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This was our experience. And a whole lot of vanilla GT kids who were GT only in either math or verbal didn't really cut it for us. If that 40% indicates lots of MG-HG kids and even a sprinkling of EG & PG kids, then it could work quite nicely.

I still think the most important thing about a school is that they have the ability to recognize LOGs, however they come to that--whether because they're a GT school that specializes in GT, or because they're a "mediocre" school that can see that your child is truly different from most/all their other kids, or some other way. If the school recognizes LOGS, the staff is probably going to understand your child, and that's key. You all speak the same language, which gets everyone off on the right foot.

Ditto from me! What a relief!
Grinity

[quote=gratified3] We're moving this summer and have a magnet option, but we're trying to figure out what district we want for the home or backup school. Is a mediocre school ok or should I be looking for a school that says 40% of its students are GT? Somehow, to me, that seems pretty close to "all our kids are gifted" which generally means no learning at all for my kids. I think, especially as the kids get older, that social fit means a lot and I'm wondering if a school with 40% GT would have a better social fit, even if the academics leave something to be desired.
/quote]

Of course the school with the good leadership would be my first choice, but it's probably too early to judge that one. My idea is to pick a neighborhood were the kids will fit in, values wise - rather than learning readiness-wise. It's kind of a drag to explain over and over why you kid has rules and stuff that are so different from the neighborhood kids, if you have a choice. I'm not sure how much HG and PG kids ever feel 'at home,' but it does take a village to raise a child.

Of course I'm praying that the Magnet doesn't fall through!
Grinity

I am in agreement with everyone here in that grade skipping is multi-faceted. One issue that hasn�t been mentioned here recently is eventual college admissions. My son dreams of attending a particular one which is listed in the top ten for most selective colleges. It�s not the prestige that interests him, but rather the focus of the school. I have recently read that colleges generally do not give special consideration for high accomplishments attained before the usual age.

My gut feeling is that DS11 will be a stronger candidate if we keep him at grade level (7th next year) while moving him to a very rigorous school which only attracts and accepts high achieving students instead of accepting the offer to skip him into a regular (meaning no AP courses) high-school as a freshman next year.

Since he did not receive accelerated math as early as he needed, he has only been instructed through pre-algebra. Either school will allow him to start out with Alg1 next year, but I don�t think they would feel comfortable with him skipping it (pre-algebra would have been the one to skip). So, if he entered 9th grade, he would only have three additional years left before college to get through (honors) geometry, algebra 2 and pre-calc/trigonometry. By staying in grade at a preparatory school, he will get those plus AP statistics and AP calculus before high school graduation.

In our particular situation, an additional grade skip (or two) would have been advantageous in the earlier grades, but somewhat of a penalty if taken now.

The college decision is a hard one. Because if you have a brilliant 18 year old senior who has become angry with the system and discouraged with school, it doesn't really matter how brilliant or appropriately aged they are.

<nodding head>

I saw the same anger brewing in our DS6 that you all are describing, and that's why we pulled him out for homeschooling.

At the time, we didn't want to grade-skip because he likes to play sports and will definitely need the time for his coordination to catch up. I value the lessons that being not-bad but not a star in sports can teach a kid, I didn't want to have him miss out on that. (He's a perfectionist when it comes to sports, so a grade skip at this time would pretty much have ensured that he never played sports in school.)

But he's also well past what the schools are teaching and he's an "old soul," so keeping him in that age-level classroom was simply not an acceptable option for now. We wanted to be able to put him back at age-level (or close) in high school, when he can take more advanced coursework and even college courses for free. So for now, our "least-worst" option was obviously HSing.

Once I got him home and saw how fast he was picking things up, I understood why he was so angry and frustrated in first grade. He's making a lot more friends now than he made at public school, when he was unhappy and probably no fun to be around. (I had to call a limit on the number of kids he could invite to his birthday party this spring!) He's also got the time and energy for doing "kid stuff," whereas before we pulled him out, he was exhausted and miserable when he got home from school. He almost never wanted to play outside, and now he's outside more than he's inside. It's been very healthy for him.

I think a grade skip would have solved much of that problem for us, too, but at the time, for us, HSing seemed a better fit. I do know that we had to do something. What was happening to our bright, happy, fun kid was not acceptable. The light inside him was dying. It's back now.

FWIW...

What a great thread! Such good info. in here! We're currently in the process of choosing a school (likely bypassing K) for DSalmost5, and what has been both interesting/funny/extremely frustrating is that DS seems to "like" or "dislike" the schools that he has gotten to "try" (and yes, we are insisting that they let him come spend time in the classroom!) based on the other kids in the room, and, more specifically, whether he has found another dinosaur-obsessed child (and his bar is high - you can't just like 'em, you have to LOVE them and be able to debate about them!). It gives me hope that he will find peers who like his "big" interest at least enough that he can pull them along with him in his dino learning. But, I'm worried that I'm going to get "lazy" and miss other signs if he's seemingly happy at school because he can talk dinos in his "off" times there. Or, if he's happy, I guess I should assume the rest is good...or not...keep the thoughts coming...this is a really great thread!

Yes, but how do you KNOW if he's happy or not? I need a checklist - mine is "happy" in that school is "good" or "fine" but the exciting and fun times are recess, PE, Art, Music. He can't (won't talk about, does't understand,didn't learn anything, learned too much?? ) tell me what he learned - it's "I don't know". Specific questions get me nowhere. I asked what he'd like to see changed in school and I got "I wish it started later", "I wish there were more games and toys to choose when I finish my work", and "I'd like to brush my teeth after lunch". Is this normal for a 6 YO boy? Who knows! I can't decide if he is happy or not, it's a nightmare merry-go-round (or maybe it's one of those rides where the bottom drops out and you're stuck to the wall by centrifugal force?). Is he/isn't he? Maybe I need a daisy! Frustration reigns supreme here.

I think it depends on the kid.

Mine left us NO DOUBT that he was unhappy in 1st grade, though he appeared quite satisfied with his not-very-academic half-day K program with some in-class differentiation. At the time I (wrongly) assumed that he was MG instead of HG+, so I assumed that his relative satisfaction meant he was well-placed in K. I wonder a bit now, but at least I know that when the fit was REALLY bad--as it was in 1st grade--he is the sort of kid who would let us know that something was wrong.

Some kids just won't let you know that school is way off for them. If they're chameleons who are able to get along well with others their own age and are people-pleasers who like to stay on the teacher's "good kid" list, they may adapt rather than showing that there's a problem. Especially if they don't know that there's any other way for school to be, they may not say, "Mom, I'm bored and underchallenged at school."

I think distinguishing between the child who is truly well-placed and the one who is suffering in silence (maybe without his/her even realizing that being underchallenged is the reason for the dissatisfaction) is one of the most important tasks for the parents of a GT child.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was the chameleon who suffered in silence. One of my biggest worries before this school year began was that DS6 would be, too. I was actually kind of relieved when he started acting out in 1st grade because it meant I wasn't going to have to try to figure out if he was really happy or if he was miserable and just going along. I think making that call can be really hard!

I think I posted this before, but in case I hadn't, here it is:

When my dd was 5 1/2 I enrolled her in Kinder. She attended for less than a week. On the fourth or fifth day she very seriously informed me that if I made her go she would "scream as lound and as long as it took for them to call me and ask me to take her back"

She never had to go to K again...