Hello all,
Am I still new if I've already posted a bit here and there? Regardless, I'll introduce myself and then ask the bevy of questions that have been piling up in my head lately.
I have 2 sons, ages 3 (36 months) and 18 months. The three year old has been reading for over a year and reads fluently. His comprehension has not caught up with his decoding ability (for instance, yesterday he read the phrase "extra-insulated," but I doubt he knew what that meant), but his vocabulary is nonetheless unusually large (his newest favorite word is "blur," which he both uses correctly and finds hilarious). He can also count, in two languages, even though neither his father nor I speak the second language (his grandfather, who he sees every four months or so, speaks it as a second language). He can do simple addition and subtraction. His memory is remarkably good.
The 18 month old has consistently been hitting milestones early, but it's too soon to say anything more than that.
We are at a point of thinking about schooling for our three year old. I am determined that he will not have the same unsatisfactory experiences I had. There are three main issues for us:
1) Right now, we are looking at preschools, though I am trepidatious about sending him, to be honest. The options in our area boil down to: Head Start programs, parochial schools, and Montessori schools. Neither Head Start nor parochial schools are appropriate for our family.
I like a lot about the Montessori method, and in general, I like the three schools we have narrowed it down to. However, it is clear that he has already mastered much (all? I don't know the curriculum well enough) of the reading curriculum at the primary level. When we spoke with the first two schools about what he would do for reading, one said that materials could be brought down for him from the elementary school, and the other (which is also pre-K through 8) made vague noises about him working at his own pace, without explaining how that was going to happen. The third school is a language immersion school which has no English language instruction.
At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I guess I fear lip service on the part of the schools, though I have no specific reason to expect that. I'm actually leaning toward sending him to whichever school will have the smallest (monetary) penalty for removing him early, which feels like the wrong attitude to have. Any insights, experiences, things to consider, or further questions to ask the schools would be very welcome.
2) We are thinking about having his IQ assessed. The assessment would allow us to have a better idea of his abilities, it would provide evidence (if needed) in future school situations, and it might allow us to apply for DYS (depending on scores, of course). However, even after doing some reading, I'm not sure when to have the testing done or which instrument to use. Does anyone have thoughts on those two subjects?
3) Before his cognitive abilities became apparent, we had planned to move in the summer of 2013. The cities we are considering are the greater SF Bay Area (all the way from the South to the North Bay, and everywhere in between), the Chicagoland area, Denver, Portland, and Reno.
Does anyone have a public gifted elementary (or better, K-8) school/program that they love in one of those cities? Are we insane to give any weight to a potential school, given that many gifted kids end up changing schools and given that I am becoming more and more disenchanted with public schools the more I read about them?
Thanks for reading and for any input or thoughts!
