I am looking for suggestions for schools, homeschool groups, and activities for gifted kids in the greater Cleveland area. We've done a bit of research on our own, but understand that we have blind spots. Plus, we're new to this whole thing.

For context, we have a DS6 who was attending a primary cluster (K-2) at Near West Intergenerational School in Ohio City because they say that they enable children to "learn in a time frame and manner that suit[s] their individual capabilities". After two teacher turnovers, and multiple conversations with faculty and the principal, it was obvious to both them and us that they couldn't/wouldn't tailor an experience for our son's individual capabilities (not to mention the ongoing bullying). We pulled him out near the end of the year for home schooling until we could find something more flexible and cooperative.

Any help is appreciated.

Sorry I missed this earlier.

We just moved from the NEO area.


Have you looked into Menlo Park? I don't have personal experience with it. My husband had a coworker with a child there. They love it. I looked into it as a back up of our home district for my kids. Ultimately, we got what we needed from our home district. We were on east side of town and it would have been quite a haul everyday.

Hi Barbus,
We are from the Greater Cleveland Area too. I agree that you should check out Menlo Park. I took a tour there a few months ago and they seem really good.
My daughter is starting Kindergarten next month. Currently we are going to try our local public school, but we are keeping Menlo Park in mind if it doesn't work out. Though, it will also be a long drive for us.
I too would love to hear any other suggestions.
Also, I have been thinking for a while now about setting up a Meetup group for parents of gifted children. I would love to meet other parents in the area.

We looked into Menlo Park last year. My wife took a couple of tours, scoured the website, and read all their materials (she's very fastidious). Since we were told there were 28 openings for kindergarten, we thought we would have a good chance in their lottery (only siblings of current students can get in without the lottery). We paid the application fee and our DS took the required IQ test. However, when we heard back, we were told that we were number 26 on the waitlist for only 2 open slots. When we asked why we were told that there were more open slots, they informed us that there were only 2 slots open for non-Cleveland residents (we live just west of Cleveland). We looked back over all their material, and nowhere did it mention that. So, we ended up at Near West Intergenerational School.

Our local district has no gifted programs until 3rd grade (With testing in 2nd grade). Since our DS will be entering 1st grade, but is reading at over an 8th grade level and just started 5th grade math, we're going to stick with homeschool until we find a better option.

bmoore4, we're totally open to a Meetup group for gifted kids! We don't know many others in the area, so it would be good to get together.

Are you thinking of campus international? That one is not gifted school, but has a great curriculum. They are a part of CMSD, so you do have a better chance in cleveland. My ds got in twice to menlo, no problem, and we aren't cleveland residents. They are an independent charter with no home district, the only residency requirement is that you live in ohio. Their website actually says they still have openings for the current year.

Amber, We looked at Campus International as well a couple of years ago, but wrote it off because they were up front about giving preference to Cleveland residents and there were very few spots for others. We also weren't a fan of their larger class sizes. But we did like that they had Mandarin instruction.

Have you liked Menlo? Our experiences with them have kind of soured us, but we also don't know anyone with a child there for an insider's view. We are especially interested in flexibility since our DS6.5 would do well with much more advanced math and science, but could still use more grade-appropriate spelling/writing instruction.

We declined admission both times. The first time was for early entrance to K, and we just thought the day was too long with the drive for a 4 year old. The next year we got into K again, but wanted to enroll him in first instead. They didn't have room right away, so they wanted us to just enroll in K and have him tested to move up after a few months. We would have done that, but we also had a not great feeling about how they dealt with food allergies at the time. There seems to be a lot of turn over there, I follow what goes on to keep them on the radar. We ended up homeschooling, and it's working really well, so we've stuck with it.

My niece went to Ruffing Montessori in Cleveland Heights and loved it. From what I've seen and heard, it seems like a great school.

I've heard good and bad about ruffing. I love Montessori, but unfortunately there tuition is not in our budget.

Amber, do you belong to any homeschool groups, or are you flying solo?

Thanks for the input, McSweeny. We have a friend across the street who is going to the west side Ruffing Montessori and they like it, but we're in the same boat as Amber — our budget wouldn't cover it.

We fly solo. There are classes at the art museum, history museum, csu for homeschoolers. It's a great area for homeschooling. It's not my first choice for schooling, but it really works for my boy.

We are at MPA and I really like the educational side so far. It's been a HUGE improvement over our previous school experiences. Accelerated curriculum, lots of hands on activities and a wonderful art teacher. Our child isn't bored!

The administrative side does seem to specialize in a certain level of chaos and turnover though. Communication is poor and sometimes conflicting. It is frustrating at times, but our kiddo is happy and engaged and the teachers 'get' gifted kids.

We couldn't homeschool. My kiddo doesn't like to learn from us and isn't self-directed (yet). We'd exhaust ourselves trying to find third party instruction.