Best school for highly gifted and talented, "quirky" kid?

[Anonymous]

Don't think public is a good option at all-30 kids in one class with one teacher. Not good for K or 1st grade.

And Lab school is for kids with learning disabilities-not to say DC has one for sure. Certainly not going to commit to a school for the LD's when we aren't sure that it is going to even be an issue.

[Anonymous]

If you don't know then you should have your child tested. It sounds like you suspect something. Do not rely too heavily on a high WPPSI score. Most of the kids in the area, private or public, are in that range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without doubt, Saint Anselm's Abbey school. WITHOUT A DOUBT.

Why?

NP here, but I'm jumping in because my son's 5th-grade teacher told us that St. Anselm's was great for boys who were really smart and "kind of quirky," so it would be a good fit our son. She loved my son, so "quirky" was not meant as a criticism. I was surprised by the word. I was already considering St. Anselm's because my son was smart, but I had never considered him quirky. I think she meant that he stood out. A lot of really smart kids stand out, and perhaps stand a bit apart, from their classmates. They read a lot on their own, ask questions out of left field, do their own math problems for fun. They love intellectual challenges. Maybe they're a touch obsessive-compulsive. When we went to the open house that year, some boys had formed a sentence-diagramming club. I understand that group has since disbanded, but I think that's the kind of quirkiness PP was talking about.

I should note that St. Anselm's has boys who aren't recognizably quirky, though most of them are at least quirk-tolerant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without doubt, Saint Anselm's Abbey school. WITHOUT A DOUBT.

Why?

NP here, but I'm jumping in because my son's 5th-grade teacher told us that St. Anselm's was great for boys who were really smart and "kind of quirky," so it would be a good fit our son. She loved my son, so "quirky" was not meant as a criticism. I was surprised by the word. I was already considering St. Anselm's because my son was smart, but I had never considered him quirky. I think she meant that he stood out. A lot of really smart kids stand out, and perhaps stand a bit apart, from their classmates. They read a lot on their own, ask questions out of left field, do their own math problems for fun. They love intellectual challenges. Maybe they're a touch obsessive-compulsive. When we went to the open house that year, some boys had formed a sentence-diagramming club. I understand that group has since disbanded, but I think that's the kind of quirkiness PP was talking about.

I should note that St. Anselm's has boys who aren't recognizably quirky, though most of them are at least quirk-tolerant.

Hello PP, Our family is considering St. Anselm's for similar reasons that you were. We attended the open house and planned to submit an application for next year. Two questions that we didn't get a chance to have answered while at the open house. Q1. As a parent, which subject (math, science, english, etc.) do you feel is the school's strongest? Q2. How is the school's lunch and is it included in tuition(son's question)? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

My son, a high school student, has two good friends who go to St. Anselm's. They're both terrific guys, and while I wouldn't call them quirky -- I think the connations of that word send up red flags, as we're seeing here -- I would say they both are endearingly individualistic. One is athletic, a great b-ball player, but not a jock type. (And I say this without meaning any insults to jocks -- my son is one.) There's no swagger with this kid -- very unusual in a high school boy. He's just a sweetheart, a talented artist, and ever since we've know him -- way back in nursery school days -- he's said and done the unexpected thing. I don't mean that he was disruptive in class or misbehaved -- not any more than any other kid -- but he always threw teachers and parents curve balls that made conversation with him interesting. The other boy, whom we've only known for a couple of years, is a gentle soul with a great sense of humor and a real appreciation for the oddities of human life (maybe you'd call these "quirks: -- the traits and behaviors we all try to smooth out or pretend aren't there). Watching him in a group of kids, he's quiet, but you can see that he's taking it all in -- not judging, but discerning. I can't decide if he's going to be a novelist or a psychologist or write the next hit comedy show on TV. Both these boys would, of course, be who they are even if they were students at another school, but I do think St. Anselm's has a high tolerance for kids who are confident of their individuality at such a young age, when most kids are just trying to fit in. Does the school nurture this? I don't know; if so, I'd love to find out how they do it.

[Anonymous]

PP-Thanks for one of the more interesting posts I've read in a while. My daughter is in a progressive school and we're not Catholic, (& she's a she) so obviously we're not headed to St. Anselm's. But it always makes me glad to know there are places where individualistic intelligence and human decency converge...and hopefully, send good people out into the world.

[Anonymous]

Are there places for girls like St. Anslem's?

[Anonymous]

GDS is highly structured. At its best, it's a solid floor, no ceiling kind of structure where there are clear minimum standards (and a building code, so to speak), but sky's the limit on how far you push the assignment.

So if your 5th grader wants to do his traveling biography on someone for whom no YA biography has been written and will therefore have to rely on scholarly or primary sources, odds are the teacher will explain this to the student, suggest that the student assemble materials he wants to work with, bring them (or a bibliography of them in), and see if he can answer the questions posed by the assignment with them. The teacher will probably also suggest other potential subjects (similar time period and/or occupations or causes) for whom YA biographies *are* available to give the student alternatives he might not be aware of. Then it's informed consent time -- perhaps with parents brought into the loop.

Every big (or long-term) project I've seen (3rd-8th grade) has been broken down into small steps with teachers checking for progress along the way.

