Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion New and disoriented

Hello-
We just had my DD4.5 tested out of curiosity due to her early milestones and what I've recently learned to be over-excitablilities. We were surprised by the WPPSI results (150+) and now are left with a million questions concerning her needs. Now instead of feeling validated about her gifts, we're more concerned about meeting her needs. I am unsure as to what makes her gifted. Nature/Nurture? Thicker dendrites? I've read about children teaching themselves to read, and my daughter has not demonstrated this, although she can read at a 1.3grade level. Our current school district has zero gifted programming. I would like to send her to a gifted school but they are too expensive for us. Homeschooling may be an option, but I have doubts about my abilities. I know I'm not asking specific questions because I'm still processing this.

Another option for some families is virtual schooling. Think of this (at least in the early years) as "homeschooling with a hefty safety net and boundaries." (As long as you don't CALL it homeschooling, all should be well.)

The advantages to a virtual charter school for GT kids entering kindergarten are:

a) no behavior issues due to loads of extra/unfilled time,
b) lots of FREE time to explore
c) self-pacing,
d) more flexible placement (not a given, but likely)

It's great when you can make a lot of the problems associated with asynchrony disappear.


There is plenty to loathe about virtual schooling, but it's not appreciably worse than the downsides associated with brick-and-mortar schooling which is ill-fitting. And with a virtual school, at least you retain control to change things that REALLY seem harmful. You also get to know your child very well as a learner, and that pays enormous dividends down the road.

HG+ kids can have a lot of strange growing pains because of their differences from pretty much everyone they know. Having parents who understand and empathize with those struggles is really key. It also helps to have an advocate who truly understands what you need; where you'll wither and where you'll thrive and grow.

This is where I'm at right now too. My DS7 is PG. We have moved him to a private school and grade skipped as well. School is going fine for now but I would love his schooling to be better than fine. I feel like I owe it to him to let his talents grow without ceilings that will leave him feeling stifled. I would love to homeschool him but I feel uneasy taking on such a large job with no previous experience. I have been reading Creative Home Schooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families by Lisa Rivero. It has given me a lot of useful info and motivation to make me very seriouly consider homeschooling. I highly recommend reading it. I sometimes think of all the things that my gifted child learned at home and it vastly outweighs the amount of things he is learning at a traditional brick-and-mortar school.