Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Just introducing myself

That was one of the reasons we turned down the Chinese immersion last year for ds.

st pauli girl: I've definitely thought about that problem. It would be interesting to see some research done on that. I'll have to go look that up and find out what's already been done.

Thanks for the input!

I just love that I found this forum! :-)

I'm glad you found us KatieMama. It's so nice to be able to talk about things without having people look at you like you have antennae or something. It does get better when everyone really gets to know your kid, though.

I think that your one-room school house type set-up is probably the most ideal setting for a PG kid when you don't have full-time HG/PG school options available. Sounds like you really lucked out there. Some of the things you do miss out on are faster paced materials and intellectual peers closer to your kid's age. But it sounds like your son is quite social and doesn't have difficulties getting along with kids of all ages.

I can definitely see that happening with some kids... you're absolutely right.

So far my two seem ok, partly because their strengths are in math. DD9 is in the gifted math program: funding is limited and they only take about 3-4 from each school from the intermediate grades, and at the moment there's no primary program (they ran a pilot when DD was in grade 3 and she was in that, but it was cut from the budget).

DS8, meanwhile, has ADHD combined type and a language processing disorder (expressive and receptive), and is constantly challenged by the French - and is very happy.

DD9 was an early reader and has no language challenges so she sometimes gets bored... but grade 4 was good because I was able to have her placed in the 4/5 split: so much of what she did was grade 5 work, and in French. She's also a late November birthday and was the second youngest in the class.

So... so far so good.

However... the numbers suggest that the 5's won't be split next year, and the small group of 4's who were in the 4/5 split with my daughter will likely be reunited with the lion's share of the other 4's, who were split with 3's. THIS could be interesting.

So we're happy right now, but we'll see what the future will bring. DS8 will likely continue to be challenged because of the language processing disorder, and DD9 will be doing the on-line math enrichment which should be fun. Her other subjects may not be as engaging, but... the good news is that there's a chance that she could have the same teacher (who she loves :-), who is comfortable challenging the kids, and who has previously taught higher grades and is more likely to push kids than placate them.

Fingers crossed

Welcome to the forum, Katiemama. You'll find an amazing amount of support here from a quite diverse set of members. The help, insight, and commiseration go a long way.

My husband is profoundly gifted, and I have one child who is high gifted in all exceptionalities, one child who is gifted with ADHD and very mild dysgraphia and a youngest child who has severe dysgraphia, dyslexia and possibly an auditory processing disorder who has yet to test gifted because of the LD's but who is obviously gifted. Without the folks here, I don't think I could have made it through the last year without having melt down.

Congrats on finding a good fit thus far and welcome!

Welcome Katiemama! So glad you found us! This is a wonderful forum with lots of experienced people. I am new to this but learning..:-)

Sounds like your DS is going to an amazing school! My DS4.5 PG is entering Kindergarten early this fall but I have a feeling a first grade skip might be in the future.

I am curious to see how your DS does skipping to 3rd. So please keep us updated!

Thank you so much to everyone! I'll definitely keep you all posted as to how he's doing.

Right now, he's attending SIG and he loves his classes. School starts at the end of August and he'll be taking his math course online with CTY. We're hoping all of this will help with his "behavior problems" in school. (He likes to help the other kids with their work, talk to friends, and work on his own thing, which gets him into trouble. Not big trouble, but trouble nonetheless.) Hopefully, third grade will keep him busy enough to alleviate some of his "trouble".

We homeschool with Abeka video. A great program, but dd finishes by noon and I feel I need more material and ideas for the afternoon. I hope to find online or video classes that will keep daughter 11, 7th grade challenged. She loves a fast pace.


Cindy

Thanks! I think that's a great point, St. Pauli Girl. We are hopeful about this school because it is also an IB school and theoretically committed to differentiated education. It has a units of inquiry model which kids can then explore in more depth if they are so inclined. But, hey, I know very little about this. Mostly we're following DD3's obsession with languages-- a distinct passion.

Do you know much about how the IB model has worked with gifted kids?

Anyone out there with a GT kid in IB? I only know from my own investigation way back when I was in high school. The IB program seemed like a ton of extra work, and I chose to do post-secondary enrollment instead (going to the local university and getting dual credits for high school and college). But that was a very long time ago. Hopefully someone will chime in.

ETA: It might be a good idea to start a new thread with questions about IB...