Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Do you love your HG/PG child's elementary school?

My husband and I have portable jobs, and for various reasons, will be moving next summer. We have friends and family all over the country.

Our elder son, who is HG/PG will start Kindergarten next year, and we are wondering: in which elementary schools do HG/PG kids thrive?

I would love to hear (publicly or privately) about your child's school, if it provides differentiation (elder son is reading astronomy books at a 6-8 grade level, but doing math at a 1st grade level), and you feel it is a challenging and warm/nurturing environment for your child.

Thanks to anyone who can provide me any information or leads!

We had great success in a small rural charter school where the principal seemed to really understand gifted kids and allowed them to work at as close to their level as possible by either accelerating a full grade level or subject acceleration.
It is so dependent on the people at the individual school - both teachers and principals. Right now we're at a small private school with DD#2 and are just starting to get some of the accommodations we need. The teachers don't really seem to get it even though the admin does.

Good luck on your adventure - it is always interesting to see where you end up when you make a large change like a move.

I'm guessing Scotland's too far for you, but if not I can recommend my DS's school!

I just heard a story on NPR yesterday about this school called Carpe Diem-Meridian, in Indianapolis, that sounds pretty great--but it's always hard to know what the reality is. Anyway, it's described here, about halfway through....

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/personalized-learning/

In our experience, the difference comes from the leadership in the school. Interview principals. In our case, we've also greatly benefitted from a change in the director of intervention services, who gets that kids have individual needs.

Kerry: thanks for your comment, and best of luck with the teachers at your school. Hopefully they will fall in line with the administration.

ColinsMum: Hm! It's not too far. I'll have to at least look into residency requirements.

Dbat: Fantastic, thanks! I'll check it out.

geofizz: Good to remember. We looked at one school (which is promising but has other issues) in which the principal said to us, in passing, "Of course, sometimes kids from Kindergarten walk up to 2nd grade for math." This was without our asking.

We have had moments at our school that have been frustrating, but on the whole we love it. What makes it ideal to me is that it's small and the director and teachers have full authority to make changes as needed. There are never any "I'd love to but that's against policy" statements. The staff are approachable, value parent input and really care about the children. With those things in place, the hiccups along the way always seem to get worked out.

It probably also doesn't hurt that the director has 2 (now adult) HG/PG kids and one of the head teachers has a PG daughter as well as her Masters in Gifted Education.

A follow-up...

ColinsMum: Scotland is a possibility, though (due to work reasons), probably only near Edinburgh or Glasgow. Would that be close to where your son's school is? (Feel free to let me know via PM!)

Dbat: The Carpe-Diem schools look intriguing. However, they appear to be 6-12 grade, so not as relevant to us just yet. Maybe we'll revisit in 6 or so years.

PMed!

maybe this helpful... http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/schools.htm#sausl

also, don't forget to investigate your tax burdens when investigating overseas options :-)