Thank you so much to everyone that responded! Your comments are thoughtful, warm, and supportive. Here's a little more about our situation.
My husband and I were both id'd as gifted when we were in elementary school, and that was a very good thing for me. I was bullied, etc., and having something that made me feel good about myself and having a safe place to go once a week was a life-saver. When my husband and I had kids, I wasn't really interested in ever thinking of them "as a number," so I avoided any kind of testing. We have always homeschooled, but while we were deciding whether or not to hs, we did apply to kindie at the local private schools. Many of them in our area require full IQ tests for entrance, and I was horrified at that. We made it a point of principle NOT to apply to any school that required a test.
So we've been very relaxed homeschoolers, almost unschoolers all along. I've just always made sure that my kids had plenty of time to play and be kids. I haven't been interested in pushing academics. My DD has been reading about 4 grades above grade level (I think?), but otherwise, I was really just interested in making sure she didn't fall horribly behind in any subject in case we ever needed or wanted to go to school.
When she was in 3rd, she took the California Achievement Test. In our state, homeschoolers are required to do standardized testing in 3rd grade. She did very well, and her scores on that qualified her to take the SCAT for JHU CTY.
I still wasn't thinking in terms of advanced academics or gifted or anything else like that until last year, when she became good friends with a DYS girl. This girl's mother started asking me about what I was doing about my DD's giftedness, and I was like, huh? I think I had always avoided thinking that way because it seemed so...like I would be valuing my child for some isolated quality, rather than just accepting her as a whole person.
But my friend's questions made me start thinking, and when I randomly ran across CTY during a non-related web search, I was intrigued by the course offerings. So was DD, so we decided to take the SCAT, and the rest of that story you know already.
So what about the WISC? Well, things really aren't broke, so why would I fix it? That is the main argument for not testing, and it is a pretty persuasive one. On the other hand, I can say that embracing the gifted label and hooking up with CTY has been very, very good for my daughter. We finally have found a math curriculum that really works for us. Perhaps most importantly, her self-concept has really soared. She is a pretty self-conscious, perfectionistic, introverted kid, so having something like this has meant a great deal to her. I don't know that we need more validation, but sometimes I think to myself that it would be really nice to have!
I guess my other reason for wanting to test is that I feel like I don't really know what I am dealing with here. I certainly wasn't challenging her academically before recently. And by the way, I don't think that is at all a bad thing. I am very grateful that through 4th grade, she had lots and lots of time to play, pretend, rest, read, and follow her own interests. Now that she is nearing middle school, I am likewise very grateful that I have a new perspective, and now know about all kinds of wonderful resources for bright kids that can challenge her going forward. (Fifth grade seems like just about the right time to step it up a notch.) We are doing a lot more academically this year than we have, and much of what we are doing is accelerated or advanced, and I can see that for the most part, she is loving it and thriving.
So while I don't feel that it was a terrible mistake that I didn't have an accurate sense of the extent of her abilities before, I do think it might be good to gather information to make decisions in the future. One of the wonderful things about homeschooling is being able to meet your children exactly where they are, without having to worry about where grade or age mates are. On the other hand, I do find that, for me, it has been hard not having ANY idea what "normal" is. I really don't have much of an idea of whether she is working above grade level, or could work above grade level because I don't really know what "normal" kids are doing in 5th grade. I don't have a sense of how bright she is, because for the most part, the only other kids I am around are her super smart friends.
So her intelligence just seems pretty normal! While that perspective certainly isn't all bad, there is a part of me that wonders whether having more information about her specific strengths and weaknesses might not be really helpful.
Thanks again for helping me think this through.
