Thanks so much to everyone who replied. Your questions really guided my discussions with the girls and opened up some considerations I hadn't entertained.
I discussed this with both of my girls and interestingly, they chose precisely what was advised by several people. The little one was very excited about language 3 because, in her words, she already knows language 2 and language 1, so it's about time for her to learn a third, and she wants to meet children from culture 3. The older one said she didn't want to move schools as she was happy, but she'd love to do a before-school program with her friend. Voila, I have my answer.
We accepted with the immersion school for the wee one and now I have to deal with two PTSAs. %#&*!!!! Why do I make things hard on myself? Says the mom of two children who consistently say that they want to do their math in a different color for every number.
Regarding gifted education for the older one in elementary, that program is housed in her existing school, so we're EXTREMELY lucky in that respect.
Thanks again for your help.
Hi everyone.
I'm the mom of two bright kids. My older daughter (7) is academically high-achieving but does not display any "gifted as a personality type" traits academically. She is highly creative, like many children, artistically. She was tested for gifted services, with about 80% of her class, this winter. The reason they test something like 80% of the children is because it's in the first grade and there is an assumption that there is a larger error due to parental influence. I could go on and on about their testing system and other issues but that's beside the point. I'm just trying to give you background on my kid.
My younger daughter (4) is one of those typically "gifted personality" types, though she spends most of her intellectual energy on making jokes. At four, she does addition, subtraction, reads at end-of-k level in spite of the fact that she spends most of her time riding a bike. She just has to put in very little effort to pick up new concepts. But then, she puts in very little effort, period.
So, that's my kids.
Oh, yeah. They both have been in (paid) immersion for a second language up to this point and both read and write the language. Well, the four-year-old reads short words and writes phonetically.
The cutoff for gifted services in our district is about 98th% in the Iowa achievement and IQ of 145 +. In all fairness to my children, they are probably both at level for math, but language, because of immersion programs up to this point, with 6+ hours per day in a foreign language, are not that high. I seriously doubt either of them has an IQ well over 145, but who knows. I have never met a small child whose IQ was obviously over 145, but statistics suggest that I should have met at least a couple. I imagine they are hard to tell from the children with IQs of 125 unless you spent a ton of time with them or are some kind of expert in identifying such children.
So, the normal thing would just be to test and see, and if they don't get in, no biggy, we do home education and enrichment anyway.
But here's my question and I'm really interested to hear your experiences particularly with your high performance but not necessarily shockingly gifted kids:
We have applied to, and been accepted to, an immersion language program. It's a different language than the first immersion program. But we need to commit for the full six years. I mean, they can't stop us from leaving, but I don't want to be a jerk about it.
My older daughter's test scores come out about a week after we have to accept our invitation to the immersion school.
The school district is excellent. The student population at the immersion school is privileged, diverse, and committed. The gifted program here is out-of-this-world.
I'm agonizing over this decision. I don't want to pass up immersion or the gifted program. I'm absolutely sure we are not the only parents in this position and I imagine they have set the deadline pre-results to ensure our commitment to immersion over gifted services (though I could be wrong).
We will probably continue to do the first immersion language regardless, as an afterschool program.
I have given up a lot to give my kids these opportunities. We can't buy here--a one-bedroom house is half a million dollars. We are renting (it is also near work, of course--we're not crazy). So though this might sound like first-world problems, I'd really like to make the right choice.
Your thoughts, opinions, reactions, and personal experiences are most welcome. Thanks in advance.
Last edited by binip; 03/12/14 11:59 PM.
