be as good as it sounds.

[Minxie]

Originally Posted by Meli65

My ds1 will start first grade in the fall in an immersion program for gifted students -- two classrooms of all gifted kids who stay together all year, and for the next six years. I'm thrilled and hope that it will be as good as it sounds.

WOW! That sounds awesome! In my high school, there was a group of us who mostly stayed together for the core (honors) classes and split off for electives. It was a wonderful experience to have people just like you in class and know that you could talk about all kinds of interesting things without being thought too weird. Yay for your DS and I hope it is everything they promise! :

[heythere heather]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

DS started at a Reggio school this past fall and we've had a similar experience. It has been *wonderful* for him. Another quality to our RE school is that it has multi-age classrooms (K-1, 2-3, 4-5) and that students stay with their teachers for 2 years before moving on. This will hopefully eliminate a lot of the "getting to know you and assessing where you are at" at the beginning of the each year, only the initial year of the new classroom.

Same. Our school follows a constructivist curriculum, which is similar to Reggio. DS will be in the K/1 class for the second year (though unfortunately his teacher last year isn't coming back. She was amazing.)

We have absolutely loved it. There's the freedom for him to work at his level, and there's also a big focus on social and group skills--something in which he's weak. There were issues, to be sure, but the school was very responsive in working through them.

Math is the weak point of the school right now for us. They do math workshop, which for K/1 is all manipulatives/games based. His teacher tried to challenge him, but it was hard. Now, don't get me wrong--he loves the math time, even if it's not challenging. We also, though, added in Stanford's EPGY online math program.

[Melda]

Originally Posted by psyche

I'll preface this by saying that my children are probably not profoundly gifted, but rather your ordinary, average, run-of-the-mill bright kids who would easily qualify for gifted services if such a thing were offered.

My oldest went to a Montessori school for a couple of years before kindergarten*. If we had no public school options I probably would have wanted him to continue on through elementary school because the method worked quite well for him.

However, we were "lucky" enough to move to an area that gave us adequate school options through several charter schools and a magnet school that have similar philosophies. My son goes to an "open school" that contains the following in its philosophical statement:


So far, so good. Due to the multi-grade classrooms the teachers really do have to be very attuned to what each child can do because there is such a range of abilities.

But mostly I was looking for someplace that wouldn't be soul-crushing.

Sigh i read your post wrong ... sorry

[DaughterOfKali]

Ds goes to public school. The public schools in my town have consistently been rated as higher than many private schools. People move to this town just for the schools, that's how good they are supposed to be.

If I didn't live in this town, I'd look into charter schools that truly believe in and implement individual learning plans.