| If you have more than one child, do they seem to track academically similar? All in AAP (advanced programs) or all in gen ed? |
| No. If two, maybe. But if three or more, generally not. |
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My kids are too young to know this but in my family growing up, there were four kids and two were definitely advanced, one was advanced in math though not other areas, and one struggled with all core subjects but was a gifted artist.
My observation of my own and other large families is that it is rare for all kids in a 3+ kid family to be academically advanced. |
All kids in my family were advanced … |
Then you are outliers among outliers. Is this truly the first time you have noticed that other large families are not like yours? |
How many and how close in age? |
I have two kids in AAP - one is blindingly sharp while the other squeaked in on appeal with borderline and below-the-cutoff scores and is definitely not the smartest or best student in the class. Not sure if that answers your question though. |
| The trend I have seen is the older kid does AAP and the younger one doesn't. But, it's not clear that the younger kid isn't capable. Instead I think they get less focused attention + parents with anxious older kids are reluctant to put their younger on the same track. I know of several families who did not pursue AAP because they perceived it to have been stressful on their older kid. |
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I have three kids. Oldest two are very bright and in AAP, working several grades ahead. Youngest is just starting school and too early to tell. She is above average, but I don’t know if AAP level.
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| maybe depends on the parents? My husband and I have very similar brains (both NMSF, "gifted" pull outs, etc) and both our kids seem similar to us, so far. |
My kids are all grown but they were all in advanced track (in MD so no AAP). County school experts thought one of them had some issues and started in Special Ed program until they switched kid to GT in 3rd grade. That really made me wonder if school experts know anything. |
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Growing up in an immigrant family with many family friends in similar ages, it was more common for kids in the same family to be on different tracks.
Anecdotally (everyone applied to TJ and would have gone if admitted): - 1 AAP/base hs/UVA; 1 gen ed/base hs/T200 - 1 AAP/TJ/UVA; 1 gen ed/base hs/UVA - 1 AAP/TJ/UVA; 1 AAP/base hs/T50 - 1 AAP/TJ/T50; 1 AAP/base hs/did not go to college - 1 AAP/base hs/UVA; 1 gen ed/base hs/T50 - 1 AAP/TJ/UVA; 1 AAP/gen ed/UVA - 2 gen ed/base hs/UVA - 2 AAP/TJ/UVA + T20 - 2 AAP/non-TJ/T10 |
| In my observation, up to 2 is somewhat common, but 3 or more kids from same family is unlikely |
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In our family: One parent gifted, one highly gifted
One kid highly gifted One kid gifted One kid normal |
| In my family, one is highly gifted, one is advanced in a way that I believe is pretty common in this area (consistently in advanced classes, scores very high on standardized tests, but doesn’t have the unusual ways of thinking/problem solving that the older sibling does, or the same level of intrinsic motivation), and one has ADHD and dyslexia that significantly impede academic achievement. They’re all great kids and bring different things to the table. |