Originally Posted by Jamie B
Kriston..it's good to hear that your son has made friends in school. Does he want to home school or stay there?

He's a social butterfly, so I'm not at all surprised that he has friends at school. If he didn't, it would be a very, VERY bad sign! Honestly, until the math thing popped up about a year ago, I'd have said that the *only* way DS5 was GT was socially. People just gravitate toward him. (Adults and older kids as well as kids his own age.) He's also something of a homebody. (Yes, I know that's an odd combo!) He doesn't like to leave home if he can avoid it, even for fun things. So he'd be happy homeschooling, I suspect.

His brother and a neighbor (not gifted) both HATED 1st grade, so DS5 is not excited about the prospect. Naturally this is not a great reason to not want to go to the next grade...But there it is. Add to that his boredom with K, and he's not fired up about the notion of next year.

The problem is that he's not consistent about what he'd prefer to do. One day it's homeschooling all the way; the next day he wants to grade skip (which isn't a good choice for him).

We do have a "school for homeschoolers"--like a co-op that we pay for, but more like school and more flexible than most co-ops about placing kids to meet their needs. That has worked great for DS8, and I think it might work to meet DS5's social needs, too. Then we could do the bulk of the accelerated work at home.

But we're still considering the private GT school in town, as well as considering pushing the public school for some serious subject acceleration in math. DS5 seems a lot more "normal" than his big brother in everything but math, and if we could get a good fit at the public school without too much hassle, I'd be willing to give it a try. I just don't know how realistic an expectation that is.

Jamie B: Most private schools have some scholarships, but I'm not sure how tight-fisted they are with them, especially for newbies to the school. The economy hasn't helped matters, I'm sure. But the worst they can say is no, right? Might as well ask!

Just beware of falling in love with the place until you know if it's a reasonable option. frown

Kriston