Hi, I'm looking for advice regarding next steps in my DS10's education, as I suspect many of you have been in a similar situation. He is currently in a public, separated gifted program in 5th grade, which will end upon graduation. Our city does not have any gifted programs at the middle school level, and as I've spoken with friends whose children attend these middle schools, toured the schools, and observed the classrooms, to say that the options are mediocre would be overly generous. I do not believe that the public middle school will adequately challenge my son or sustain an excitement and passion for learning.
I've read about the Davidson Young Scholars program, and though it sounds great, I doubt my son would qualify, as I believe he falls in the moderately gifted range, not profoundly gifted. His only IQ test was the NNAT3 in 2nd grade with a score of 137.
We are currently looking at the local private school, though the cost is a major barrier. My initial impression is that it seems to be an improvement from the public middle school, but I don't believe the students are of the same caliber as his current environment of all gifted students, who make for a wonderful learning environment.
I think my preference at this point would be to form a co-op of some of his current classmates as it strikes a balance between quality of experience, maintaining friendships, and requiring a personal time commitment that wouldn't require I stop working entirely, as solo homeschooling would. Unfortunately in preliminary talks with other parents, they seem almost ideologically committed to the public schools and unlikely to make such a major and abnormal shift.
I'm looking for any advice or stories of similar personal experience, but also curious if there are any programs similar to Davidson that my son would potentially qualify for.
Thanks.
