Welcome! This reminds me of our own struggle especially for my DS (now entering high school); for DD we were experienced :-). We provided lots of learning opportunities at home and their play-based daycare center was very permissive and supportive. Basically you would do fine following your son's lead and provide him with what he needs in learning. It's the school that's tricky. Things will certainly be different for each school district or even for each teacher. We have been to two districts, neither with a GT program even though both are incredibly strong districts. The rationale is that there would be too many students qualified for a GT program if there were one. So the schools would focus on in-classroom differentiation instead of developing a stand-alone GT program. Then you can imagine the in-classroom differentation really doesn't do much other than providing a few enrichment activities around the regular curriculum. We also have never met any teacher who could truly challenge our kids at the level that they need. So my suggestion is to assess the situation early, talk to parents with similar kids (if you know of any), check out local GT organizations and connect with the families there, use the resources online (like those already suggested by others), read GT education books. But keep in mind that it is possible that you will need to build an educational environment for your son with little support from your local schools. Also, check out if there are GT private schools. (Our area has two but neither meets our needs.) But it will be a very exciting journey for you and your child no matter what!
Last edited by playandlearn; 07/27/14 06:51 AM.
