Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion upcoming school year

We're sending DD8 back to the same school system that has already failed her twice, so yeah, we're nervous. Homeschooling allowed us to effect the grade skip they refused, and the G/T hours increase in 4th grade, so there are reasons to think it'll be different... but "different" doesn't necessarily mean "successful."

I am!!! My dd8 is going to have another stellar year at her TAG school. We ran into her teacher last week and they have a genuine connection. I love to see that!

My ds6, on the other hand, might not have such a great year. He is at the neighborhood public school. We had him signed up for a beautiful, new charter school with a wonderful philosophy. We were so excited about this school and then their lease fell through and they are moving 25 minutes away from our house in the opposite direction of dd's school. There is no way we can send him to the charter school and have a stress free year. We are considering doing K12 online school but I am not sure what the right thing to do is. The neighborhood school is a good school. It is filled with caring teachers and his upcoming teacher is a parent of gifted children, so she gets it. They will accelerate him into 2nd grade math.
We're in flux!

Yes. DS8 and DD5 are transferring to the district magnet and will be in all-GT classes for first time. DS8 is transferring from a school with friends he loved. DD5 is starting public after being in a private school all the way through Kinder. Feeling fortunate they will both be in the same school for the first time in a few years but nervous about how how they will do. To top it off DD5 is going through a HUGE clingy phase right now that is sort of worrying me. Oh well, I am sure this too shall pass.
Good luck to all!

Oh, we have one of those, too! DS will turn 11 two weeks into the school year, and is skipping 6th, officially. Technically he skipped 5th, since most of his classes were 6th last year, but he was classified as a 5th grader on paper. He was in the MS for most everything last year, so he knows where everything is, and knows people -- it would be more nervous-making if he didn't!

It's also scary and exciting because he wants to go out for track this year -- his first foray into the sports world. But he's going to balance it out with knowledge bowl.

We have registration on Wednesday this week.

Terrified. DD11 starts middle school (6th) in our local public, the system that gave her a complete breakdown in 3rd. She's graduated from a lovely gifted private, and I just hope that having been seen and loved for who she truly is can insulate her emotionally from the bureaucracy of the school and the pettiness of the other 250 6th graders.

Academically she decided against taking the 'skip 7' math test since there are some topics she hasn't had yet, which means she's not guaranteed the chance for any acceleration at all. If her particular teacher feels like dealing with the program, she can have 6th grade assessments and 7th grade math instruction in preparation for the skip 7 test next spring. (There is no 'skip 6.') If the teacher finds it inconvenient she can choose not to have her class participate, and only offer the test to those scoring 100% plus extra credit/optional problems. Given her slow output in language arts I think the chances of having the time to really wow the math teacher are minimal. But if it goes well and she gets one of the better teachers, she could have actual instruction, a quality problem-solving curriculum as enrichment through the school, and wind up in a class next year with agemates who are peers. She is starting to hate standing out and so this matters to her.

So, terrified. Huge positive potential, huge negative potential, no control, and we don't find out who her teacher is until the first day of school.

New administration in the elementary school. Hoping that works out for our younger son and his promised acceleration in math. Older son is going into 8th and should do fine.

We once again have a teacher taking maternity leave, which kind of stinks for this class of kids, the first two years of their schooling in a row. Ah well. The teacher will be there a lot and is supposed to be very organized and demanding, which sounds promising actually. We'll see if she really differentiates enough, but that's the hallmark of this charter, gifted standards and differentiation, and while we had to get into things last year, what with a sub at the start and the whole just getting used to school thing, we're going to give first grade a go and see if they really let DD do her thing, or not.

Nervous. Moving to middle school (unknown administrators!), won't know the results of the math re-test until right before schedule pick-up, also need to contact the (unknown) counselors to arrange a schedule change out of band and into orchestra with unknown timing for the evaluation that will put her into some level of orchestra (kids with prior experience can be placed into one of three levels; DD's private lesson teacher will have input into it, and she loves DD and always Bragg's on her to other teachers). Schedule pickup is 9 days out.

Guardedly optimistic. DS 4 is starting preschool. Academically he is way beyond preschool but he is still a four year old. He needs to continue to improve his fine motor and continue to learn how to get along in a classroom setting. His private school has a new head this year that comes from a gifted education background and seems to be really excited to work with us and promises us that DS will receive the differentiation that he needs. Fingers crossed! On the plus side DS is SO excited to go back to school. He is counting down the days!

Update- after the first 2 days of school (which were good), already seeing intolerance from ds6. "Stupid worksheet that was for babies" and really major behavior problems after school:(
Not sure how long to wait, before addressing with school. Asking for patience from ds. This is hard. I'm getting scared.