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    Originally Posted by Portia
    DS6 attends a private school whose motto is specifically "we meet your child wherever they are". We were told if we could make this school happen, to make it happen. They talk a good talk about individual assessments and plans.

    this is our experience, too. during every part of the admissions process our private school talked about "bespoke education" and "inquiry-based learning", but it was all talk. as it turns out, they're only happy to meet children "where they are" if "where they are" is smack in the middle of the curve.

    i spent about 6 months of the year feeling like they were gaslighting me (she's perfectly average/ you're a helicopter parent and it's your fault she's dying inside) until we saw a psychologist, who took one look at DD5 and said, "uh... she's most likely PG - don't send her back there in the fall if they won't acknowledge that she needs more." and then i came here - huzzah!

    however, all of this taught me an AWESOME technique for school interviews - simply lay out all the issues, and see how fast they run away. even though she's just another kid to squeeze into a classroom, our new local public school principal cracked a big smile and said, "oh we LOVE kids like that here; here's my plan..."

    so i'll take crowded & prepared over dishonest & self-satisfied any day of the week. i think it all boils down to who is willing to keep the dialogue going, you know?


    Every Sunday it brooded and lay on the floor. Inconveniently close to the drawing-room door.
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    simply lay out all the issues, and see how fast they run away.

    Yup. Look for the response that indicates the best level of comprehension and the lowest level of obfuscation or passive-aggression.



    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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    Originally Posted by Mk13
    Originally Posted by Dude
    Originally Posted by Val
    Originally Posted by Dude
    Our area enjoys the same "benefits" for private school, but also adds:


    2) A requirement for parents to put in a set number of service hours for the school.

    Our public schools do this.

    LOL. If ours tried it, I'd mail them a copy of my property tax bill.

    I'm right there with you! I feel like sending them our property tax bill just as a reminder to do their job anyways! lol

    As for private vs. public .... our privates require a lot of hours put in as well or they will charge you certain amount of $ if you don't do the hours plus since all privates in the area are church schools, you get charged considerably more $ if you're not their supporting parishioner. So for us it will always be a matter of choice between public and homeschooling rather than public vs private.

    Oh, yeah. Ours are mostly Catholic schools as well, so it's either higher tuition, or regular attendance at church for the whole family.

    We do have one non-parochial private school. It's more expensive than the parochial ones, it also loads down the kids with homework, and it's adamantly anti-grade skipping. It says it does teach kids one year above grade level, but I don't see how that helps our DD. As a bonus feature, it comes across as somewhat military in nature. Our DD does not need more discipline, thanks.

    So yeah, our options are also public or home. The private options are non-starters.

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    As others have said, it all depends on the private school. In our case, we found a near perfect private to put our DD into after K in public school.

    Some of the potential benefits of a wonderful private school: personalized instruction, small class size, teachers who care, teachers who actually know your kid, a willingness to grade skip, teachers and administrators who treat you as if you are paying their salaries (oh wait, you are), etc.

    Private school tuition can be a bit of a bear, but if your child doesn't develop a love of learning early, that money you're putting away for college might not be needed.

    I don't know where you are located, but if you are in Eastern IA, USA - then I have a couple of great suggestions for private schools.

    -S.F.


    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
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    Val,

    We live in California too. Everyone says the city we live has good Public school so we moved to here about 4 years ago. The API here is more then 900.

    Yes! the school close earlier then Private school. And they only have half day on Wednesday. But I don't really care about if the school close earlier or not. My kid love music, art & reading. He spend lots of time on it. He is very busy after school.

    The reason I'm thinking to transfer to Private because he can't learn anything at school. I think the teacher only teach the kids who is behind. Also, the school policy is kind of silly. Like he can read Chapter books when he was in K, the teacher knows that. But they don't allowed him to borrow the book from other grade's section. He only can choose the book from K section.

    The information I got from school is they will test kids when they are in 3 grade and start GATE program in 4th grade. BUT! There is no GATE program now, just the teacher will give them extra homework to do.

    I live in Los Angeles area. If you live around here, could you tell me which private school your kids go?

    Thanks!

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    Kelly,

    Thank you for the website. I looked this website before. I live in Los Angeles area and we don't have much choice here. I heard East coast has lots of School/Program for gifted kids.

    The psychologist recommend us send my son to a Private school for gifted kids. But that school is too far for us. And there is one Public school for 3rd-6th grader. But we need to live in that area...


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    Originally Posted by doubtfulguest
    however, all of this taught me an AWESOME technique for school interviews - simply lay out all the issues, and see how fast they run away. even though she's just another kid to squeeze into a classroom, our new local public school principal cracked a big smile and said, "oh we LOVE kids like that here; here's my plan..."

    so i'll take crowded & prepared over dishonest & self-satisfied any day of the week. i think it all boils down to who is willing to keep the dialogue going, you know?

    I would recommend asking how many PG kids they have in each class. Also, ask specifics, like "so, when you have a child who's four grade levels ahead in math, what do you normally do? And what about the kids who are one grade level ahead? The kids who are behind? The kids who are behind in math but ahead in reading?"

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    yuchi0103, we transferred our EG ds from public to private when he was in upper elementary school, so I can tell you about our experience. My first note though, is that all schools are different - not all private schools are the same just as not all public schools are the same, and even one school is going to potentially be "different" from year to year based on the principal/philosophy, a child's experience within a school can be different year-to-year based on teacher they happen to have that year, and different children can experience the same school in very different ways depending not only on ability but on personality. It's all a very individual choice in so many ways that it's impossible to know from asking on a forum like this, what the best choice for your child in your area will be. OTOH, I've found it's really helpful to ask anyway - because the different responses may give you things to think about that you haven't considered yet.

