Reply to New to Private School World, Need Advice

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "New to Private School World, Need Advice – Rising 4th Grader"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I read the pinned posts about the basics, but if someone with more knowledge than me could help orient me, I’d be really grateful.

We are parents who went to public school ourselves, live within walking distance to our community school, and thought that would be great for our son.  Unfortunately it turns out that our school has not been able to challenge him.  We have tried to be patient (didn’t want to raise a stink with a Kindergartener/1st grader and then the pandemic hit and they’re just trying to get by) but it has become clear that they aren’t going to do anything to differentiate, enrich or teach at his level.  The school has designated him as “gifted” but that seems to mean literally nothing.  I’m concerned he won’t learn how to learn resilience when met with a challenge and feel like he’s being cheated out of the joy of working hard and learning a new concept.  My husband was a gifted student and had a similar public school trajectory and is very wary of repeating it with our son.

We haven’t done any testing because it just hasn’t been on our radar to think that way, but he is extremely curious, a fast learner, gets concepts the first time, and has always been way ahead of kids his age.  He scores way above the 99th %ile score on MAP tests and gets all A’s on his report card, while reporting school is boring.

He is a totally normal kid.  He has friends of all ages and abilities, still plays on the floor with matchbox cars, loves video games, etc.  Chatty AF and a bit impulsive, but friendly and a bit naïve for his age.

I know that many private deadlines have passed or are passing.  But we are starting to feel like the school situation is untenable.  MoCo has a Center for Enrichment Studies program for 4th and 5th, but the lottery is so inclusive that it is unlikely he will get in, and of course they don’t decide until after private deadlines.  I am starting to feel like we are not doing right by our son to sit back year after year as the school system can’t educate him.

My question is, where do we even start?  Is it really too late for 2022-23?  I am not virtue signaling when I say that prestige or future Ivy acceptance is truly not the goal for us.  My goal is for him to be lit up by new concepts and experiences and taught how to meet a challenge.  I want a nurturing but challenging environment and certainly don’t want him in a high pressure situation.  My worry is that we pay all this money for a private school to end up with the same issues where they are teaching to the bottom and my kid gets told to read a book in the corner.  Do I need to seek out a gifted school?  Or will all privates be able to better differentiate?

I know this is a broad question but I feel so green, so if anyone has any guidance I would really appreciate it![/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics