Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Informal Poll of What Worked for Your Child

I can't say that what we did worked well. But I can tell you brief synopsis of what we did.

-- Developmental preschool/daycare before K. This school let the kids play, explore, draw, paint, get dirty and play with each a other. They were aware that DS was reading at 3, and they were happy to leave him with books to read to himself, encouraged him to write his own stories while they other kids drew pictures. They did little to challenge him but was not bored. I didn't feel there was a huge reason to push him at this age.

-- K-3rd in the same public 'alternative' school his sister attended. I did look at 2 private schools, but the reason why we didn't go with either of them is a long post on it's own. His K, 1st and 3rd teacher were overall good. He didn't get a lot out of K academically, but it was only 1/2 day and I didn't worry he wasn't learning much IN school. The two kids who were high level readers were encouraged to use the scholastic AR program to challenge them. By 2nd & 3rd he was in classes with "gifted" clusters. He had many clashes with his 2nd grade teacher, partially because this teacher would only give him the advanced work when all the normal boring work was finished. My son had beautiful handwriting K-2nd, but it took him a long time to complete work and by 4th grade learned to sacrifice his handwriting for speed.

--4-6th Moved him to a different elementary (our local one) that had the dedicated gifted class. Part of the reason we kept him in the public system, because this program is known for being the best gifted program in the area. Same kids for 3 years, intellectual peers, teachers who are trained in gifted education. Math a year ahead, lots of reading, writing. And unfortunately a LOT of homework. 4th & 5th he had good teachers and he learned a lot, although there was a lot of homework. 6th grade was a disaster. Short answer for this was teacher incompatibility.

--7-8th Moved to the regular junior high. Had to push to get him into the humanities Honors programs because of problems in 6th, but since he tested gifted they were required to keep him in it. This was OK except for the boring science program. My son had an excellent Alegbra teacher in 7th grade. My son really only liked Math & Band in junior high.

- 9th High School.. Our high school is a high ranking academic school. Very rigorous, lots of AP's. He is in the honors track. Doing OK, not great. Has classes that are intellectually challenging but he underperforms.

If I could have done it differently, he would NOT have been in that 6th grade classroom. And even though he has been struggling with his Albegra II class this year, I wish I had pushed for more advanced math earlier.