Has anyone here left private to go to a gifted program (elementary)?
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Anonymous
| We love our private but are considering applying to a gifted program next year for financial reasons. Anyone who has btdt care to opine? Particularly interested in how the curriculum incorporates visual and performing arts, music, and physical education. Also, how are class sizes? |
Anonymous
there are 25+ in each classroom but since there is just one lesson plan it seems to work. they don't get any additional resources but the curriculum and peer group are wonderful. they have the same specials as the other students (art, PE, music) and we have not observed many attempt to incorporate these into the curriculum. these kids are not getting extra resources (so in that sense, it might be different from a well-endowed private) but they do get a different curriculum (enriched and accelerated). A lot of emphasis on writing and critical thinking, especially in 5th grade. |
Anonymous
| Someone posted recently that their child did a unit on Shakespeare that involved performance and research, but in at least in our school there was a conscious decision that all the kids take specials together, so it's not as if the regular PE class can be integrated into the curriculum for the HGC. A number of children at our school were in private before. |
Anonymous
| The atmosphere might drive you crazy. Just throw work sheets at them -- no real analysis. Public may have better math program. Thrown at them. But each school is different. Sort of. |
Anonymous
| NP here. So what I'm reading is that the switch from private to TAG is not worth it unless you want to save money. |
Anonymous
| OP: so the gifted program is a more accelerated curriculum, but there aren't very many other differences compared to your neighborhood school? Do some people then prefer to keep in a neighborhood school and just supplement with Kumon and the like? I don't understand why it's so attractive and competitive, there must be something I'm not getting. Thanks. |
Anonymous
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Our son went from a private school (he'd been there from K-3) to a MoCo HGC and the change was phenomenal in terms of the curriculum, challenge, and peer group. His teachers were wonderful, every day he was excited and happy to go to school, and his writing and math skills took off like a rocket.
We had planned to go back to private at some point, but he is now in a middle school magnet and doing beautifully. Depending on HS magnet applications, we may just keep him in public. Moving him to the HGC was the best thing we could have done for him. |
Anonymous
| OP: 10:14, thank you for responding. I'm thinking of doing the same, but was concerned about how dc would do in the environment, particularly on the social front since dc is shy (and the current school is quite small). How was it socially for your son? thanks again. |
Anonymous
Socially he is in a great place. The peer group is one of the best things about the HGC - the kids really "get" each other, and are forgiving and accepting of the quirky kids. He really came into his own in the HGC, and socially he's done very well. He has a close group of friends at his MS now, some from the HGC and others he connected with in sixth grade. |
Anonymous
This is ridiculous and completely inaccurate. |
Anonymous
HGC and MS magnet PP here and I agree, could not be farther from the truth. |
Anonymous
+1 I am not sure what the poster is basing this on. When my child was in the regular public schools there was a lot of busy work and worksheets. Now (at the HGC) dc gets thoughtful assignments, the curriculum is deep, they have interesting extensions. they move through topics and assignments quickly which means they are constantly working on new things. DC's research, writing and critical thinking skills have really improved dramatically. You are in a regular public school, you take your specials with the neighborhood kids, but your academic experience (in terms of the curriculum and peer group) is different and honestly probably better than most private schools with the possible exception of places like Sidwell, NCS. The peer group at an HGC however will be very different even from a top tier private |
Anonymous
Not a magnet school. |
Anonymous
| OP, you seem to beginning with an unfounded premise that private schools are inherently superior to publics in terms of academic rigor. This is rarely the case. |
Anonymous
| poster 12:15, you seem to not have read my original post. I'm "particularly interested in how the curriculum incorporates visual and performing arts, music, and physical education," not academics. Likewise, I ask about class size. The unfounded premise you mention is, indeed, unfounded. And it is not my own. |