Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy We're officially applying to DYS! Now...

Hi Krison,

We are submitting the additional info they requested for DD7. DH was supposed to fax it in last week, but has promised to do it Monday.

I'll cross my fingers for both of our kids!

Incog

Hi Kriston,

We're also applying for the 2/15 deadline for DS8. He took the WISC and WIAT in 11/07. The WIAT scores ceilinged out at 160 for both math and reading; WISC FSIQ was 147 with a VCI of 148.

We finally were able to select someone to do a reference for us; moving every 2 years + homeschooling = few non-family people to write references! Our reference-writer sent in her recommendation last week.

I'm just finishing the application this evening and will be sending it out tomorrow. I'm sort of glad that I'm sending in our app toward the deadline, because it means we won't be waiting so long for an answer.

Of course I am nervous and don't want to depend on a "yes" response, even though all of his scores are above their minimums. I feel that he will need advocacy in the near future and it would be wonderful to have DYS support. At 8 (2nd grade) he's doing middle/high school work as a homeschooler, but will need to take traditional classes in advanced subjects soon. I never even took Calculus and couldn't teach it to him - he would need to take a class. At his current pace, he'll be ready for it around age 11, and I know it that DYS assistance would be helpful when that time comes.

Aside from that practical assistance with advocacy, I would appreciate being part of a community of families who deal with a similar parenting experience. I don't know anyone else who has a kid like mine, and many times we feel emotionally isolated as a result. He has good friends, but consciously self-limits around them since they are on a different level in many ways. I would love to help him find a true peer, even just one.

Well. That was quite a ramble! Good luck to you as you wait for your answer. We'll have to post back to this thread when we get our replies. I promise to let you know how we do, even if we are rejected *sob*.

"last week was a 80+ hour work week"

Poor you! I used to have those, but thankfully, no more. Good luck!

Back at you, 'Neato!

Your post left me feeling nervous about the future, czechdrum! My DS is not yet 7, so I haven't even thought about calculus yet! (Though I know I'll have to deal with it sooner than I want to believe...) Ah, that GT denial gets me again. Just when I think I'm through with it, something slaps me in the face!

And I empathize with you about the rec. Homeschooling does make that more challenging to find, and we haven't moved like you have.

Best of luck, friends! I'll be waiting to hear what happens for you! Keep me updated, please!

Good luck to all of you!

Good luck to all of you!

czechdrum you really, really don't need a portfolio on top of all that LOL

Luckily we are a math family and it will take a while before our son reaches the end of our math abilities. One of the very few things we don't have to worry about.

It's done! Whew. I'm UPSing it this afternoon. What a relief.

I'm glad to hear that you don't think we'll need portfolio items. We decided not to include them. If they want them in addition to the app and test reports, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Kriston, the only reason I'm thinking about Calculus is that he's taking Algebra I now. His current math pace has him blowing through a course like that in about 7 months. Since we do lessons year-round (with some periodic breaks), he could very well be ready for Calc by age 11. I feel like I need to be planning NOW so that I have my resources available when he needs them.

This is a huge reason why we're applying to DYS. Our local school proposed a "solution" where he is with his age-mates in 2nd grade for PE, art and music, but then is put on various bus transports throughout the school day to go to all of his other classes at the middle and high school. He can maintain an A average in these subjects, but that doesn't mean I want my newly-turned-8yo wandering around the local high school in a sea of thousands of teenagers for most of the school day. Not yet, anyway. So...we continue to homeschool until we can find a solution that is equally comfortable for quality of education and age-appropriateness. I hope that if he is ready to take Calc at 11 (for example), DYS would help advocate for him to get into a community college course or perhaps hook him up with a tutor or mentor.

Good luck to you! I hope that both of us get positive responses.

Tara

((Snort))
Don't I wish that were true - one would like to think that a child at a bricks and mortar school would have tons of folks who would be happy to write a reccomendation. Didn't happen in our case - more like "he's not the strongest Math student" and "we have handfuls like him in Middle School"

Well, sometimes it's true...
Grinity

I am SO not ready for this!

Dottie - I know. I probably would have been okay with one daily building change/bus trip and most of his classes in the middle school. The middle schools in our district aren't small but manageable sizewise in my opinion.

The high school is just...mammoth. We went to some planetarium programs there (yes, our local high school has its own planetarium in the building) and the walk from the parking lot to the planetarium took almost 15 minutes. Our son was shaking his head and saying, "I wonder how the kids here don't get lost!"

I just couldn't fathom dropping him off at the ES, then having a bus transport him to MS around lunchtime (where presumably he'd fit right in at the cafeteria) and then having another bus transport him from the MS to the high school for the rest of the day. I wish I had the option to homeschool him and enroll him PT in individual classes at the high school, but that isn't allowed in our district.

Tara