    Originally Posted by yuchi0103
    Dose anyone transfer kid from Public school to Private school? My son is in First grade now. He is complaining about the school since he is in K. He said he doesn’t like school. It is too easy… We let him took WISC & Woodcock Johnson few weeks ago. He got 145 on WISC, Broad Math 5.4 Grade & English 9 Grade for Woodcock Johnson test. Also, some of his score in Woodcock Johnson is 15 Grade.

    The scores on WJ-III Achievement tests aren't telling you that your child should actually be *in* the grade listed as grade equivalent, they are only telling you that your child's score matches what the average x-grader would have scored on the same subtest. The subtests are also scoring very specific skills, not necessarily knowledge tied to a school district's specific curriculum. OTOH, the scores your ds has are very high, and that combined with his high IQ plus having him tell you he's bored and school is too easy are all good reasons, taken together, to seek out more challenge for him in school.

    Quote
    Should I transfer him to Private school? Because the budget cut so Public school doesn't have any program for gifted kids.

    It's pretty clear that a change of *some kind* is needed. The first thing you need to do is to research all the options available to you in your area: first look at public and private schools. Are there optional/charter programs in your public schools? Don't be put off by private schools religious affiliations or how they advertise (philosophy etc) until you've talked to a few parents who's families have attended and you've interviewed the school or at least looked far enough into the school to know that it's not a good fit. Also don't be afraid to say no quickly to a school that just doesn't seem right. If you find a private you think would be a good fit, don't be put off by the cost until you've applied and inquired about financial aid - each of the private schools I've worked with have given out generous financial aid to families who couldn't otherwise afford to attend. Some have also given out merit-based scholarships to attract high-ability students.


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    I heard Public school will be a better place to learn social skill.

    I think developing social skills is an important piece of the school experience, but I don't think anyone can make a blanket statement that public schools are going to be a better place to learn them than private, or vice-versa - again, so much is going to depend on the individual school, the school's philosophy, the teachers they employ, and to a certain extent, the makeup of the student body.

    This has been our experience with moving our EG ds from public to private, fwiw, one sample:

    Social - it has worked out REALLY well - far better than we'd hoped for. The things that have made a huge difference socially are: smaller class size, children who are in school to learn, not just there because they have to be there, parents of the other children are invested in the children, teachers genuinely care about each child, and a lot of work on the part of the school to teach values and also quick responses from the school staff when social issues do arise between children.

    Academics - much more challenging and ds thrived on that. The school isn't specifically a "gifted" school, but it teaches curriculum 1 year ahead of state curriculum across the board, and differentiates for core subjects based on ability and achievement. The percentage of intellectually gifted students is much higher than in ds' public school classrooms, so class discussions etc are much more interesting. DS" teachers also challenge him to "go beyond" in the areas that he's passionate about in and strong in. When he's bored, he's challenged to think deeper etc.

    How it all comes together - What I've seen for ds is that putting him in a setting that offered true academic challenge combined with teachers who understand and believe in him, created an envrionment that was also easy for him to fit into socially and has ultimately led to a huge increase in self-confidence.

    So that's been our ds' experience. I don't think that the key was "private vs public" - I think the important factors were: flexible and challenging academics, interesting project-based curriculum, teachers who care, and small class size.

    Best wishes,

    polarbear

    eta - one other thing that I forgot to mention - private school has worked well for us as parents too - we have found it much easier, in the school wer'e at, to be able to conference with our childrens' teachers, to have our voices and concerns and wishes heard and acknowledged and acted on. I think it's due to a combination of three factors - first, we're paying and we're the customer, but that's not all of it. The teachers are less stressed and overworked from managing large classrooms of unruly students (which was the reality of our previous school) and the teachers employed at the school genuinely care about the children - as well as, they value our opinions as parents rather than automatically assuming we don't have valuable input simply because we aren't professional teachers (which did happen quite a bit at our previous school).

    Last edited by polarbear; 05/08/13 11:01 AM.
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    Originally Posted by yuchi0103
    ...they don't allowed him to borrow the book from other grade's section. He only can choose the book from K section.


    Ah, the lovely sectioning off of the school library. During the public school open house, before my daughter started kindergarten, I remember being in the library and there was large strip of tape on the floor marking the farthest kindergarteners were allowed to go. In my ignorance, I walked over the line to the "Little House" books and said to my daughter, "Hey, we've read some of these..." - then turning back to the tour group, I felt like I had just been caught sneaking out of East Germany as all eyes were on me, not one person had followed me over the tape line, and I was getting a disapproving look from the librarian.

    S.F.


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    the librarians kill me. one day this year, my DD5 noticed one of the Harry Potter book in the library, and gleefully clapped her hands and squealed. the librarian responded with, "oh, you're too little for that, dear." um, no.

    of course, this WAS the same woman who, when it came to the (mandatory) Birthday Book donation, blithely ignored DD5's list of preferred topics (robotics/medical) and instead put her name inside the umpteenth copy of Angelina Ballerina, based solely on the fact that she's a 5 year old girl. so glad i got a tax receipt for that one. ugh.

    when did this happen to librarians? the ones i remember from childhood were super awesome and essentially said, "have at it, you little weirdo!"


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