Private School for Gifted and Talented Child in NOVA or DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate when people revive old threads.

+1 Especially when the information in many of the posts is wildly inaccurate. That said I wonder what OP ended up doing with his/her kids? It has been 8 years. I didn't post here but my advice would have been to mainstream in a private and only advance a max of 2 grade levels. That's what my parents did for my sister and me, and it was the right thing. Anything more and the social aspects have more downsides than there are academic upsides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nysmith or Edlin

I have two children at Nysmith and am very pleased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As I did get some helpful answers, clearly there are other parents of exceptionally gifted children out there. For those who found "truly gifted" imprecise, "exceptionally gifted" begins around 160 on Stanford-Binet scale. I find it so interesting that the needs of gifted kids are sneered at without expectation of censure, whereas someone sneering at the special needs of kids with autism, Asperger's or other developmental disabilities would be considered insensitive, at minimum. There's a lot of prejudice towards gifted kids. Given the anti-intellectual streak in our culture, as well as the discomfort with those who are different, it's easy to write off being gifted as a delusion or a putting on of airs -- that is, if you know absolutely nothing about being gifted.

I had heard about Nysmith, but understand they've had significant administrative and management problems that have led to a deterioration in the overall quality of education there. Any Nysmith parents willing to comment?

Thanks to the poster who recommended specific schools in the McLean area. it's very useful information.

In terms of homeschooling, it seems a very daunting task to homeschool a gifted child. Are there established homeschool curricula for gifted kids, or would the parent need to wing it?

As for college, I can't speak to Hopkins or MIT or Julliard, as I did not attend any of these institutions. Believe it or ot. There are others out there that accept gifted children early. My experience with early attendance was pretty miserable. My parents skipped me and sent me to college partly on the advice of school counselors and partly because they got so much ego gratification from having a "genius" child. The counselors just wanted to pass me on, because they didn't know what else to do with me. Looking back, they probably lacked both know-how and resources. Don't assume a school counselor is an expert on gifted children or that your child's best interest is their first priority.

I have a hard time imagining how parent and institutional support can help a child deal with being the freak in every class. Perhaps a cohort of other gifted kids who are younger than the norm can make a difference, but I remain skeptical. At the time, I thought going to college early was better than staying in high school, where I was both bored academically and a social freak. I really wished that I had been allowed to stay with my age peers, but that was never even considered as an option for me.

I hope I can find a place where my child can thrive intellectually, emotionally, and socially, but if forced to chose between intellectual and emotional/social development, I'd sacrifice the intellectual. Why? Boredom doesn't scar you too badly, but not being able to mature emotionally in an appropriate way and not knowing how to relate to other people can scar you into deformity.


Nysmith is an excellent school. There program is exceptional.

[Anonymous]

Check out Ideaventions Academy for Math & Science in Reston. They're 1st - 12th grade. I found them on Niche.com. They're for Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted kids.

[Anonymous]

OP, there is a charter school in charlotte, NC called Metrolina. Kids have to IQ test into and it was set up for the highly gifted student. We have friends with a kid there and they say that people have moved there from all over the country to get their kids in. They did crazy things like rent an apt to establish residency to be able to enter the lottery.

Now, I know you probably can’t move that far away, but maybe they know of other similar schools closer to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is a charter school in charlotte, NC called Metrolina. Kids have to IQ test into and it was set up for the highly gifted student. We have friends with a kid there and they say that people have moved there from all over the country to get their kids in. They did crazy things like rent an apt to establish residency to be able to enter the lottery.

Now, I know you probably can’t move that far away, but maybe they know of other similar schools closer to you?

Oops. I am just seeing this is a very old thread. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

OP’s super special kid is probably in college by now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As I did get some helpful answers, clearly there are other parents of exceptionally gifted children out there. For those who found "truly gifted" imprecise, "exceptionally gifted" begins around 160 on Stanford-Binet scale. I find it so interesting that the needs of gifted kids are sneered at without expectation of censure, whereas someone sneering at the special needs of kids with autism, Asperger's or other developmental disabilities would be considered insensitive, at minimum. There's a lot of prejudice towards gifted kids. Given the anti-intellectual streak in our culture, as well as the discomfort with those who are different, it's easy to write off being gifted as a delusion or a putting on of airs -- that is, if you know absolutely nothing about being gifted.

I had heard about Nysmith, but understand they've had significant administrative and management problems that have led to a deterioration in the overall quality of education there. Any Nysmith parents willing to comment?

Thanks to the poster who recommended specific schools in the McLean area. it's very useful information.

In terms of homeschooling, it seems a very daunting task to homeschool a gifted child. Are there established homeschool curricula for gifted kids, or would the parent need to wing it?

As for college, I can't speak to Hopkins or MIT or Julliard, as I did not attend any of these institutions. Believe it or ot. There are others out there that accept gifted children early. My experience with early attendance was pretty miserable. My parents skipped me and sent me to college partly on the advice of school counselors and partly because they got so much ego gratification from having a "genius" child. The counselors just wanted to pass me on, because they didn't know what else to do with me. Looking back, they probably lacked both know-how and resources. Don't assume a school counselor is an expert on gifted children or that your child's best interest is their first priority.

I have a hard time imagining how parent and institutional support can help a child deal with being the freak in every class. Perhaps a cohort of other gifted kids who are younger than the norm can make a difference, but I remain skeptical. At the time, I thought going to college early was better than staying in high school, where I was both bored academically and a social freak. I really wished that I had been allowed to stay with my age peers, but that was never even considered as an option for me.

I hope I can find a place where my child can thrive intellectually, emotionally, and socially, but if forced to chose between intellectual and emotional/social development, I'd sacrifice the intellectual. Why? Boredom doesn't scar you too badly, but not being able to mature emotionally in an appropriate way and not knowing how to relate to other people can scar you into deformity.

From our experience at a private school, they may not have the resources to deal with extreme giftedness. The admin at our school didn't want to deal with high fliers and lower performers (who they counseled out). There was no tracking in math for example so advanced kids were doing classes after school at other enrichment places or working with their parents if the parents had the skills. At public school by contrast, there were three math levels in 8th grade. Don't fall into the trap of thinking private school teachers are going to magically spend endless extra hours with your kid. Furthermore, they have the same training and degrees as public school teachers.

[Anonymous]

Since some people with super smart kids are poking into this revived thread, I'll recommend Leta Stetter Hollingworth's "Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin And Development". Hollingworth was instrumental in setting up education for gifted children in New York City during the 1920s. She reviews the literature for examples, then goes into case studies of some of the children that she'd worked with, in most cases following them through to adulthood. Your child is almost certainly not as smart as the ones with whom Holligworth worked, but I think it's still quite useful in terms of some of the general behaviors and challenges. The book is available for free off of Project Gutenberg.

[Anonymous]

You should just find a really good public school for k-5. There will be lots of high achieving kids. Maybe not all geniuses, but in the VA suburbs, you get lots of really smart kids. The socialization, as well as honing executive functioning skills, will help them, even if you have to supplement with CTY, etc. afterschool and on weekends.
re-evaluate in late ES or early MS to see what the right next step is. If the proof is really in the pudding, they can go to TJ or college. but, a elementary private school is NOT the right answer for a really aggressive academic focus, typically, it's just not their pedological model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out Ideaventions Academy for Math & Science in Reston. They're 1st - 12th grade. I found them on Niche.com. They're for Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted kids.

How and why did you revive thus thread from 2012? Just to promote your school?