Jen specifically wrote:
>Since I didn't get my education in United States, I'm not sure if I would miss topics that kids here should know before college.
Well, I have some good news: since most kids in the American public schools learn almost nothing, you don�t need to worry about keeping up with them! I�m only kidding a little.
Hi Dave,
Welcome! I like how you think. I guess that it's hard to know what is 'gifted' because there is no one accepted definition. The definition I like to push is 'children who have special educational needs due to having a higher readiness level than their availible school provides on a regular basis. From the perspective of placing your girls in traditional school it does sound like they would have special education needs to me. You can always have them take the SATs around the ages 10 to 12 through a talent search, or pay for professional 'educational assesment' but the question you have to ask yourself is, beyond the label, what could be gained?
Actually one thing that I find positive about the lable is that we can start forgiving public school for not meeting our own needs, and start appreciating what they do do well. Ok, I did laugh when I read your joke, but still, the world can be quite confusing if one is different, but not sure in what way.
Here's another possible benifit of getting to know and love the label. In families, sometimes one kid is thought of as 'the gifted one' and the other one thinks of themselves as 'not as smart.' This may in fact be true - although often it isn't, it only looks that way - but it's sort of a shame to in fact, be gifted, but to only judge yourself in comparison to a sibling who, in fact is 'more gifted.'
I listened to an anthropologist discribing great ape behavior. From her perspective, being an active, self-directed learner is a fairly common trait amoung young mammals. Having the ability to be a thoughful teacher is much rarer. A teacher must hold a mental model of the student in their mind and test their model, remembering or taking notes about the past to plan the future. A teacher has to be in touch with their own feelings and experiences and open to the idea that this other individual maybe quite differnt, internally. A learner just has to enjoy themselves.
Smiles,
Grinity
