I certainly wasn't sad that DS was/is GT. I was happy about that. I was sad when he was no longer fitting in at school. He was miserable. His personality was changing. Everyone around me is beaming about how GREAT our school district is. Everyone moves here for this district which is now bursting at the seams. Granted his K teacher was HORRIBLE and mostly everyone in the class thought so - so that year I could write off. His 1st grade year was fine, started complaining when the teacher wound things down in March b/c the kids had met the standards (she gets the *high* kids). In 2nd grade his teacher was really trying!!! She talked me, I was open w/ her, she gave some more challenging work but it wasn't enough. Then the daily 2hr fights over homework just wore me out. He's being HS'd now.
I wasn't sad that he was GT. I was mourning the loss of time alone w/ my baby (my last baby), scared of the responsibility of being totally responsible for his education. When I was in school, I loved all the performances, science fairs etc and having my mom attend. I also mourned the loss of being a *normal* person rather than the one who is advocating, being pushy, demanding more for her kid. I had a mom who fought the fight and succeeded (where no one has before) and she told me, after talking to her, that being from the South, I didn't stand a chance. I was too nice, non-confrontational to get very far. She had to go as far as getting a lawyer and threatening to sue the school. That just makes me positively squeamish.
And HSing is just not done here - there is no need b/c we have such a great school district I've been told. So there is no support network here. There are other HSers north of me, about 30-60min away but w/ a toddler, traveling far is difficult. I also decided to put my Ker in school so we're constrained by his time schedule. DS8 is not an easy child and I couldn't deal w/ his issues (developed from being underchallenged for 3yrs) w/ DS5 at home. I live out in the burbs and over an hour away from any museums so even the wonderful homeschool I envision for DS is not possible and I mourned the loss of that lol.
So I guess what made me sad was the loss of being part of the crowd, heading out for coffee w/ all the moms once the kids are in school, putting my career even further on hold to HS DS, losing time w/ DD, losing time to exercise and do anything for me. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not resentful, but I did go through a short, very short mourning period of all things normal and the free time I"d have once DS5 was in school to get caught up on their scrapbooks, etc.
