Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Schools for the Gifted

I've been thinking more since i wrote my last pro-public school post.

Dottie- DS is 12 and in his first year of middle school. He is not grade advanced but is +3 in math and in a gifted cluster 1/3 of the day for reading/language. I was prepared for a bit of a fight when we started middle school, but they took one look at DS's scores and gave us a dream schedule.

bianc85a--I really am not suggesting the public school is the right place for every kid or that there is anything wrong with finding a good fit for you child. You have a place where she is thriving and that is fabulous.

kimca--you make a great point about diversity. I have always lived where the publics schools are where the poor kids go because I have mostly lived in small towns and poor urban areas. I know that is not always the case and that sometimes one actually finds more diversity outside the public schools, so I'll apologize for over generalizing.

tamianne--I agree that I would not keep DS in public school if it were not working just for diversity, especially if he were angry/scared/depressed because I don't want his associations with diverity to by negative.

tamianne and bianc850a--We have not had problems with DS not having his educational needs met or having intellectual peers. It's not that he is especially challenged or that he has any real peers, we just find that there are other ways and places to meet these needs. I have joked that I actually home school, it's just that I consider the public school to be an important part of his curriculum. LOL. We supplement academically and socially after school, on weekends, and over the summer. With the money we save by going to public school, we can afford great summer programs where he is challenged and makes good friends. We travel. We read as a family a lot. He has music lessons and lots of time playing with the neighborhood kids. I also tell DS that he is responsible for his own learning and that he can learn wherever he goes. But I do understand that this works for us partly because of of DS's personality and partly because the schools have been adaptable.

The point I wanted to make in my first post is to encourage people who are still deciding what to do to give public schools a chance. More people than just your child will benefit if your child is able to succeed there. There is more at stake in our educational decisions than just where our child will get the best *academic* education--I think we forget that school isn't just a commodity. That being said, if you try it and it isn't working, then, of course, try something else. I get on my soapbox because I have had 6 of my good friends take their kids from the public schools just because they heard that the high school wasn't very good, even though their kids were in elementary and their kids hadn't had problems. The result has been that I am now the only parent from my son's class (of 100 kids) who regularly volunteers. That's why I get so frustrated!

Wow- so much great discussion! I have a few thoughts to share as well. First of all, ACS, if you think you said something offensive, please point it out, as I cannot find it! You are too sweet to be concerned that voicing your opinion will earn you any animosity. My family was supporting public schools up until we found they just wouldn't work with us. I still vote in favor of our public schools when local matters come up, and I am upset when I hear of budget cuts.

Cathy, I read about your school in Blue Balliett's books, right? I'm so touched by your story and I am glad that you found a place where you felt comfortable.

Bianca, I am happy to hear that you were not sleeping at the wheel! I have heard mixed reviews of Mirman, and I suppose it only goes to show that it all depends upon the individual.

Thanks,Lorel, for the encouragement. I did not actually want to say anything offensive, nor hurt anyone. I think, though, I know how hard we all work to do the right thing for our kids and agonize and second guess ourselves crazy. So I worry whenever I talk about hating my own grade skip or working hard to keep DS in public school that someone who made a different decision will feel that I have judged them unfairly. In other words I imagine that everyone is as fragile as I am. LOL. Second, although I am not mad at anyone on the board, I am still annoyed with my friends who pulled their kids out(without any reason but hearsay) and left the PTA high and dry and DS's class with no volunteers but me. I was afraid some of that anger would come through in my post, but I'm glad to hear it didn't!

Dottie,
Strangely, the scores that worked are the state mandated test scores. I don't much care for the test myself, but I've taken the attitude that if the state mandates them, then they'll have to live with the results. The one good thing about them, though, is that the are on the computer and they self-adapt. So when DS gets a score that says "advanced for 10th" and he's only in 4th, he really has gotten several 10th grade questions (even though the questions themselves may not be well written, etc)

acs: Your post didn't offend. I do, however, get annoyed/offended/angry when someone (e.g. my mother, a former teacher acquaintance, etc.) say that we "owe it to the schools" to keep DS6 in public school.

Wha-huh? Um, no. The schools owe it to *us* to return to us the sunny, happy boy we sent to them, only with more knowledge in his little head. (They failed on both accounts!) *We* do not owe the schools anything!

I was always very pro-public schools...until they let DS6 down so dramatically. When we pulled him out, we had thought we might send him back to the public schools with a grade skip. But that seems unlikely now. Home schooling has been much too healthy for him to go back. We'd definitely go gifted school before we'd go back to public school!

We are also considering a private gifted school (also more diverse than our lily-white, middle-class suburban public school), so I'd love to hear more about the good and the bad from those with kids in gifted schools.

Our tuition would be 10K per year. Is it worth that? Especially given the fact that home school is going swimmingly? Why might a small gifted school (with less than 100 students in K-12) be better than home schooling with the support of a highly active home schooling association?

acs - also adding that nothing was offensive in your post. I respect everyones opinions here and welcome the different points of view. I think thats whats so unique about this site...we are all able to actually *hear* beyond our own opinions. I honestly feel like the experiences and opinions from all of you are worth their weight in gold.

No, I think that one is in Chicago. The Uni High I went to is in Champaign-Urbana (near the U of I campus). We got to use the U of I computer lab and gym. Some of the kids were taking classes at the U.

Classes were taught in a lecture style, like university classes. Exams were written in blue books. The curriculum was compacted and accelerated. I went there for three years until my family moved to another state.

I started my junior year in a public high school in Washington state. After going to Uni, I really didn't fit in! They put me in Physics, Calculus, 4th yr. German, AP Lit and AP History that year. Then there was nothing left for me to take as a senior. So I took wood shop, photography, metal shop, driver's ed, Washington State history (a class for 9th graders), choir and I read German novels to myself in 4th yr German (again). I also joined the swim team. Even though I didn't make any true friends at my new school, I still had that self-esteem boost from going to Uni. I knew that there were people like me "out there" and that I would find them when I went to college. Just knowing that helped a lot!

Acs -
are the tests NWEA's MAP or is there another self adjusting test out there? I think these tests have a lot of potential, and hope that NCLB adopts some kind of "adaptive" testing. Would you be so kind as to start another thread about the standardised testing. I'd like to hear the pro's and the con's.

Acs - I'm really happy for your son. 1/3 of each day in a gifted pull out and subject acceleration! That is wonderful. Our public school district abolished their gifted program, subject acceleration is very rare and disorganized, and has adopted the "we've got handfuls of kids with test scores just like your son" approach. Believe me, I would be tearing out my hair if my neighbors were giving up on a public school system that was as amazing as yours also. Basically I hate when people predujudge Anything. I reccomend you and Dottie start writing letters to the editor on a weekly basis. I will caution you that in our town the perception was "If your kid is special needs or gifted everything is peachy, but the ones in the middle really suffer."

Shrugs and More Shrugs,
Trinity