Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The Gifted Mother

Since
(1) the curricula and pacing in American schools are often unsuitable for both gifted and normal kids, necessitating afterschooling
(2) elite college admissions is opaque and subjective
(3) college financial aid formulas are complicated

gifted parents in the U.S. are "blessed" with many intellectual puzzles to solve in educating their children .

For example, there is an entire non-fluffy book "The Early Admissions Game: Joining the Elite" devoted to where your children should apply early (early fall rather than December) to college to maximize admissions chances. The cover of the book has chess pieces, suggesting that this game is complicated, just like chess, and the text discusses probabilistic models that can guide the decision. Cool, I like chess and probability problems. It's arguably unfair to make the system so complicated, but the complex system has been created who say they are more devoted to fairness than I am.

Balance? What's that?

For years, the "time and energy needs" of learning everything I could about giftedness and making sure my son was in a good place education-wise was the single best outlet for my own giftedness/intensity. This was an incredibly enriching process and period for me, teaching me volumes about myself and my own educational experience, among other things.

However, my son is in a near-perfect school situation, so there's little for me to do in terms of advocacy for him, and I have only one real-life friend with whom I can safely discuss my passion for gifted issues, so I kind of feel like I'm reaching the limits of what I can do with this line of exploration, unless I become active in gifted advocacy at the local or national level, which I occasionally consider.

I've tried to direct some of my energy and drive elsewhere, with reading, writing, traveling and volunteering (both on my own and with DS), but I don't have any intellectual pursuits in my life right now that are nearly as exciting or fulfilling as those first few years of discovering this forum and all-things-gifted. So, in short, I'm not dealing well at the moment, feeling very bored and restless, looking for the next big thing.

Gifties can be very good at finding ideas to explore or puzzles to solve. Have you thought about taking one or more courses in a field you're interested in but never pursued? Is there a writer's group near you? Writer's groups can be very good for stimulating the imagination and getting pen to paper.

I have listened to some of The Great Courses on CD. Just finished an evening continuing education course this week. Haven't tried a writing group, but I've considered them. I'm thinking I might need a "cause" more than anything. Just taking in information isn't enough to shake the feeling of idleness...

gifted parents in the U.S. are "blessed" with many intellectual puzzles to solve in educating their children .
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So True ! This my full time job !

homeschool ... and always trying to come up with new ways of reaching out to our little Autistic "genius" and his emotionally intense brother

I build things. Furniture, lego sets, houses and gardens in Minecraft (oh yeah, I went there. . . LOL).

Not enough. See Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration. I am still in the dis-integration part. Hoping to go back to school in the fall.

Near-constant advocacy (by necessity more than by choice) and an intellectually demanding "part-time" job.

And I'm in a book club.