Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Dream elementary, where is it, what is it?

An elementary school that my DS6 might like, having the following characteristics:

1. Plenty of recess (an hour or nearly total)
2. Individually differentiated worksheets for all, such as self paced math and english worksheets like the DRA reading cards of yore.
3. Not very many of them (the worksheets)
4. Little repetition
5. Interesting speakers and/or sudden unexpected presentation of novel subjects. Projects, skits, experiments, etc.
6. Some periods do have a didactic teacher versus group structure, ie not a completely self paced montessori style structure. Expectations exist for effortful or intense work to be accomplished during some specific times and not always in areas the child enjoys. But that amount of time is limited and balanced by truly engaging things.
7. Open ended creative activities with enough time to actually get somewhere. "Now that we've talked about urbanization, draw or write your own ideas about a home or city of the future. We can talk about what we came up with in tomorrow's class."
8. Some choices made by the child affect how their time is spent (not just in clubs after school) starting by 1st grade (ie choice of which language class or choice of instrument in music or choice of in-class science project).
9. No or only a few minutes of homework in 1st to 3rd and not much more in 4th and 5th.
10. School accommodating of children's interests and experience to such an extent that for example if they are working far ahead in math and would like to instead work on still life drawing or reading chemistry or whatever some days a week that it would be potentially possible.
11. Little repetition ....

We're geographically hampered by jobs but I'm just curious if anything like that exists? Some sort of alternative gifted co-op somewhere?

I'm also curious what others would suggest in tailoring an elementary school to their child's interests/wants while still striking a balance with parental ideas of what or how they would learn. What did I leave out or what in there wouldn't work for your kid?

If you find this utopia, let me know! My DD would love it!!! If she could do projects, experiments and have everything presented as if it were a musical, she'd be in over the moon!
Seriously, some project based schools have many of the things that you listed, but I'm sure that sort of thing varies from city to city and state to state.

Good luck!

A Montessori school, or at least a school with a strong Montessori background. It is where my child, at least, felt most at home (even though he's no longer there, our local school was just too small).

The Montessori schools allow kids to work at their own pace, and they can even set their own schedule to an extent. Depending on grade level, the teacher will assign a certain number of units of work in a particular subject each week. The children determine when they will do each subject, how quickly they will work, whether they will work deeper/further ahead/both, and learn a great deal of responsibility in the process. The learning is child directed and driven, but the parents might be able to have input depending on the school.

Because the children schedule themselves, they are able to focus on one subject for much longer than traditional schools usually allow, though I assume some kids choose not to. My son would do subjects in 2-3 hour blocks rather than the 30-40 minute class times he has in traditional school. It also seemed a much more languid and relaxed atmosphere, ironically enough, even though my son moved through more material there than he did in 3 years of traditional school.

When a child masters a level, s/he is allowed to move on, regardless of how the other students are performing. Most or all do not assign homework or grades, and mastery of content is more important than an arbitrary grade in a subject.

At my son's Montessori, there were also group lessons, though not every day. The groups were dependent not on age, but which children were ready for the material. That part was heaven for him as he enjoyed participating with the much older students, but perhaps not all Montessori schools provide group lessons.

There are some drawbacks, in that a kid who is obsessed with one subject can latch onto it even further to the detriment of other subjects (my son would sit and read the dictionary and study an atlas for hours...). Also, if the teacher doesn't have control of the class it can become noisy due to the way the schools are usually set up. But of the school types I've personally seen, I honestly believe it, in theory at least, comes closest to the ideal educational environment.

I don't have any person experience with it, but I also like the idea of a university style school with an emphasis on the classics. It seems to offer the best of both worlds- school with other children 2-3 days per week, homeschooling on the other days, and a pacing and depth that seems ideal for precocious children. I only wish that the ones in Texas were not so focused on the religious experience and more so on the academics, but somehow these classical schools have become synonymous with very conservative Baptist theology down here.

A gifted homeschool co-op would also seem great, but I'd worry about the same kinds of issues which have arisen in the GATE programs posters here lament, ie, that bright students are often admitted rather than truly gifted. Such a self-selecting group seems open to such issues. I can't speak to this issue since my son does not attend a school with a separate gifted program, and am only including that concern based on comments I've seen here.

