progressive schools in DC-for very very bright kid?

[Anonymous]

Hello all:
I know some will take this the wrong way but I see this as being what the forum is actually for, being able to ask a question in private that you would feel uncomfortable doing in person.

So here it goes...
My child is very bright, as in tests in the "profoundly gifted" range and the tester actually told me afterward that she had never had a child complete a particular section prior to testing my child. My child is however not the most confident in social situations unless they know the others well. For this reason we opted for a progressive, nurturing education model. We have been at said school for a few years. However I am noticing more and more as the kids age that most in his class aren't very bright. I have had opportunities to help throughout the years in the classrooms. There are some others, of course, at the school that seem intelligent however I am sort of disturbed sometimes by the number that seem really slow or out of it in class. (Not just one person per class) My child likes school for the most part, but has begun staying that the teacher repeats themselves and covers the same material for a really long time. DC plays with older kids at recess because they tend to connect more with their sense of humor I think.
I would like to hear for parents of exceptionally bright children. Please don't put me down for this post. I am trying to figure out what to do with this child. My other children will probably be fine at this school, however I am not sure if another private would be better for the child I have been speaking about. Are there any mainstream privates that cater or can modify work for a profoundly gifted child? Should I just keep them their and wait to change when they are older for high school? We have already been at a couple schools due to family moves so I don't want to jerk this kid from school to school, but we want to be doing what is best for DC.
Any positive, helpful thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Don't tell me, let me guess.. your child is about 5 years old, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello all:
I know some will take this the wrong way but I see this as being what the forum is actually for, being able to ask a question in private that you would feel uncomfortable doing in person.

So here it goes...
My child is very bright, as in tests in the "profoundly gifted" range and the tester actually told me afterward that she had never had a child complete a particular section prior to testing my child. My child is however not the most confident in social situations unless they know the others well. For this reason we opted for a progressive, nurturing education model. We have been at said school for a few years. However I am noticing more and more as the kids age that most in his class aren't very bright. I have had opportunities to help throughout the years in the classrooms. There are some others, of course, at the school that seem intelligent however I am sort of disturbed sometimes by the number that seem really slow or out of it in class. (Not just one person per class) My child likes school for the most part, but has begun staying that the teacher repeats themselves and covers the same material for a really long time. DC plays with older kids at recess because they tend to connect more with their sense of humor I think.
I would like to hear for parents of exceptionally bright children. Please don't put me down for this post. I am trying to figure out what to do with this child. My other children will probably be fine at this school, however I am not sure if another private would be better for the child I have been speaking about. Are there any mainstream privates that cater or can modify work for a profoundly gifted child? Should I just keep them their and wait to change when they are older for high school? We have already been at a couple schools due to family moves so I don't want to jerk this kid from school to school, but we want to be doing what is best for DC.
Any positive, helpful thoughts?

It would be a lot easier to not put you down if you didn't refer to the other children as "aren't very bright" and "slow or out of it".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't tell me, let me guess.. your child is about 5 years old, right?

And this is your first child, correct?

[Anonymous]

Which grade?

[Anonymous]

OP, I have a child very similar to yours but probably not quite as high IQ. But still very high.

Because of his social / emotional IQ challenges, and his tendencies toward anxiety, and -- very importantly -- because of our own pedagogical philosophy, we enrolled him in a progressive school here in the Washington area. We have experienced the same discovery as you have as the kids have matured and aged. There is a wiiiiide range of intellectual ability in his classrooms.

NOTE TO THE HATERS: I am not saying that persons with less ability are bad, or less than, or do not have great and valuable abilities in other areas, or cannot contribute.


We work hard to make sure DS is enriched and supported outside of school (travel, theater, math extracurriculars, competitive-entry academic summer camps). We hammer the 'work ethic is not the same as innate ability' concept. We are looking forward to the day he enrolls in a high school with a broader academic peer group.

DS is extremely happy and confident and supported in his current school environment and has grown socially and emotionally far beyond what I imagined was possible. That is invaluable to him and to us; it's much more important than being accelerated in algebra to the absolute limit of his IQ capacity as he might be in a Nysmith, BASIS or MoCo magnet.

Also, although the pace and content may be too simple for DS, I cannot deny that his current school is certainly teaching him to learn how to learn. That's a central tenet of progressive ed and not necessarily available (to this great extent) in other more content-heavy independent schools in DC.

[Anonymous]

Thank you 11:44,
So nice to hear your experience. I think you are right in your approach. I think I just needed to hear from someone who has been there done that, my child is in forth grade, so I'm just concerned about his possible lack of academic peers as he goes into upper elem and middle but will see enrichment as a way to fulfill that perhaps.
Thanks for your helpful comments.

