Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Need Some Objective School Choice Help

Trying to decide what to do with DS4 next year. Our current options, along with my thoughts, are:

1. Continue with his Montessori preschool. It will be his third year there. He's been complaining of boredom, which is why I had him tested. I like the theory of being able to differentiate the education to the child's needs, but that hasn't happened so far. Now that they know, he's still doing too much repetition. I do feel some guilt over not completing the "three year cycle" by pulling him out now. I wonder how much he'd benefit from the extended day curriculum and being the big kid in the class. The cost is a downside, but it's doable.

2. Homeschooling. This was my first thought, as he showed signs of being a VSL and I'm reading that VSLs tend to not do so well in school. He definitely hasn't been overachieving. I'm gifted myself and have some teaching experience and also a willingness/eagerness to learn about teaching him to find the right methods for him. In my fantasy, I can sort of help him hack his brain and focus deeply on things he's interested in. There seems to be a large local homeschooling community and I'm dipping my toe in the water. In reality, I know that this is hard work. He's currently very resistive of anything that has to do with "learning" even if it's presented in a fun way. We also have a toddler who will be 18 months in the fall. I can "homeschool" her a bit too, but it's a juggling act.

3. Public kindergarten. Never been a huge fan in general, but I visited the school and was surprised by what I saw. Academics looked OK, but I also noticed some of the things that we don't get as much of in the Montessori environment -- creative things like music and art. DS is not yet reading, so that could be good, but he does know all his letters/sounds fairly well and I know he'll be at least 2 grade levels ahead in math. The school provides no formal gifted program.

He's generally pretty easygoing and I think he'd do "just fine" in any environment. But I want him to really thrive.

Thoughts?

No answers for you, just some more things to think about...

1) I think you'd have to question the value of him completing the "three year cycle" at this point. If there's no value, then there's no guilt, right?

2) Homeschooling can be a GREAT option... but don't dismiss school based on anything you've read about VSL. There's not a lot of science behind any of that. For what it's worth, I'm a VSL, and if you measure such things in terms of honor societies and AP test results, I excelled in school. My VSL DD8 does very well, too.

We recently had a good conversation about the nature of VSL here: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....core_Pulls_the_Others_Up.html#Post152079

3) Hard to say. If he's not reading yet, then K sounds like the right placement. There's a lot more to the day than math, so if that's the only area where he's advanced, it might not be a bad option.

Even in a school without a gifted program, there are still options. He might accelerate a year after K. He might be placed in a mixed-level class and do the math with the older group. He might leave the class and go to another one for math.

LMS, I just wanted to say that if you homeschool, keep in mind that a four year old doesn't really need any direct instruction. Kids at that age do most of their learning through play. I have been homeschooling my two gifted kids all along, and when they were four, we went to the library a lot, baked, watched documentaries, took walks in the woods, spent at least a day per week at the science museum, etc. My daughter was very resistant at that age to my "teaching" her anything, and my husband swore that homeschooling wouldn't work for that reason. But really, kids at that age are naturally resistant to too much instruction, and they will be learning tons just going about their day.

I did find that supplementing our "unschooling" with subscriptions to sites like dreambox and readingeggs for math and reading allayed my occasional terrors about them "not learning." Those sites comforted me, and I know my kids learned from them, but they probably weren't really necessary!