Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy 4.5 yrs... early entry K or wait for early entry 1

I agree that if your DD can handle the full day, then the GT charter school sounds good.

But I want to *stress* that I think that's a *BIG* "if"!

My DS had half-day K at 5yo. He didn't hit full-day school until 6. Now granted, he was bored silly in 1st grade, and he's an introvert so all that time with people was pretty wearing on him. But even if he hadn't been bored, I think it was inevitable that it would be a very, VERY long day for him. And he was 6!

Consider the public school half-day program if your DD would be worn out by the full-day AND if the public school half-day program is NOT highly academic. A half-day of mostly play can be better than an exhausting full-day.

UGGGGG OH MAN! Now as much as I'm not sure all-day is best... the lower median age is very appealing as many of the k kids now mostly have birthdays around 2 months of either side of a traditional cutoff. BUT, I now it sounds like there is a real chance they might axe the k class because of problems every year getting enough enrollment.

so what is my plan b? I've talked to the public school a number of times regarding my 1st grader... they only believe in class room differentiation and they off 2-3 hours per week of pull-out. but with a HG/EG child in a classroom of 29 kids with one teacher... am i being negative to believe this could work... i ultimately want to keep all these kids together. do i sell our house in this market and move to one of the local districts with self containted gifted classrooms.... or fight legally for our district which told us last year they couldn't help us to make a neighboring district take us as non-residents.

Went to hear sylvia rimm last night. man, i feel for all of you who have to advocate as a full-time job to get your kids educated to their potential.

Why do you want to keep your kids together? If one school is best for one kid and another for the other, why not split them up? Is it a logistical nightmare?

Just hoping to clarify...

But you did it if it was best for your child, right?

I mean, I'm not necessarily advising it, and it may well be a logistical nightmare for kickball, and I believe that solutions have to work for the total family. I'm not a big fan of maternal martyrdom.

I just wanted to be sure that she wasn't ruling it out without consideration. I have a preschooler and a 1st grader, and they were obviously in different schools with different schedules until we began HSing. Was it my ideal situation to have two schools? Probably not, but it worked fine for us.

Of course, both schools were within a 15-minute drive of our house. That does matter!

We are facing the same type of decision with DS5 except that we are looking at early entry to 1st and not K. IMO,neither K or 1st will be an academic challenge but I think 1st might have more of a social fit for him. Good luck with your decision--it seems you have some control of it. My decision will be decided by our public school district since we have strict age guidelines.

I can also definitely relate to the different school thing: I have 2 in a daycare 10 minutes from my work in one direction and my oldest is in a school 15 minutes from my work in the opposite direction. When I have to drop off or pick up all them it can take me over an hour from start to finish and more with traffic.

Not logistics. If what is best for the girls is different schools, I'll make that happen. After all, the charter school is already the most geographic nightmare and we do it. After much debate about that commute, I decided it isn't convenient but neither is pregnancy or having kids so...

My fear about bis sis's school not offering K is it might have been a great option for dd#2's k because the median or average age in the room would be younger than many other options (while the upper grades fill with kids id'ed or struggling without gt programs the k class is folks who didn't know if there kid was ready for k get tested and realize they are more than ready). Anway, that's the reason for the UG.. plus i know the school won't blink an eye about early entrance. now it is an option but 60% chance+ that that class won't happen.

If we moved it isn't about getting the kids in the same school. It would be to get into a school district that offers self contained (ability grouped) gifted classrooms. We do not have this in our public district - so we drive an hour round trip to a charter school that does ability group for HG/EG dd#1.

Hear you. The best advice we got last year from a teacher in our family was 'there is no perfect school' just find the best suited for you from your options and embrace it.

Yup. There's an article on Hoagies website (by Carolyn K herself, if memory serves...) that calls it "choosing the least-worst option." That's about the best we can hope for, which grinds the gears of many a perfectionist parent, like me.

So if the K class at the GT charter school doesn't go, what are you thinking?

If it does go, will you place your DD there?