I originally was thinking that a multiage setting might be good b/c maybe they would have more of an opportunity to accelerate. Of course to make matters more interesting, I just met with a former elementary teacher of mine who still teaches here. In addition, she had a HG daughter go through the system a number of years ago. At the meeting, she said she would not recommend multiage. Her impression is that they teach down not up. Parents in the area feels differently. Does anyone have any thoughts here? She was also not very enthusiastic about the multiage teacher but suggested a self contained classroom. Any thoughts?
I would agree that the teacher probably matters more than the classroom setup. If the teacher isn't on board, nothing else will really matter. A teacher not willing to go the extra mile will torpedo the best of arrangements, but a teacher who wants to educate your child will do so even in the worst of situations.
In terms of her own daughter she said she and her husband always felt that school would not be her primary place to learn. Interesting thought from a teacher. :-)
Sad commentary on the state of gifted education in our schools, but also highly accurate, I'm afraid. My father was opposed to our homeschooling 6yo DS because he felt we should be enriching his experience all the time--basically homeschooling every day on top of DS's 7 hours of school! Another vote from an "old-timer" who felt school wasn't where gifted kids would learn, but that it was necessary nevertheless. (And when would he play, exactly?)
DH and I finally concluded that this was a stupid way to look at things. If school isn't for learning, and if we can arrange social experiences for our kids outside of school, then why exactly is school supposed to be useful again?
The big argument for school--and the argument we bought right up until it was our kid going through it--was that gifted kids have to learn to deal with the bad teachers (bad bosses, bad customers, etc.) of the world. Our problem: do they need to learn at age 6? Or could that particular strand of learning wait until they've matured enough to stand up for themselves?
We decided it could, indeed, wait, and that school should, indeed, be filled with the
other kind of learning. For whatever that's worth...
