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[quote=Anonymous]Here's an opinion from another Big 3 parent, as opposed to the public/AAP/GT contingent. There are lots of "average" children in the 140+ IQ range in the Big 3 classrooms. It's handpicked group, so there is a very different distribution than the public schools.  And the issue of whether to feed your child's interests/desires for acceleration is a frequent question raised by parents.

My DC is no genius -- so your concerns may be completely different -- but she was academically well ahead of classmates throughout the elementary years. For us the it always seemed that she was flipping through the next grade's books and figuring out things for herself before her friends in the next grade or two. She complained about having to do group projects with others who couldn't figure things out as quickly. And her ERBs were always in the top few percentiles for private school students.

Our priority for DC in elementary school was to learn to master her emotions and impulses and how to work effectively with groups, figure out how to lead others, and relate to classmates of varying maturity levels.  The school did a great job of doing just that. The stereotype of math science nerds exists for a reason - its too easy for parents to let smart kids to focus on their academic strengths and let their social and emotional skills lag.

Academically, we fed DC's academic interests outside of school when needed. She was a little kid, so it wasn't exactly hard to provide the content. A little multiplication here, a YA book there, and extended conversations about what was in the news or what she saw in a museum. Math games and crossword puzzles were great ways to build skills and vocabulary without drill and kill. We did enough that algebra in 6th grade was pretty intuitive and she coasted through the rest of high school math.  [/quote]

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