Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments PT school

It certainly sounds like it's worth a try to me. I mean, what have you got to lose? I fail to see a downside!

I don't know about the $$. Around here parents have to pay if their children are attending from out of district (even for children of district employees).

My daughter just turned 9. She will attend in a fourth grade classroom. If this works the school is willing to discuss something of a similar nature for my twins who just turned 6. This would open the door for my other children as well.

I am sure money is some motivation. I have five children, that would account for what, about $40,000 from the state if all were enrolled even part time. The other thing is that the county next to us has a gifted and talented program starting in 6th grade for math and science and they are loosing a large number of gifted kids with parents who are willing and able to drive for out of district schooling or who just up and move from the area. They are discussing closing one elementary school in the district for the next school year because of decreased enrollment brought on by a huge loss in families to the area when multiple automotive plants closed this last year. I think they are finally feeling the pinch to try something different to keep students and we finally have a director of curriculum able and willing to think outside the box to see that happen. Up until now the superintendant wouldn't allow any gifted programs because he felt they were "tracking". He is very old fashioned in that belief and nothing could sway him.

I already got another call from the teacher today with questions about my daughter and I am really getting a good feeling from her. She has only been teaching for 9 years and is very energetic and eager to see her kids do well. She has an excellent reputation with challenging kids so we are excited to see how it works.

Has your son already been through all the Real Science 4 Kids books? Sounds like he probably is but my younger daughters liked them because they don't "baby" them with watered down information and have so many labs to do. They also like the Discovery channel streaming and the classroom lessons, I forgot what it is called. We bought it through homeschoolbuyerscoop.com. It goes through middle school and is mostly videos and demonstrations. They just finished properties of matter. I use it for all my daughters. BrainPop comes to mind as well since that is also visual and goes through some of the middle school levels as well. Have you used the Hoagies for kids site? My daughter was working with quarks and gluons(sp?) of atoms with some of the websites they suggested, again mostly video learning. We combine them to bring more depth to the real science4kids materials.

Thanks everyone for all the great tips. Wow you guys are great! I will definitely get my hands on the videos. I had no idea he knew so much about atoms, mass, etc until last week. Sheesh how do you guys keep up with curriculum? I feel like the second I get something he either learns it overnight or already knows it, so I am trying to figure out where to begin so we can plug some holes.

About the downside, I asked my son to come up with a pros and cons list so we could discuss potential issues he thinks he will encounter, his response was very similiar to yours Kriston. However, as a "mama bear" I am worried about bullying. He will be a 1-2 years younger than his classmates. He has a summer bday. Any one deal with this with a grade skip?

Shari, are all your kiddos GT? How in the world do you do it?

I think you discuss potential responses to bullying with him so he has some idea about things he could say to stand up for himself but not have to fight. And make sure that he knows he can (and should!) always come to you if there's any sort of problem at school.

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about bullying until it happens, though. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Just being younger doesn't automatically make a kid a target for bullying. That fear alone certainly wouldn't keep me from taking advantage of a good educational situation, personally.

Prep him as best you can, keep your eye on things, maybe even let the teacher know of your fears so she will watch out for problems. But there's no reason to let fear stand in your way here, I don't think. After all, it may not ever even become a problem.

Here's hoping!

And to back Dottie, who snuck in there on me, shoulder-shrugging is one very good response to potential bullies. It's hard to have fun attacking a kid who just doesn't get worked up about it.

DS6 skipped first grade with a late Spring birthday, and many kids are "redshirted" in our district. The majority of his second grade class has turned 8 already and he's one of the smallest. He has not experienced any bullying. I think the fact that he's not super-sensitive about what other kids think and that he holds his own athletically really helps. I also think that the school really emphasizes being respectful of each other and there are just really nice kids in the school.

Now DS6 still doesn't have a group of best friends, but this was the case in K, so I doubt it's all the grade skip. Our area also tends to be very cliquish, parents and kids. When we moved here, we noticed that it's hard for both adults and kids to break into established groups, but we're okay with that as long as folks are nice...

Deeds not words - it sounds good so far.

I'd ask to speak to some parents of accelerated kids. The fact she is trying to "rock soup" you in means she is sensitive to your fears.

I was only bullied by my age peers even with a +5 acceleration.

Any kid that is a bully should be reported to the school nurse.