Do you know other parents of kids who have been in the gifted program in the past so you could get an idea of how they liked the program? Hard to say how this program would work for your DS but if you were talking about the program in my district I would suggest sticking to home schooling.

My son was in a dedicated gifted program 4-6th and while it worked OK for 4th & 5th it was a disaster in 6th. I now regret sending him. DS (who is now 16) had outbursts and meltdowns and major social problems working with the other kids in 6th grade. There were many problems that year that caused the meltdowns. Big one was DS wasn't ready for the level of executive function the teacher expected and could not keep track of what was due when. The level quantity of homework was intense basically all 'seatwork' was send home as homework. Once we tested DS this past year I realized that his low processing & working memory likely exasperated the problem. The level of the work wasn't a problem but the quantity of homework and the expected level of independence.

One of the big issues for him during 6th grade was that a huge amount of the class was group projects. And while that sounded like it would help my son with his social issues. (Officially he isn't ASD but does have some of the characteristics.) The reality was my introverted child had trouble standing up for his ideas in these groups and sometimes just melted down when the other kids wouldn't listen to him. These were groups of bright opinionated and not that socially aware 11 year old boys and my son was getting ignored and talked over. It was a very frustrating experience for him and send him backwards socially instead of forwards. (6th grade is a hard time for many kids socially anyway.)

Questions I would ask. How much homework daily is expected. How is this homework assigned & recorded. How much of the work is group projects? For the group projects how much supervision and direction is given. What level of math do you teach? Can they accelerate or is the whole class on the same page. What books do you they read as a group? How do they satisfy grade level requirements?

Good Luck.

Last edited by bluemagic; 03/30/15 10:30 AM.