We're soon to be closing on a house (fingers crossed) in Libertyville 70. We're meeting with the principal of the neighborhood elementary school tomorrow to get a better idea of what they could offer.

It sounds like the principal you've been working with has been helpful. You you get the feeling he wants to keep your kid in district, or has he been pretty frank about whether or not they could accommodate your child?

DaVinci and Einstein are both way too far away for us to drive from Libertyville. Quest is supposed to be just 30 minutes, but with traffic I'm sure it'd be more like 45 - maybe even an hour.

We are debating keeping the kids (I have a younger daughter too) in the Montesorri until they are old enough for the gifted program. It's much cheaper than Quest, plus the Montesorri is doing a pretty good job of working with our son right now. But free public school would be even better!!

Are you looking for a K-2 school, then plan to transfer your son to the magnet? I know Montesorri doesn't click with every kid, but that might be an option to consider. At the one our kids are at they really let them work at their own pace. My son is in a classroom with 3-6 year olds, but his teacher sometimes goes to the 7-9 year old classroom to get materials for him. It seems that Montesorri's vary a LOT in quality, which often depends largely on the individual teachers. I think we've lucked out in a getting a good teacher.

I was looking on Einstein's website, and the only thing that concerned me was their seeming lack of admission requirements. It makes me worry this is a gifted school for parents who want to pay money to say their kid is in a gifted school. (Sounds really cynical of me, I don't mean to sound so negative!) But it could be that they just don't have formal cut offs but it is still very competitive. It's a very small school, so for some kids (including my son) that could be a big plus.

It looks like DaVinci requires an IQ of 125 to enter (just like Quest) but they say they also make exceptions to this in some cases. It looks like a nice school, at least from their website. I'd be curious to know how those kids do after 8th grade, because it's just a K-8 like Quest.



ETA: I just saw the science and arts academy in Des Plaines is supposed to only by 36 minutes from Libertyville because you can take 294. I have no idea how traffic moves on 294 during rush hour, though. Have you heard anything good or bad about them? Thanks!!!

Last edited by sweetpeas; 01/22/12 07:32 PM.