The one downside of this approach is that a smart, lazy kid (or a smart kid who is motivated primarily by praise or reward) can coast, especially in elementary school. The minimum standard is easily cleared and there aren't letter grades until middle school. But that doesn't sound like it would be an issue for OP's child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family is considering St. Anselm's for similar reasons that you were. We attended the open house and planned to submit an application for next year. Two questions that we didn't get a chance to have answered while at the open house. Q1. As a parent, which subject (math, science, english, etc.) do you feel is the school's strongest? Q2. How is the school's lunch and is it included in tuition(son's question)?

1. I haven't seen one subject stand above the others in the middle school. Every student takes accelerated math, e.g. algebra in 8th grade, and some boys are more accelerated. Science seems strong enough, with interesting electives in the upper school. English requires lots of writing, and my son especially enjoyed the 7th-grade drama course, which included attending and reviewing plays and designing a stage set and building a model of it. I guess the 6th-grade subject that impressed me most was religion (Hebrew scriptures) because it was taught with so much more sophistication than my son got at his parish school.

2. The hot lunch plan costs extra so we pack a lunch for my son. The lunch hall has microwave ovens and sells frozen pizzas and other a la carte items. My son says the hot lunches are awesome except for the vegetable lasagna.

Good luck with your application!

[Anonymous]

PP,

Thanks for the insight and the well wishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS is highly structured. At its best, it's a solid floor, no ceiling kind of structure where there are clear minimum standards (and a building code, so to speak), but sky's the limit on how far you push the assignment.

So if your 5th grader wants to do his traveling biography on someone for whom no YA biography has been written and will therefore have to rely on scholarly or primary sources, odds are the teacher will explain this to the student, suggest that the student assemble materials he wants to work with, bring them (or a bibliography of them in), and see if he can answer the questions posed by the assignment with them. The teacher will probably also suggest other potential subjects (similar time period and/or occupations or causes) for whom YA biographies *are* available to give the student alternatives he might not be aware of. Then it's informed consent time -- perhaps with parents brought into the loop.

Every big (or long-term) project I've seen (3rd-8th grade) has been broken down into small steps with teachers checking for progress along the way.

The one downside of this approach is that a smart, lazy kid (or a smart kid who is motivated primarily by praise or reward) can coast, especially in elementary school. The minimum standard is easily cleared and there aren't letter grades until middle school. But that doesn't sound like it would be an issue for OP's child.

What would be your alternative to minimize coasting in elementary school for smart, lazy kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't think public is a good option at all-30 kids in one class with one teacher. Not good for K or 1st grade.

And Lab school is for kids with learning disabilities-not to say DC has one for sure. Certainly not going to commit to a school for the LD's when we aren't sure that it is going to even be an issue.

Publics can offer services that are not always found in independents. Regarding the Lab School, nearly all the children I know who attend have high WPPSI scores (and I mean HIGH), but they have a few challenges that will not be addressed as well at most independents as they will at the Lab School. By addressing these early on, one is increasing the chances that the child will learn how to master or incorporate them into their repertoire at the earliest grades, rather than waiting till 3rd or 4th grade where they can either no longer keep pace with their peers or the challenges are preventing them from having a successful social interactions. Making a move at that time seems disruptive and counterproductive, IF it could have been done earlier.

I know one family who opted to not go the Lab route and, at second grade, DC's challenges are now overshadowing other strong attributes (incredibly bright and very enthusiastic about areas of interest). Independent may counsel family out of school because of DC's outbursts when class time is spent on anything other than areas of interests.

Seems like you have questions about DC - "not to say DC has one for sure" or "aren't sure that it is going to even be an issue." I would suggest you speak with an OT, perhaps consider further evaluation (some parents pursue this when there is either a divergence between WPPSI verbal and performance scores or original WPPSI evaluation may raise some vague concerns, even in the context of strong scores), and then consider what are the best options for DC. I don't think you will necessarily be able to get that from the forum or from ADs at independents (who are real pros, mind you, but not necessarily psych PhDs in child development).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is highly structured. At its best, it's a solid floor, no ceiling kind of structure where there are clear minimum standards (and a building code, so to speak), but sky's the limit on how far you push the assignment.

So if your 5th grader wants to do his traveling biography on someone for whom no YA biography has been written and will therefore have to rely on scholarly or primary sources, odds are the teacher will explain this to the student, suggest that the student assemble materials he wants to work with, bring them (or a bibliography of them in), and see if he can answer the questions posed by the assignment with them. The teacher will probably also suggest other potential subjects (similar time period and/or occupations or causes) for whom YA biographies *are* available to give the student alternatives he might not be aware of. Then it's informed consent time -- perhaps with parents brought into the loop.

Every big (or long-term) project I've seen (3rd-8th grade) has been broken down into small steps with teachers checking for progress along the way.

The one downside of this approach is that a smart, lazy kid (or a smart kid who is motivated primarily by praise or reward) can coast, especially in elementary school. The minimum standard is easily cleared and there aren't letter grades until middle school. But that doesn't sound like it would be an issue for OP's child.

What would be your alternative to minimize coasting in elementary school for smart, lazy kids?

NCS, for example, strikes me as an environment in which coasting is an unlikely option.

Some schools/parents push kids hard and some kids respond really well to that (and some kids need it). It's more a function of personality than intelligence. Other kids fare better when you pose an interesting question and then get out of their way (but provide support and models of excellence).

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:bump

Not the previous 'bumper' of the is post, but would like to repeat the previously posted question: What is the girls version of St Anselm's?