Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 19:03     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Public is best until high school and then a top private for high school (or a magnet if the student is ok with a huge school).


+1. Mom to gifted current HYP student who went this path.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 19:01     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our DC was doing 3rd grade work in prek which I soon discovered is not unusual. In K-5 we focused on peer relationships, and by 6th the work was starting to become “new” and interesting. In high school DC was challenged with 14 APs. DC graduated last year and went to an excellent private college, not an Ivy. DC attended the Whitman pyramid.

My point is to enjoy the experience. Bright kids will do well wherever they go so find the right fit. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.


My DC had a perfect SAT score at six, graduation from Princeton at ten, and finished medical school at 14 and started residency at 16.




Doogie?
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 18:53     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:You are lucky if you get in at Sidwell! They balance social emotional learning with academics. There is no gifted curriculum for elementary school in private schools.


Nysmith does support elementary acceleration unlike most other privates. We do not attend Nysmith - too far away -- but they are an exception to the post quoted above.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 18:30     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
You are lucky if you get in at Sidwell! They balance social emotional learning with academics. There is no gifted curriculum for elementary school in private schools.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 15:55     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Went to Sidwell open house, there's a lot to like but couldn't get a whiff of the "rigorous" academics they are supposedly known for... children are supposed to count to 100 by first grade, something my PK3 child does already? The focus was overwhelmingly on social justice. In the art class the students were not doing art but rather being led through a slide presentation on allyship.

As an international development worker, I feel global citizenship is vital and these are values I will impart to my children at the dinner table. However I will not teach them art and algebra.

What is the best school in DC for academics?

Thanks!

New-in-town


It does not matter till high school. Everything before that is building foundations.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 15:46     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.


Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.

All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.

MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.

OP you want public school.


MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.


+1
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 14:45     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
STAY AWAY FROM BASIS IN MCLEAN!!! Please refer to past threads on why.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 11:17     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.


Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.

All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.

MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.

OP you want public school.


MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2025 06:44     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Public is best until high school and then a top private for high school (or a magnet if the student is ok with a huge school).
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2025 23:35     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nysmith


Didn't it shut down?


Never mind. That was Feynman, not Nysmith.
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2025 23:34     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Nysmith


Didn't it shut down?
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2025 19:38     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Went to Sidwell open house, there's a lot to like but couldn't get a whiff of the "rigorous" academics they are supposedly known for... children are supposed to count to 100 by first grade, something my PK3 child does already? The focus was overwhelmingly on social justice. In the art class the students were not doing art but rather being led through a slide presentation on allyship.

As an international development worker, I feel global citizenship is vital and these are values I will impart to my children at the dinner table. However I will not teach them art and algebra.

What is the best school in DC for academics?

Thanks!

New-in-town



What makes you think your child is gifted?
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2025 19:33     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Went to Sidwell open house, there's a lot to like but couldn't get a whiff of the "rigorous" academics they are supposedly known for... children are supposed to count to 100 by first grade, something my PK3 child does already? The focus was overwhelmingly on social justice. In the art class the students were not doing art but rather being led through a slide presentation on allyship.

As an international development worker, I feel global citizenship is vital and these are values I will impart to my children at the dinner table. However I will not teach them art and algebra.

What is the best school in DC for academics?

Thanks!

New-in-town


Play is what is developmentally appropriate in Pre-k and K. Your whole attitude sounds like a grinder public school parent. Send your kid to FCPS and see if your little genius gets into AAP. Then see if your little genius can get into TJ. If they can’t do this, they aren’t the special snowflake you think they are. - signed parent from 2 different DC independent schools
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2025 19:07     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Nysmith
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2025 15:54     Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our DC was doing 3rd grade work in prek which I soon discovered is not unusual. In K-5 we focused on peer relationships, and by 6th the work was starting to become “new” and interesting. In high school DC was challenged with 14 APs. DC graduated last year and went to an excellent private college, not an Ivy. DC attended the Whitman pyramid.

My point is to enjoy the experience. Bright kids will do well wherever they go so find the right fit. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.


My DC had a perfect SAT score at six, graduation from Princeton at ten, and finished medical school at 14 and started residency at 16.



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