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    i never thought that would be considering this but I am now looking at sending my DD10 to a boarding school.

    She is beginning to hang out with slackers and hide her intelligence to try to fit in and I am not sure that she will ever find a peer group in the community that we live in.

    We could move, of course, but I am beginning to think that public education (tm) is soon going to be equally terrible everywhere - one way to close the Achievement Gap, I suppose.

    This is not wriiten in stone but I think that I should consider this option and all other options short of homeschool ( not an option for economic reasons) for my daughter.

    Any suggestions/leads appreciated...


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    I am guessing from your post that you live in a rural area with limited local options. It doesn't hurt to look at every possibility even you don't go down that path as it can help clarify what you are looking for and what exists.

    Just addressing the question asked, are you thinking of boarding school for now or for when she is older?

    Mary Baldwin College in Virgina has the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted starting at age 13. Not sure whether that is of interest.

    A quick google search turned up:

    http://tip.duke.edu/node/818
    The above link is an article on public boarding schools for the gifted. It was produced in 2006 so I am not sure how current the info is. There is a lot of general info in the article from Duke.

    There is the Oklahoma School of Science and Maths for year 11 and 12

    Throwing the field wide open brings up the following school in the UK which does American University prep from a glance at the website. I am guessing you have UK connections. A friend of mine went to boarding school in Wales from Australia so not completely off the wall.

    http://www.wycliffe.co.uk/gifted_and_talented/

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    I know you said public education everywhere might be equally terrible but there are a number of public schools, including boarding schools, for gifted kids. I can't speak to the quality however. Just as an example is this public residential school in Maine. In state residents pay for boarding but not tuition, $8, 450. Non residents pay $30000 for tuition. Moving to Maine might be worth it if you liked that school but there are other states with similar. The focus is STEM in many cases so that is something to consider.

    http://www.mssm.org/page.cfm?p=668

    What about a residential summer course at a Uni if they allow 10 y.o.? They can inspire and introduce kids to a peer group. In the age of mail, video chat etc, peers don't have to live in the same town to be a support group.

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    Is private day school an option (non-boarding)? We chose that route for our kids and it's worked out really well - even at a school that doesn't bill itself exclusively for gifted students. We found that there were factors in addition to looking for gifted peers that really made a difference - involved parents, teachers willing to be flexible and teachers who valued what parents had to say, plus an overall higher level of expectation for academics and behavior across the board - from the school, from school staff and from parents. All of these things made it so much easier for us as parents to find a good academic fit for our kids, and our kids also found peers they enjoyed being with and learning with.

    Sorry I can't send a personal recommendation - we aren't on the same coast smile

    Best wishes,

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    madeinuk, I sent you a PM

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    Originally Posted by madeinuk
    i never thought that would be considering this but I am now looking at sending my DD10 to a boarding school.

    Are there any good private school options locally?

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    Originally Posted by polarbear
    We found that there were factors in addition to looking for gifted peers that really made a difference - involved parents, teachers willing to be flexible and teachers who valued what parents had to say, plus an overall higher level of expectation for academics and behavior across the board - from the school, from school staff and from parents. All of these things made it so much easier for us as parents to find a good academic fit for our kids, and our kids also found peers they enjoyed being with and learning with.
    polarbear

    This appears to have worked for us as well, so far. Not ideal, but a good enough fit and probably the least worst option.

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    Yes, the Pingry School and Lawrenceville Academy but getting my DD there and back every day would not be realistically possible.


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    Hoagies has this list (for gifted private schools generally).

    http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/schools.htm#susa



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    Pingry and Lawrenceville are a fair distance apart - are you in southern or northern NJ? Is Lawrenceville still a boarding school (and I guess it must have started admitting girls, because it was all boys when I was growing up)?

    I would check into the boarding school thing very carefully. There are many good schools in NJ (and depending upon your location, might have access to private schools in PA or NY). Even the great private schools in my area (SE PA) are NOT challenging in elementary school, perhaps not in middle school either. In HS, I think you have more options. Or are you just looking for a peer group and not expecting instruction at her level?

    I know kids in this area who had 2100+ on their SAT in 7th grade, made USAMO prior to HS, etc. A couple did skip a grade, but clearly skipping one grade would not meet their academic needs. I am not certain that attending a different school would have served their academic needs any better. However, they did have a handful of peers in the school, as well as similar kids at nearby schools. I doubt you need to pay for boarding school to find a peer group.

    I see that Pingry has about 130-140 kids per graduating class. Seems that they have had about 10 NMSF each year. That is good, but there are public schools with plenty of NMSF in NJ as well. I know there are public schools near me that have similar rates of NMSF as Pingry (percentage-wise, not total). There are public schools out there that have really bright kids. Might need to move, and I don't know if that is an option.


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