Well we are school shopping again but this time for my 5 year old dd. She is reading again, she stopped when we moved and said she couldn't read. She is adding and subtracting without pictures also. Sound familiar, I was asking some of these questions last year for my dd6. We are considering 3 schools, 2 are more home school, but this dd learns better around other kids. The third is the public school down the street.
I walked over to the public school today and talked to a lady at the front desk. She was really excited that they are going to start Khan Academy for math, not my favorite program but not horrid. She didnt tell me that all their kids were advanced which after last year was a good thing. We have a meeting with the principle Monday morning.
The second school I found is on the Davidson institute website and it is the River Springs Charter School. They are closer than our current home school charter school which is nice. They have a walk through on Wednesday that we are going to attend.
The third school is a K12 charter school that has been willing to work with us educationally but not giving my daughter any social outlets. They are letting my dd6 go up a grade in math but they absolutely will not test before 2nd grade. But they will let them move as fast as they want, but get mad when she does more than one lesson a day. Phonics never takes the full hour and since they get mad we do it and stop but it is too easy for her.
I know a few things I should ask but is there anything else I need to ask the first two schools?
Will your teachers differentiate if a student already knows something?
What is your policy on testing if a teacher can not keep a child learning at the level he or she is at because they already know the material? (This question is mostly for dd6)
What curriculum do you use?
How many kids are in your classes?
What social options do you provide? (river springs)
Should I ask anything else? I am not sure. I know here in California almost all gifted programs start at 2nd grade, they also are mostly arts and crafts and a few special field trips. Nothing exciting or new.
