Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Which school for Kindergarten/ elementary

We need some advice/ perspective on school selection for our DD who tested as gifted (WIPPSI Full Scale IQ 144, very verbal). She is eligible to start kindergarten this fall. My DH and I are quite conflicted about the choice of right school for her. Please give us your opinion.

1) Keep her for 1 more year at her Montessori. She goes to a full-day program. The school has a good balance with arts, music, languages (once a week french and spanish)

2) Local Public school(Free) --> We live in silicon valley and although CA schools seem to not rank very well nationally, our local school is considered good with API scores of 957. However K is only 3 hrs.

2) Private School that is traditional and very academic ($14K/yr). Not much else beyond academics. Claims to teach all kids at Grade+1 level.

3) Private School that is very expensive ($25K/yr) that is traditional but follows a differentiated track from Kindergarten for Language arts and Math. They have 3 levels (Grade, G+1, G+2). Small groups and subject teachers. Lots of extra curricular from swim, music, dance, arts, performing arts etc.

4) A new gifted private school that is very small but seems to have a lot of experienced faculty that focus on 'Constructivist' teaching model. This school is very small (10-15 kids max in elementary) and is quite new (just 2 yrs old). But they have language immersion for part of the day (chinese or French) and seek to provide an environment for gifted kids based on testing. My DH feels that 'constructivist model' feels too new-agey and is not sure if at the end of 3rd grade we can be sure that the kids will be ready for public school. I am concerned about the small size and frankly don't know enough about how parents feel about this approach.

How would you go about deciding.

Hi bayareamom! We don't have BTDT experience but are going through the same decision-making process. Our son is also HIGHLY verbal, inquisitive and scored 149 recently on the WPPSI. They sound like 2 peas in a pod. We are also unsure about what to do, but are basing our decision-making process on his personality, mostly.

Does she like her current school? Our son is not really happy in his. We may end up having to keep him there for K, but it is not our first choice.

Does she do well in a full day program? Moving our son from a full day program (which he is in this year) to a half day program (which our public K is also) makes me nervous. With half day K, there are a lot of transitions (30 min. lit block, 30 min math block, etc.). This can be hard for children who like to spend time focused on something and have a hard time moving from one activity to the next. How does she handle quick transitions? Would there be any opportunity for differentiation?

How would she handle the structure/pressure of a structured college prep environment. I think my son would hate it, so we are avoiding those types of programs.

Have you visited the new gifted school? We are leaning towards this model for our son because it really, really fits his personality (he is obsessive about certain topics--science, for example, and these schools usually have a lot of project based learning). Maybe if your DH went to the school and asked his questions he could decide how he feels about it.

Anyway, good luck making your decision. I will be interested to read the input of other moms who have been through this process. In the end, I really think homeschooling would probably be best for our son, but it isn't an option for us right now!

Have you visited them yet? Spoken to parents whose kids attend and find out what they like about their kids' school?

In our house several of those options would be out of the running simply based on $$, but if $$ was no option I would definitely visit them all before making a decision.

Can you sit in on classes? Maybe you could being your dd and let her sit in on classes too? See which she prefers?

Good luck! Wish I had the same problem (those sound like some interesting school choices).

If you are seriously considering public school, you may want to enroll her in K there so that you can start the process of getting her appropriately placed in public school. The process tends to take some time.

Hi Bayareamom,
We are in the same boat.
Currenly in montessori for Kindergarten.
Do we go into the gifted public, or expensive private or gifted private?
We are ruling out expensive private, can't afford to pay this for 2 kids even if one is not gifted. How can I tell my other son "sorry we didn't send you to private".
Now a gifted private where you test to get into is a different story. I am leaning towards this one, although it is a bit of a drive. You know if I was happy w/the montessori teacher who he has now I would probably remain w/this school. It is a tough call to make. And in the end I bet it all comes down to the teachers and not the school even.

Hi Bayareamom

We where, are in the same boat. Last year we did K 1/2 day in public. Had a good teacher, school could do some acomadations. Our now DS6 fits in well socialy, he likes to please his teachers, and goes with the flow. The school did move him to 2nd grade for math last year. We were ok with this because we augmented at home. This year he is in 1st grade at a HG private school. Great school with a great peer group for him. He still fits in well. We did less augmenting at home, because the program is full day. It's a very personal call. As many have said, when you have seen one HG child you have seen one HG child. You really need to check out the schools, and remember that you may need to make changes as the years progress. BTW we now drive 1hr each way so tha DS6 can have this peer group. So far it is working out.

I would go talk to the principal at the public school first. Find out how flexible they are. Are they willing to work with you on the kind of program your child needs? Our situation proves that there are good ps' out there. It doesn't hurt to ask.
There are many families on here that will tell you that the price you pay doesn't dictate whether or not your child will be served appropriately. It takes teachers and administration willing to look outside of the box.

Good Luck!!