Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions Best gifted elementary schools, best gifted HS?

A completely different area of the country than has been discussed but I have to advocate for the school my kids attend here in Michigan. It is a private school for the gifted(that gives a lot of financial aid) called Roeper. Its PK-12 and my kids are currently in 2nd and 4th grades so we don't have any experience with the middle or high schools yet. At one point we thought about leaving this area for a job opportunity but one reason we stayed is actually because of the school.
One thing to consider with schools is that different schools are going to be more in line with different parenting philosophies- giftedness aside. Roeper is a a very diverse, liberal place where kids are given a lot of responsibility for their own learning. My kids have had electives as early as kindergarten. We have other private schools in the area that are very academically rigorous but are much more strict than Roeper- uniforms, lots of homework, requirements to participate in sports etc. Many of my friends have their kids at these schools and love them but they also tend to be more regimented than we are here in my family.

DeHe,

I didn't know Julia Osborne is not doing admissions anymore. Since Janet Jackson started there and now they are looking at the 3rd admissions director in 3 years, I think that is telling in itself.

I also know someone who score 97th percentile on the Hunter SBV modified test and Speyer was going to take her since they needed people at that point. She did score 99 across her ERBs, the following year (Nov birthday) and that is what they showed. Still....

Speyer at 30K is not so exciting in my opinion.

Ren

I actually moved back to MA from NYC a year ago partially due to the nonsense and mess with the G & T and overall education situation in NYC. In my opinion, there are too many hoops to go through in NYC for middle or working class families for children to receive a quality education. It's very stressful and not for the faint at heart. I love NYC but not the educational system. I had a neighbor pulled her son from Anderson due to the competitiveness and lack of social skills.

Gifted education is not mandated in MA, but there are a number of private gifted schools that are considerably more affordable than any in NYC and not necessarily rat run places either. There are some towns like Brookline and Melrose that are starting to offer a g & t program as well.

It depends what you're looking for and your child's needs and how they learn.

I know it is a pain in the butt but hearing other stories on this forum, a lot of other places are not so great either. Some places, like MN, sound like they have great options but in MN you have to put up with 9 months of winter and a 1 month of summer.

Seriously, as I look at what DD has now -- and it is interesting that comparing her curriculum with tracey in Queens, she is nicely challenged -- except in math. And the science classes at the museum are so good and no one has posted about weekly science classes in another area. Yesterday they had tsunami simulation tanks. Who has that for 1st grade students? They had a whole staff to clean up after them. They had sheets where they had to display the before (lego buildings and plastic trees and animals) and after.

I have some friends with kids in Anderson and I know it isn't the best solution but it is accelerated, they will even do multi-year pullouts for math, for children that need it. I do not think Anderson is responsible for social skills, only parents can be blamed. I see all kinds of stuff DD experiences socially, friends that lie and boast, bully etc. It is up to me to help her sort through and learn what is acceptable and when to smile and walk away. And to make sure she doesn't imitate what is unacceptable, just to hang with certain kids.

And she is really learning in her Chinese language class. Her oral exam is next week. Yes, for $600 per year, 2.5 hours every Sat morning from Sept to June 4th (not holiday), online homework and review and oral exam. You can't get that anywhere else. And the teacher makes it fun. During snack break, they go outside and run around for a few minutes to clear their heads.

About high schools. Stuyvescant got 26 kids into Harvard last year, I think; I was just told it was 9 this year.

We had a topic a while back that talked about best high schools via US News list and then someone posted the HS ratings based on National Merit Scholars. I think if the school is large enough to provide the resources to AP or college level courses, mentors for science or other types of projects, where the students has lots of options, then it can be a good HS.

Someone mentioned DA and I remember the article profiling the students. Majority were science project kids. One was a literature kind of kid and she mentioned she felt a little out of it. I think you need all kinds of different kids to provide examples of options. It never crossed my path growing up that I could have a career on Wall Street. Most of the kids I know went to dental, medical, law school or became an accountant or an engineer. These were the things our parents or our friends' parents did. No one was an investment banker. It was purely accidental that I had my career.

Just think that if you expose a PG kid to that world in high school. Limosines, best restaurants, flying around the world in the front of the plane and staying in great hotels and everyone greets you like you are big shot and you get to ask all kinds of questions about their companies and decide if it is worth anything or what you could do with it. Or, like DH mentioned that he called a former Harvard classmate in his fundraising efforts for them. The guy has his doctorate in biology and is a professor in some small university in Maryland and is really angry that Harvard, or MIT or even Columbia didn't offer him a job and he has to struggle to get research money.

If you give the PG kid that kind of mentoring and options, how many would choose the science research? So what makes a great high school is a lot of things I think.

Ren

Well, I've struggled with understanding this gifted PG lark and what to do about it. My son is more the creative, visual spatial, divergent thinker than the orderly, linear, auditory sequential student. He's also not motivated externally, which poses another set of challenges.

I think if you have a child who is more motivated from external sources and learns in a more traditional classroom way, then Anderson and some of the programs you've mentioned would work. But if you've got another type of child, like my son, then they are not necessarily going to work. Believe me, I know. I placed my son in one gifted school, only to remove him within 3 months and place him in another due to his learning style and rapid acceleration. At the end of the day, you cannot put a square peg in a round hole no matter how hard you try.

One part of learning is exposure but that's only one part. There's so much more to learning than stuffing kids with facts and details, which we can get obsessed with. I actually think it's more important to get kids engaged and motivated internally with learning and being able to share their thoughts and ideas.

It's fine and dandy to have the fancy degrees, but I wonder if it's not more important in life to be able to relate to people, have confidence, take chances, and trust your imagination and big picture thinking. I mean where's the joy in some people's lives if we're constantly chasing degrees, money, and material objects? Are we not losing sight of what makes us human in the first place?

To be fair, NYC can provide a host of opportunities that are not available (or so readily available) elsewhere. Still, there's a limit to what you can do within a day, week, month, or year.

I'm not even thinking about high school yet (grin). I'm just trying to get through the end of this academic year. My head spun enough with NYC and moving to MA, switching gifted schools within a 4 months, etc.

We are well preserved in MN.

There is so much more to life but I am not sure school is expected to teach all of what you mention. In my head, a lot of the rules comes from things I remember my parents said to me.

Making me read a map at 5 and telling me I can get to anywhere from anywhere, I just have to find the path. Even how to bargain, set your price and walk. I did that with DD6 when we were in Egypt a few weeks ago. She saw them put the stuff away and say no and then when I was walking down the street they ran after me and agreed. Little things but all those things add up.

Taking her snorkeling and seeing how much there is underwater. No school is going to do that for 4, 5 and 6 year olds. Walking the dog through the woods after dinner and looking for monarch caterpillars on milk weed. Showing her why they call it milk weed. All of it, makes you see the big picture. It is a way of all the little things. As much as these schools like Speyer profess to teach our gifted kids the big picture, I think it is a day to day habit we teach our kids. Just like our kids tend to walk like we do. Watch parents and older children and you will see a very similar walk.

What school is going to teach my kid to trade in 7th grade. I can do that. Not that gifted schools are not good in many ways and they are all different. But as I mentioned about that kid in 11th grade at Hunter finishing math at Columbia. He was Hunter elementary reject. So what is the peer group? I only hope for the best and try what is available and supplement.

Ren