Though if we asked my son what he wanted, the only available subjects would be math and tennis.

My son would like hard maths, play time, lunch, and free reading. No reading activity sheets, writing or handwriting. I don't know any schools that have less than an hour outside play so that could be managed by a move to NZ.

DS's school has all that. [Well, I suppose I don't know how well the general maths is differentiated as DS always has his own; and I don't think they ever use worksheets in English so the self-paced thing doesn't really apply; in classes of 16 they do a lot of writing, reading and discussion and seem to differentiate by outcome effectively.] Better, in fact: more than an hour of free time (with clubs available, or you can - sometimes only on certain days to manage demand - go to the art or DT room or library or practise an instrument or play outside or play snooker in the games room or use a computer or just hang out), and no written homework ever. Also, sports every day, which I wasn't sure would suit my DS from a very unsporttalented family, but given a variety of games and good tuition and sensible grouping, he likes that too.

School runs from 830am to 6pm (3pm for the under-8s), which is how there's room for all this, but the day is the opposite of the frenetic pattern most of you describe, and it means there's no need for separate after school care even though we both work full time. There are also late clubs till 8pm; if he stays for one, he has supper at school.

This is not a gifted school, indeed the school is not deliberately selective at entry, though children joining later do have to do an entry assessment. It's a private school, probably the most expensive for the age group in the city, so you do obviously get a very skewed SES balance, which, like it or not, also skews the achievement levels. And, though I don't know instances where a child has been asked to leave, in principle they don't have to handle behaviour problems or indeed any special educational needs beyond where they choose to, which must make their task easier. The high staff-student ratio surely helps more. There are no state gifted schools, or any official provision for GT, in this country. There are selective private schools, including some we could have sent DS to - but from what I know of them, none would have been anything like a good a choice as this one. "Selective" tends to go with "high homework load, hot house", here too. I suspect that there is a good deal of self-selection of wealthy (we're at the poor end in this context!) gifted children to the school. In practice, even unskipped and in this context, what I observe is that DS seems to have enough company in his non-strength areas, just about. He would like to have company in his strength areas, which he doesn't, and there are certainly areas (languages come to mind) where he could be going a lot faster than he is - he hasn't really had the chance to turn those into strengths, or not. But overall, he's happy and we're happy.

Yes, I thank my lucky stars every day.

We found a school very much like what Polly describes. When visiting the classrooms we encountered a full size authentic teepee - the kids had completed this project when they studied Native Americans. A cage filled with adult chickens - raised from eggs hatched in the classroom. The K/1st classrooms had a lego area, the 2/3 classroom had comfy sofas with kids all curled up reading books for pleasure. No homework before 4th grade and even then no one was allowed to spend more than 30 minutes on it. "If you can't complete it in 30 minutes it means you need some more help with the concepts. Bring it back in and we'll go over it together." The teachers altered each year's lessons according to interests of the kids in the class.

DD was accepted and we were getting ready to write our tuition check the day we found out about all the 2E issues. I still get a pang in my heart every time I see a car with a bumper sticker from this school. I also wonder pretty often if they would have been able to accommodate DD if we had enrolled her there from K. Our school district insisted she had to be enrolled in public school in order to get all the services she would need for her LD issues. We would have had to pay extra for Orton-Gillingham tutoring but I do wonder if the individualized approach could have worked.

So yes, it is out there. You just have to be lucky enough to live nearby and be able to afford it. Admission is pretty selective. They want the right kid and parents who are supportive rather than competitive. I can spot a family from this school a mile away. Yeah, pangs in my heart...

We have found one that is pretty close. It is costly.

I have found that if you want that little repetition in school, you are going to have to do your homework, (especially if you are covering a lot of ground in class). JMO


But, we're dreaming, Right?

They exist. But without the worksheets. Why does your dream school have worksheets?


It depends on how tailored in terms of pacing the groups are. In a group of 3-4 kids at a similar level they may have no repetition for some topics. But, in any group, no matter how carefully selected, there will be differences so there will be some waiting while other kids get it. But that's a small price to pay for getting to learn in a group, don't you think?

Pemberley, I'm trying to create that sort of environment locally. Thanks for starting this thread.

This is dream sounds wonderful. My ds would be thrilled. Unfortunately, right now, we can not afford anything that comes close.