Our son would indeed have to get tested in order to be admitted, even for the pre-K. Part of me feels weird about that, although I know I shouldn't. I mean, if we want a "real" gifted school where people don't simply pay for admission but instead must truly be gifted then we have to expect testing. Part of me thinks "what if he isn't really gifted at all?" I worry what would happen if our son wasn't qualified, but our daughter was and "needed" their specialized education.
It does seem like a move should be seriously considered for all of these reasons. It is scary to contemplate testing your son, but remember if he doesn't qualify (doubtful) then the move also provides -
Another good thing about moving closer to the gifted school is that the public schools in the area are much better than our local public schools. So even if we decided to not continue with the private school, for whatever reason, we'd be in a pretty good public school district that may be able to accommodate to some degree.
It often happens that sibs need to go to different schools - sometimes because of a flat IQ difference, but more often because of personality and interest. Some kids need a larger population for friend selection, music program or afterschool activities. Sometimes one homeschools and the other doesn't. I've seen it work. Just like you are willing to move to a more populated area because it is closer to what your children need, (and what you used to prefer becomes very dry indeed once you see it isn't working for the kids) you will - over time - become aware of what each child needs and you will be happy if you can provide it no matter how strange it looks.
But please - don't price yourselves out of the homeschooling possibility. Even if it's never more than an escape plan, the piece of mind that come with it is - as they say on TV - priceless. Also - if your husband can truly work from anywhere, I wouldn't make any move that inhibits your ability to move to Reno in about 10 years. Talk about putting the cart before the horse - still my son is 15 so this is how things look from my part of the path.
Yup - get your son tested. You'll have no idea where your DD is in the ballpark until you see where your son actually is. My guess is that if he doesn't qualify for Davidson YSP, that he's quite close indeed. If your son doesn't wear his giftedness on his sleeve like DD, that's all the more reason to test him.
And you are very correct when you say that if the school is going to be 'less heterogeneous' that the community surrounding it, testing will be needed.
The tests are designed to be fun for the kids - he'll probably like it. My son's test day when he was 8 years old was the best day of his life up to that point. Gosh!
Grinity
