Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Opinions on School

So, I have a question about schools. DD goes to a very small private school (only one class for her grade) but they are very flexible (suggested a grade skip to me) and while it can be a challenge they work to keep DD challenged, they seem to really care about her. That being said, she still spends a lot of time practicing (as she calls it) instead of learning. The school runs about one year ahead of our local public school in terms of curriculum and there is no gifted program. There are also a couple of HG+ kids at her school, not necessarily in her grade but she does interact with these other children on a daily basis.

Our local public schools have a pull out gifted program, it is only one day a week and the curriculum is not accelerated the other four days. However, we live in a university community and she would most likely have intellectual peers at our local public school (or maybe I am being optimistic). Also, we could afford to do more enrichment at home since we would not be paying tuition.
Any ideas on best environment? What has the experience been like for those at public schools? I just want to try and make sure she is as happy at school as she can be:)!

We did both private and public with our dds. We found that the public school here had more peers and was more flexible (the private was not a gifted school, just a parochial school). However, a LOT depends on the teachers and principal-imo, the principal is the most important because a teacher is often willing, but afraid. Once the principal okayed it (it being going to another grade, alternate spelling lists, expanded projects, etc..) the teacher almost always agreed. This isn't to say we were meeting with the principal every week, but we sat down with him and the teacher(s) at the beginning of the year (and provided above-level achievement testing to support our case)and mapped out accommodations.
I also think that home enrichment can accomplish a lot. If you could put the money towards some awesome summer programs, a few classes, etc... you could really fire up your dd's love of learning. Also, how long will the parochial school stay ahead? In our case, they were ahead until about 3rd grade, when more grouping and differentiation started (separate from the gifted program) at the public schools.
Obviously, though, this is all completely dependent on your specific schools. I'd definitely schedule a meeting with both- talk about the grade acceleration and curriculum at your current school, and what accommodations could be made at your public school.
Just fyi... we found that a grade skip was much easier to accomplish at the parochial school (and they were incredibly supportive!). So, another option is to grade skip now at the private school and then switch in a year or two to public at the higher grade. Many public schools seem to be anti-switch, but they are fine if you come in with it already done.

It's hard give you and answer without more details about both schools. That said, when looking at the public schools, it's important to remember that they have no mandate or other formal directive to help kids who are ahead of the grade-level curriculum. Their entire reward and punishment system is based on the scores of low-performing students. I wouldn't expect them to be flexible in the way you've described, but they could be. Have you talked to them? What's their policy on grade skips, for example? What do class and homework assignments look like?

FWIW, I went to school in a college town. There were only two kids in my class of 50 or so whose parents were professors, and one of them arrived in 7th grade. Neither one of them was HG and probably not even MG.

Our kids are in a GT Magnet, where the GT kids are (mostly) in separate classes all of the time. This is socially wonderful, because I'd say there are at least 5-6 truly HG kids in each grade level, so socially my kids have lots of options.

I looked into a very small private school nearby, which has 1 class per grade level and a very open attitude toward acceleration, but when I asked the principal about peer groups, she was very honest and told me that, based solely on test scores, there wouldn't be any true intellectual peers for my kids. However, the environment was very warm and nurturing...I'm still tempted to switch at some point.

We're in the public for 2 reasons...1 it's less expensive, which gives us a larger budget for enrichment activities, and 2 there is a larger peer group for both kids. That said, I'm really frustrated with the attitude that because it's a GT program that must be acceleration enough, so forget about a grade skip, even though your kid is bored stiff... and don't worry, it will get more rigorous next year. I'm still waiting for that to happen.

There are pros and cons to both. In public school that only has a gifted pullout once a week, I'd have some reservations. I'd want to know how large the "gifted" population is at that school.

My ds7 is in public school (1st grade). We too live in an area with a respected university. The problems in for him in elementary are: he's not very "mathy", the 1 or 2 kids I've seen in the past 2 years were mathy girls. Both years, he's the only boy in his group. Essentially, he feels like he doesn't have peers.

I know other kids/ people have good experiences at public school. Just thought I'd share our experience. I will say things seem to greatly improve by middle school. We'll see.

Good luck. Remember if you try something and it doesn't work, try something else. It's hard to know what will be a good fit for the child without trying.

Thanks for the replies. The public school we are zoned for has the largest gt population in our system. It is still a limited number of children though and a very large school. Her current school stays accelerated throughout k-12, I would say middle and high are a year or 2 (depending on the subject) ahead. DD is both very verbal and mathy, so keeping up with her is a bit of a challenge and it the lack of acceleration in math that she gets the most frustrated with. She loves school and seems really happy there. I do think about how nice it would be to not have to write the tuition check every month though;).

Are there GT parents at the public school you're zoned for that you could talk to gather more info on how well their GT program works for their children?

Consider the benefits of a balanced curriculum with enrichment at home to foster intellectual growth and happiness.