Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Private School-Is It Worth It for a Gifted Child?

I don't think you should feel guilty for wanting to stay in a place where you're all happy and where you have a good standard of living. Happiness and freedom from stress are very important. I think you're right to take a break, too. Good decision-making doesn't benefit from stress/mental exhaustion.

My advice would be to check out those two schools before you consider moving. Is that great public high school great because of the teachers or because of the parents? Is it great because of test scores? What's the homework load like?

Around here, a lot of "great" schools get their reputations because Mom and Dad pay a small fortune for math and other tutoring --- so a lot of the instruction is taking place outside the school hours. All that tutoring drives test scores up.

And all of our top-ranked high schools pile on homework. Is this what your son wants?

IMO, once kids get to high school, their opinions should count for a lot more than previously. At that point, they're old enough to understand more what they want and don't want.