JosieJo,
I agree with Kriston, and would add that half day programs are better than full day, if you have the option.
We had success in K, but there were two factors working in our favor:
1) a really good teacher, who "got" our DS and wanted him to learn and grow. Do not underestimate the power of a caring, unthreatened teacher. She is why I know that DS6 is HG+, because she requested testing. I knew he was GT, but I thought he was MG. She was wonderful!
2) a mostly non-academic K class. I know that sounds odd, but it really helps if what the kids are doing is mostly playing and exploring and FOK stuff, rather than learning letters and numbers (etc.) that they already know. The more academic the curriculum, the harder it is for the teacher to give an HG+ child what s/he needs intellectually.
...
Look for a mostly play-based, social curriculum and a teacher who is sympathetic to GT kids. Good luck! I hope you find something that works for you!
Sad to say that they isn't any garentee that the private 'gifted' school will be a match for your DS either, so I'm going to reccomend that you take some preventive action. I strongly suggest that you get a hold of the Singapore Math workbooks, and jump him through to the point were his Math Skills equal his Math concepts. This for two reasons:
1) You want him to get into the habit ASAP that he will always have additional Math work, from Mom, at his readiness level no matter what is going on in the classroom. I want you to 'do as I didn't' and be very structured and disiplined about it.
oooh, ooooh new phrase emerging from brain -
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, so is working at readiness level!
2) You want to communicate clearly to the school that he 'really does understand Math and can be excused from their math class.' Which ever school it is, you're going to want him to be subject accelerated - in or out of the classroom. Since the teachers won't usually understand that a circle is in fact made of an infinite number of sides, you have to communicate his math ability by showing off that he can do the things that they are familiar with. see the posts about hothousing for more of this line of reasoning.
So, cut out the 'shucks folks, we're just like everyone else' (which is what was going on in my house) or whatever else is keeping you from giving him workbooks, and get busy. BTW, this doesn't mean he has to do every example on every page. Buy a few years worth of books so you can find his readiness level, ok?
Love and More Love,
Grinity
