Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Private School-Is It Worth It for a Gifted Child?

Interesting. I found a lot of secular schools well under those price points? The German and French schools are around $22K for middle school and $29K for high school, for example. Stratford was 22K for K-8 (maybe less at the lower grade levels).

SF schools are definitely more than the schools down south (geography presumably playing a role), but most of the ones I found weren't at the East Coast price points.

I also learned that public schools in San Francisco still place students in schools that may not be close to their homes. I feel for anyone trying to navigate schools up there.

I'm new to this board. I need help determining if my children are truly gifted before I can continue. Who can help?

Hi Jbell281, you'll get more an possibly better feedback if you start a new thread for your topic. "Gifted" is an arbitrary category on the continuum of human ability and capacity, and the definition of "gifted" varies.

I think the place to start is questioning "why do I want to know?" and "what would my children get out of pursuing "gifted" identification?" When you identify a specific purpose, then steps for identification become more clear.

Can you please tell me where to start a new thread? I'm looking at this from my iPhone and I do not see a place to start new thread

Thanks to everyone for their ideas and links.

We decided to put the private school on the back-burner, possibly for three years, or until high school. The high school courses offered are really what we were drooling over, anyway. Meanwhile, we are saving what we would have spent per month for the school so as to more easily afford it in three years if that is the way we go. If not, there's a public school option that looks to have equally high-quality level choices for high school.

But there's a catch.

It's become increasingly obvious to us that we need to move about 45 minutes out of this district to where both that private and public school are located. What is not so obvious is when. We really love where we live and moving would be emotionally difficult; for my husband and son especially. And the better school is in a high-cost real estate location. Our lifestyle in the country would be no longer, unless we see a significant rise in income. (Which would likely entail DH traveling from home a lot.)

So the trade-off becomes one of losing our chosen lifestyle for a better school fit. But in three years, who knows? Things change and that school district may loose it's luster. I highly doubt the district we are currently in will rise in ranking much.

For now, our tentative plan is to put DS in the middle school (6-8) next year for his sixth year and ask for TAG identification and any acceleration we can get. Then wait and see what develops. Admittedly, I and DH have not spoken with the principal of the middle school yet. Once achievement testing scores are available, that is something we need to do. But if things don't go well, we could end up pulling DS during the school year, which we don't want to do again. *sigh*

Meanwhile, this summer will be spent taking a speed reading course, getting his first rocketry certification, more swimming lessons, music lessons and just messing around.

I can't help feeling like we're kicking the can down the road, though. And are we making a selfish decision by not being proactive for the upcoming year? DS is change-adverse and so his vote goes to staying put. But knowing he can't see the whole picture academically, his vote doesn't have as much weight, obviously.

I think we have mentally exhausted out and that's not good.

I don't think you should feel guilty for wanting to stay in a place where you're all happy and where you have a good standard of living. Happiness and freedom from stress are very important. I think you're right to take a break, too. Good decision-making doesn't benefit from stress/mental exhaustion.

My advice would be to check out those two schools before you consider moving. Is that great public high school great because of the teachers or because of the parents? Is it great because of test scores? What's the homework load like?

Around here, a lot of "great" schools get their reputations because Mom and Dad pay a small fortune for math and other tutoring --- so a lot of the instruction is taking place outside the school hours. All that tutoring drives test scores up.

And all of our top-ranked high schools pile on homework. Is this what your son wants?

IMO, once kids get to high school, their opinions should count for a lot more than previously. At that point, they're old enough to understand more what they want and don't want.

An IQ score is not an obligation to provide more than you are able to give.

((((hugs))))

A few questions:
1) What is the ranking based on?
2) Ranking does not equal school "fit".

I have the same thoughts as mentioned above, be careful to confirm what "rankings" really mean, (especially since you're mentally exhausted). Hugs, we are mentally exhausted too. I have found that all glitters is not gold.

He wouldn't want homework that was more of the same. The high school is a college prep school and may do that. But what is the alternative? College is a lot of homework, and not all of it will be novel. As for the ranking, it's based on the usual...test scores, classes offered, percentage of college-bound. I'm sure you're correct about the test scores being unreliable due to tutoring. But this particular school (the public) boasts around 30% of their enrolled are TAG. I'm not sure what the criteria for that is over there, but the overall educational level of the pop. probably warrants a large chunk of that percentage...high ability or gifted. The private school most likely has it's share of high ability/gifted, though the stats aren't available. They only cite the colleges the grads are planning to attend.

I'm originally from your area and know what you're talking about concerning the tutoring and the plethora of private school choices. I've wondered if we should move back, but as you've pointed out the housing we would be able to afford would garner us a two bed, two bath ten year old condo. A shock in lifestyle for DS who has never known anything other than ten acres.