[Anonymous]

Take the testing with a little perspective and a grain of salt. An IQ test is a single assessment that adds a little information to the complete picture of a child's intellectual capacity and development. My DC (now in high school) tested in the 150+ FSIQ range on the WPSSI in PK and the WISC in 3rd and scored over 1900 on the SAT in 7th grade. But, DC is not any kind of freak of nature genius. DC is a pretty typical smart child from a upper middle class family -- early reader, quick learner, very articulate, intense questioner, etc -- like all the other students at DC's Big 3/4/5 school. We never felt a need to do or ask for anything out of the ordinary to serve DC's needs. Our "enrichment" is pretty much just involving DC in more and more adult things my spouse and I like to do anyways - travel, art, theater, ideas.

On the other hand, there is a student at DC's school whose parents really focused on her IQ scores. They pulled every trick in the genius child rearing book --daily violin lessons for neural connections, martial arts for discipline, a professional coach to win national competitions. They even put her bed on the floor because being closer to the ground might enhance her brain development. She's turned into a charming, popular, multi-talented high schooler, in addition to being the smartest student in the class.

So maybe the kids will turn out all right, as long as we parents don't do too much to mess them up.

[Anonymous]

Haha! Thank you PP for making me laugh about parents putting the bed on the floor to enhance brain development.
I think the issue for some really bright kids, as they reach age 9 and above, is finding kids that they can be completely themselves with and relate to, without feeling like they need to tone down their academic interest in order to "blend in".

[Anonymous]

First of all, if your child is really PG, then it is unlikely for any school to really teach him at his level.

Secondly, where is this small progressive school where all his classmates are slow and out of it? We are in one of those too, and I thought all the kids are quite smart.

[Anonymous]

My suggestions:

1. Drop all the labels. Don't refer to your child as "PG" or other other children as "not very bright." It will impede communication not only here, but also in conversations with any school. Parents are biased in assessing their children's abilities, so even if you are correct, people will assume you are high-maintenance and clouded in your views. If your child is that bright, the schools will see it in the testing results and in their interactions with the child. Let the scores speak for themselves - don't muddy the waters with your labels.

2. Your basic problem is a concern your current school is not offering your child enough to keep him challenged. Raise that concern with the school. Ask the teachers if they agree he needs more challenge. Tell them he is bored with the pace. They might be willing to differentiate more for him.

3. If the current school is unwilling to differentiate for your child, then you should shop for a school that will differentiate. Go to open houses, apply to some schools, and ask at admissions interviews about how the schools handle differentiated instruction. From what I've read and experiences, most of them are pretty open to significant differentiation by middle school. Don't talk about how much smarter you think your child will be than all the other kids - if the scores truly back that up, the school will know it.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

If your child is PG, apply to the Davidson Young Scholars program--there's a community of parents there who would be helpful to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't tell me, let me guess.. your child is about 5 years old, right?

[Anonymous]

OP - ignore the haters. You have a real issue which I understand. My I.Q. is 183. I have two kids in the 99.99% category, mensa, 36 on ACT, the whole mess. However, both have either ADHD or LDs. So they are very frustrated in a conventional classroom.

Having gone through this mess for 20 years, here's my advice. If you are in a good public school area (sorry, I read your post and the snarky responses fast), some districts, like FCPS have extraordinary opportunities for advanced math and science unlike most of the privates. But you need to get your child - whatever age - on the gifted track ASAP. (Your child must also be self-motivated and a hard worker to survive in public). In FCPS that is 3rd grade. We moved a child from a SN school to Langley High to take advantage of the AP programs. That child is now in college but still works with the Office of Disability services because DC is so bright that ideas are swirling around in head and sometimes whips out straight As, sometimes falls into C range because DC can't organize thoughts in head.

Another child tested for ADHD so we put her in a terrific SN school for ADHD kids. DC's self-confidence has been destroyed by the puntivie, rote memorization traditions of parochial school Big mistake on our part but we didn't know at the time. Once DC hit the SN school he went off like a rocket. Later testing showed no signs of ADHD, just some exec. function disorder because DC is so bright the thoughts are whirling around in his head and he can't get them out sometimes in class or paper.

So my vote is either a great public with superior gifted programs or a private that REALLY will differentiate for your child and challenge him for pull-outs and other opportunities. What you want ot avoid is boredom (which was my personal problem growing up with a 183 I.Q.) and punitive teachers who don't understand differentiation of teaching and punish the extra bright kid becuse they aren't like the other kids. I hope this helps somewhat.

I do not recommend the "gifted" schools like Edlin and others. In my experience applying (we got in so no sour apples) they will take anyone in this economy.

[Anonymous]

An IQ of 183?