Hi everyone,

I have a 5.5yo daughter who I guess is considered "moderately gifted"? Her GAI and FSIQ were somewhere between 130-140 when she took it last month (trying to remember off the top of my head - don't have the report with me). Her vocabulary scores were by far the highest and hit the ceilings.

To sum up a long history of education thus far: she started attending an individualized academic school at 2.5yo FT until Aug '15 and then PT until Oct '15. We moved to Canada in Dec '15 and she entered senior kindergarten for a couple of months. We ended up moving back to our current state, and she was allowed to transfer into kindergarten in Jan '16 despite her age. (Mid-Dec birthday, state has a 31 Aug cutoff). She seems to be doing well and finished the year with 92%ile math and 99%ile reading MAP scores. She hates math, but she loves reading and reads/comprehends 4th grade scaled books. She also takes French, drama, and sports.

We have the opportunity to move to Ireland for a year while I attend a graduate program, and I'm nervous about it for a variety of reasons. I'm somewhere on the gifted scale but don't know exactly where. I enjoyed living in the UK when I was my daughter's age, but I'm concerned Ireland will set her back as Irish schools are wanting to place her in Senior Infants class. Our US school district (located in an international community) has told me they don't consider this level to be equivalent with their kindergarten, let alone first grade. Ireland also has non-existent gifted programs, so that's not even an option, and I don't think a teacher with 30-35 students will be able to give her a challenge. The one international school has agreed to place her into their first grade, but it's a very expensive school that was only recently opened. There are also a bunch of logistical issues I would have with this school. I do like the IB PYP aspect, though.

I suppose I'm asking a WWYD question. My parents never had me tested, and I loved school until age 10 as I got to attend the individualized academic school and was doing HS-level work. I was thrown back into the public school system, and it all went to heck; I was in honors-level classes and still sailed through them in multiple districts/states, including the one that, at the time, was recognized as the best in the country. Anyway, there were many days where I refused to go to school, then once I could drive I skipped school, all the while my parents refused to let me attend boarding school, etc. Truthfully, I'm not sure I've ever felt challenged and have pretty much been underachieving ever since. I don't want the same fate for my daughter. I finally feel like I'm trying to pull myself out of this hole, thus the graduate program, but I don't know that it's worth the cost of my daughter's education. Our district doesn't have a super great gifted program, but it does exist and her school is a top performer.

Thoughts?!