Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Touring a school for the gifted.

I got curious about a local private school for the gifted and signed up for a tour.

I'm pretty sure this school is financially way out of our league, and it's more than 30min from our house, but I'd like to check it out all the same.

I hope I'm not setting myself up for another bout of disappointment. I went to a conference at a different private school (about 1hr away) and the place was so fabulous I was really disappointed that I couldn't give my kids an opportunity to go to a school like that...<sigh>.

Well, I don't think it hurts to check it out yourself. But I know how you feel, I haven't checked out any of the private gifted schools for the same reason.

I would hate them to get excited and then not be able to swing it.

Maybe they can offer some financial assistance if you say it is out of your league it won't hurt to go and see it.

Please share your experience after the tour. I think it's always good to know what's out there/ available.... even though it may be out of reach for now. U may be able to "steal" a tip or 2 for home-use during the tour.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

They also have a half-time program and enrichment classes you can sign up for which may be more within our reach. And maybe financial aid is a possibility. At ~$1800/mo we would definitely need it. That's more than our rent!

I was a little surprised when the lady who called me back to set up the tour appointment told me to bring DS's WPPSI results with me. But I guess there's no harm in that. Is that the way these things are usually done?

I will. It's on Tuesday.

Go ahead and see it. It may not work as a full time school (too expensive or/and too far), but they may offer a great enrichment program. Not to mention it's always nice to have a back up option in case things don't work out in his current school.

I only wish I could go and see gt schools around here. There are none Zilch. Nothing. The closest one is 1.5-2 hours away. At least we have an access to a great gt weekend program. It's far but it's ok if we do it only once a week.

Good luck! The gifted school where my ds6 goes is definitely out of our financial league -- we get hefty financial aid, and I hit up my parents for some tuition help (who are in a financial position to contribute). There was no *way* we could have afforded it on our own.

And it's a 35-minute drive from home.

But ... we sucked it up and checked it out, and then we made it work.

It's made all the difference in the world for ds6 -- he loves going to school and is appropriately placed. So definitely, go look! You may be surprised at what you can finagle if push comes to shove.

As for bringing the WPPSI with ... maybe that *is* how they do it. Do they have a numerical cut-off? Ds's school did, so maybe the school you're touring just wants to make sure your ds does qualify for admission?

Good luck! Can't wait to hear about it.

They don't have a published cutoff. Entrance seems to be based on an interview which they told me is not a test. So I'm not sure why they want to see the WPPSI, but it's ok with me.

I toured the school this morning--it's much smaller than I expected. It's just a few rooms that they are renting in the community center portion of a church. There's also a swimming pool and a grassy area with a play structure.

Right now they have about 25 students of various ages. They emphasize experiential learning and meet with families to create tailored educational goals for the kids. It looks fun, it has some structure but it's flexible and non-authoritarian. There are adult mentors (instead of teachers) who help the kids work on their goals and structure their day. The structure is fairly loose, though, e.g.

Morning: arrival and choice time, snack, language arts
Noon: lunch, recess
Afternoon: math, biology, swimming.

The place has a homey feel to it, looks lived-in. They do a cooking project together on Fridays. There were lots of projects in various stages of completion around like a three foot high balsa wood Rube-Goldberg type contraption put together with liberal amounts of hot glue, there were computers where some kids were doing math games. Some kids were playing a complicated looking board game. Another boy was on the floor working on a large map-like project that he had made. Some kids were working on their language arts theme projects.

The kids are allowed to choose any theme and then choose to do three projects related to their theme, one of which has to involve writing. Some of the options are: write a biography of about a person related to your theme, research your theme and give an oral report, collect or draw pictures related to your theme, write a story related to your theme, build a diorama, etc.

They have specialists come in to teach the kids, e.g. one week will feature a biology professor who takes the kids on a nature walk, another week they'll have an artist who shows them how to make kinetic sculptures.

For us, there would be downsides--the expense = $16,000/yr/kid. We just couldn't do it. The commute is bad. With the small number of kids I would be afraid that some kids would not find a buddy to bond with. I am debating whether to take the kids to visit the school (the next step in the admissions process) since I don't have much hope it could work and I don't want to get their hopes up.