Hi all! I am very new to this site, mostly reading and trying to figure things out. But, this topic is very interesting to me as my oldest DS, recently 5, will be in K next year. We are currently in limbo about what to do for K. Our preK is Spanish immersion, and he has done fairly well (first preschool at 3 was a DISASTER!) but the teachers feel like he would do MUCH, MUCH better in a gifted K. We still have days (like yesterday) where he comes home crying about how much he HATES school. He is just barely reading and not at all interested in math but he is VERY cerebral--always wondering, questioning, wanting to know more about topics of interest to the point that he is bored out of his mind in preschool where no one seems to care about his passions. The teachers try, but say that there is no way to really meet his intellectual needs with 14 other 3 and 4 year olds running around and someone always needing their attention. He draws diagrams of red and white blood cells in his preK journal and then tries to share them with the other kids who look at him like he's from another planet. He is really struggling to make any friends and it has been hard.
Sooo, we're trying to decide what to do for next year. We did apply to a charter school for gifted in our district which required the WPPSI. He scored HG and the psychologist feels like it was a "low estimate" and from what I've read on here some of these early test scores may or may not be all that valid. I wasn't that wild about the charter school but at least they are claiming to address the needs of gifted kids. It is a lottery though and VERY competitive so there's like a 30% chance we'd get in.
We recently found out that there is another new charter school opening which will cater to HG+ kids as well as gifted girls, challenging boys, and 2E kids. I talked to the director and am kind of leaning towards that option b/c they are advertising an experiential approach that I think would really match DS's learning style. I'm a little worried since the school is BRAND new but we could always give it a try.
We both work so homeschooling is not an option and, besides, we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old so I feel like homeschooling would totally shortchange our oldest!
I appreciate hearing from others! We are really struggling right now, as there are few people to talk to about this. Our DS does not seem all that "normal," but sometimes we wonder if we are just bad parents and did something wrong that he is having such a hard time adjusting! I know that's not true, but I can't help but feel bad for him. Of course, I just want him to be happy! It's nice to find support from other parents who are non-judgmental.
