Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Greetings from an overwhelmed newcomer

Robin - perhaps the preschool teachers would let him work on his 'puzzel books' while the rest of the children are doing their letter sounds? Couldn't hurt to ask..Great that he's enjoying the other children.
Grins

[Now as I type, I can hear my inner voice saying the word 'incomprehensible' just before I type it, and then hear my inner voice saying, 'hey - don't use that word, it's 'bad'' and the hear my inner voice saying 'hey -- you are on the gifted board, folks will know what that means, go ahead' and as I type it, I feel a small sharp pain in my chest, but I am brave and type it anyway. That's years of self-monitoring.}

Grinity, I am ROFLMBO. My hubby tells me constantly I have an internal dialogue going on in my head. He insists I tell him stuff in my head and never by mouth. He claims to have not been told certain things that I swear I told him.

Overwhelmed newcomer, I thought you did a great job expresses yourself. I personally love the big words, becuz I like to google the meanings and use them on hubby who is a natural with "big" words.

I hope I did the quote thing right... DS loves big words. One instance stands out to me. We were in a Lakeshore Learning store and he was around 3. He was looking at a pile of stuffed animals (he has so many that there isn't always room in his bed for HIM!) I heard him announce, in a very loud voice "Mama, I'm going to tentatively choose this one!" Everyone in the store stopped to stare... "How old IS he?" Geez. If I hear that one more time...

Today we were in a waiting room at the hospital lab waiting for my mom (she is having surgery on Thursday of next week). Mr. G was doing one of his "puzzle books" and a nurse walked by. This inevitable question came up. When I told her he was four, her comment was, "It's amazing what you can do with them when you are a stay at home mom and can work with him a lot." Yeah. That's it lady. He's not smart or anything, I drill him every day for hours. It's the other way around. He pushes ME.

I was gone all day and just got home. I was going to start asking questions at the school district and/or call the Davidson Institute to start asking questions. I guess it will have to be Monday. Is there generally a way around the rule about a child being 5 by a certain date? In Nevada public schools, a child must be 5 before September 30, 2009. DS's birthday is October 7!

We may be in limbo if the school district won't bend. That's okay, I know that the right thing will present itself. I just need to open to new ideas and not be surprised when good things happen. They always do!

Very interesting! That's exactly how my ds6 learned to read, and on very much the same time frame. At this point we gave him the Captain Underpants books and that was it -- he was hooked! I remember him at 4y4m, silently reading Captain Underpants books. We visited some very smart friends with a very smart 14yo, and they were really intrigued by his reading; that was when I actually started considering that he might be pretty bright. Anyway, he just loved those books, so good move!

How fabulous that you live in Reno! I'd just call Davidson's -- I'm sure they'd be happy to point you in the right direction.

Welcome!

Just to clarify- the Davidson young scholar program accepts kids from age five. The Davidson Academy is a brick and mortar school for PG kids performing at least at the middle school level. I believe the youngest student who has attended thus far was age nine when first enrolled. Kids do not need to live in or near Reno to be young scholars.

Lorel,

Oh, I didn't realize that. Thanks for clarifying! There's so much to learn. I'm going through your website too! Thanks for the link.

I don't know what to do with him until he can attend a local school. I started getting stressed because the preschool teachers are asking me what we're going to do next. I think I just need to take a deep breath. I don't know if we should be in such a hurry. I want him to have a childhood.

Any ideas what I can do with a very bright preschooler for the next year and a half? I get headaches when I think of what level he will be reading at in September of 2010! I was even thinking of letting him attend the same preschool with his little friends (although many of them are leaving for Kindergarten in the Fall) and homeschooling him a little bit on alternate days... I just want to keep him stimulated. Is there any such thing as homeschooling "a little bit?"

I do plan on finding out how and where we can get him tested (and how much it costs) but unless something absolutely falls into our laps I think we may have to wait until we are back on a stable financial footing (along with the rest of America!)

Thanks again!
Robin

That's funny, hkc75. My DH swears he tells me things he never does. I write everything down now, or have his secretary cc me in on his schedule.:) We think very differently; but we are definitely soulmates. I explained to him the other night (when he thought that I was ignoring him again - which I never do) that when he asks me something, sometimes I have to decipher it in my head, thinking about what he means by his question, then come up with what I think he may mean by it, and try to answer him. If I don't answer him correctly, he asks it again in the exact same words. (ha:)

Robin-

Plenty of YS families live in Reno for the Academy, and some have younger kids who either homeschool or attend local schools. You could call DITD and ask them for suggestions on local schools. Explain that your child is probably going to be applying to the YS program. I'm sure they'd be happy to help.

Besides the wonderful advice everyone else has given you, I have one more piece to add.
My daughter, now 11 and in sixth, has always been a pre-engineer. She has always been very adept at reading directions and understanding how something works. She has been way better than I am at this since she was very young. Her hand eye coordination and small motor skills was way off the charts.
I just want to add that she had an incredible art teacher for the first five and 1/2 years of her schooling and this helped her to develop these skills so well. This was her outlet also, but her abilities were strengthened and developed in a way that I could not help her (as a math and computer person). I have to give some credit to her wonderful art teacher.

Good Happens!

I was at work today. I work as a rep for a dog food company, not my dream job, but it helps out and it's only weekends so I can stay home with DS. Anyway, there was another rep there today and we started talking. It turns out she works for the school district as a substitute teacher, has lived here for over 20 years and has a daughter who is gifted, so she has gone through the whole thing. THEN, as we were talking, a customer came up to us and started talking about her DD7 who is currently in the GT program and she told me the name of the head of the program.

The other rep told me that the district will test DS if I call them and tell them I want him tested. Apparently, there is a "school within a school" but it is for grades 3 and up, but they will make accommodations (probably). It's a start!

Cool, huh? I probably won't be able to do anything about it tomorrow. We have preschool.

Robin