Such great advice so far, thank you!
We do feel very fortunate to have two good choices this year, especially since we didn't have much to choose from for K.
Our other two children are twin toddlers. They are advanced in some areas (problem solving, puzzles) and behind verbally. We just have no idea what to expect with them with respect to giftedness. It would be nice to have them all at the same school, but not strictly necessary. Both the public and private schools go up to 6th grade, so there would be some years of overlap when the twins are in school too. I believe the private school would offer a discount & further financial aid for our younger children, but it would still add up to a hefty sum for all three kids. Not sure we could swing it.
I believe that DD would find intellectual peers at both schools initially, but may become harder with the private school as their enrollment in the upper elementary grades is much smaller and eventually the grades become combined classes, e.g. 5th/6th.
The public school has only one GT class per grade (and 2 ND classes). The private school may initially offer more than one class per grade, but they haven't officially decided if they will be adding a class for first.
I have observed a bit at the private school, and liked what I saw. My DD also liked the teacher, which is saying something since she is very shy. I have visited with the public teacher and liked her as well, but have not had the opportunity to observe her teaching. I need to call the school and see if I can do that...
