Thanks for your kind thoughts!

bronxmom,

I just stumbled on your post and my reply is more to send an internet hug to you. It sounds like you have really thought about your situation and made a sensible choice. I hope it all works out for you and especially your son.

It sounds like you have found peace w/ your decision and that it is the best one given the info at hand! I look forward to hearing about how it goes. And if HSing ends up being the only option, you have lots of support here!

Dazey

Hi, bronxmom--

Sounds like a good choice to me--I remember your posts from earlier this year, and it certainly sounded as though he needed something to change. And having two hours a day back again out of the car will be blissful, I suspect!

I hope you and your family have a really happy and peaceful summer together--y'all deserve a bit of a rest, I'd say.

peace
minnie

Ugh, I just got an email from the coordinator at the gifted school... it seems I still have the option of keeping him there.

Now I have to make the decision again, so let me throw it out there one more time:

What is better for an "underachieving" HG+ (DYS) kid--

a) a much-coveted gifted school where he has not really thrived or been inspired, where there is an emphasis on his two areas of weakness (writing and math) which has caused him to consider himself stupid, where we don't really feel accepted socially, and which is a difficult commute. (Though many of these problems COULD have been a bad teacher match... it could improve.)

b) a small, new, progressive charter school very near our house whose principal will not really discuss the curriculum with me and who visibly shuddered when I said the word "gifted." Though I can't help but feel that this school will immediately notice my son's many unusual qualities and, if they are good educators (which they seem to be) will then understand that here we have a truly gifted kid... (Here in NYC every child is "gifted" so I can somewhat understand her distaste for the word.) However, he is already L-A-Z-Y, and if things are too easy for him, will it set him up for a lifetime of easiness? (He is starting 2nd great and has already done a second grade curriculum at the other school and is reading stuff like Harry Potter and Tolkien.)

Or could be possibly benefit from being the big fish in a small pond?

So what do you think? The frying pan? Or the fire?

Mitigating factor: we have another child who could go to the charter school if big brother goes, but will likely be black-listed if we pull out now. Frankly I am not getting will-need-gifted-school vibes from the baby.

I don't know! I'm facing a similar decision, although our current school has less to recommend it and I have less information about the charter school than you do about yours. I have decided to keep my son in his current school and get more information about the charter school during the school year. It may be more difficult to transfer later though. I may miss an opportunity, but it just seems too risky to me.

Reading your post sounds like you have made a decision and are looking for affirmation? Go with your gut, you already have your answer. Best wishes.

Melissa, which decision does it seem like I've made???

Yeah, I know...
I guess my initial decision to move him, and try something new, was the best one. I just wish I could try him one more year and his current school, then move him. Not an option unfortunately.

Oh I feel for you - we've just been going through this ourselves. For me most of the problem is that I've done so much reading that I have a reasonable idea now of what I'd like in a school - but it doesn't seem to exist. The semester started on Tuesday morning, and we only decided that morning that we wouldn't move the boys. So we've turned down a school that supports acceleration but has no places currently in the grade we want, and have stayed at a school that has multi-age classes but doesn't support acceleration. Fortunately DS6 has been mellow over the holidays, so he thought our indecision was quite funny.

Bloody, bloody beaurocratic departments. All I want is a school that will teach my children to learn and think. If I though this was a difficult thing to arrange then I might be less angry and frustrated.