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Sounds like you need to communicate with the school. While it is great that your child has a high IQ, that is not the only thing that makes a child "gifted'. Our school doesn't start AIG until 3rd grade b/c kids start leveling off at this age. What I mean by that is some kids stay home with Mom, Grandma, etc. and are not "formally" taught a curriculum before Kindergarten. Then you have others, like my son, who go to very good pre-schools and come in knowing quite a bit more than the others. He was bored to tears in Kindergarten and some last year. We worked with his teachers to adjust his work for his level. You can't just assume that because your child scored well on an IQ test that the school will jump through hoops right out of the gate. But if you sit down with the teacher and principal and discuss what you think would benefit the child, it could be a great situation.
One other thing, I would NOT get in the habit of labeling (i.e. gifted) because children tend to take things literally. I would hate to see your child suffer in social situations b/c they talk about being gifted (and it does happen). All children are special and all being in AIG really does is give the child more work! My point was COMMUNICATION with the school....private school is not always the answer. Example: My son has a friend who was in private school for kindergarten and first grade. He has trouble reading. No one at the school was willing to give him extra help and she PAID for him to go there. She put both her kids (older one is 9 and has no problems in school) in our school this year. A teacher is tutoring him to help him catch up to his peers. So while in theory private schools may seem better, you sometimes just wind up out a lot of money for nothing more than you would have gotten sending them to public school. If you stay involved, your children will be fine regardless of where they go.
Sounds like you need to communicate with the school. While it is great that your child has a high IQ, that is not the only thing that makes a child "gifted'. Our school doesn't start AIG until 3rd grade b/c kids start leveling off at this age. What I mean by that is some kids stay home with Mom, Grandma, etc. and are not "formally" taught a curriculum before Kindergarten. Then you have others, like my son, who go to very good pre-schools and come in knowing quite a bit more than the others. He was bored to tears in Kindergarten and some last year. We worked with his teachers to adjust his work for his level. You can't just assume that because your child scored well on an IQ test that the school will jump through hoops right out of the gate. But if you sit down with the teacher and principal and discuss what you think would benefit the child, it could be a great situation.
One other thing, I would NOT get in the habit of labeling (i.e. gifted) because children tend to take things literally. I would hate to see your child suffer in social situations b/c they talk about being gifted (and it does happen). All children are special and all being in AIG really does is give the child more work! My point was COMMUNICATION with the school....private school is not always the answer. Example: My son has a friend who was in private school for kindergarten and first grade. He has trouble reading. No one at the school was willing to give him extra help and she PAID for him to go there. She put both her kids (older one is 9 and has no problems in school) in our school this year. A teacher is tutoring him to help him catch up to his peers. So while in theory private schools may seem better, you sometimes just wind up out a lot of money for nothing more than you would have gotten sending them to public school. If you stay involved, your children will be fine regardless of where they go.
Actually we have been talking for years, no one has been listening. She has been in the same school system for almost 4 years. Communication has to be two ways in order to be effective.
Trust me, I do not think that her high IQ means everything. I do think that it answers a whole bunch of questions my husband and I have been asking for years (especially the part where I said she may have a learning disability). The school system does not seem to be interested in her. "Yeah, she probably has a disability but she is doing fine so we are not going to spend our time or money to help fix it." I also do not think that private school would "fix" everything. I was just simply looking at her options.
She actually has no idea that she is gifted. She knows that she is smart. We told her the testing was to show the doctor how she learned.
I have never labeled her, yet she has been labeled since preschool. She has constantly been called a bad kid, bad girl, troublemaker, and many others by teachers and students.
It is interesting all the decisions we have to make regarding a good education. I was fortunate that my daughter was a good student (not gifted) and felt she had to "teach" my young son EVERYTHING she learned. So now I have been dealing with this preschooler who is bored. I asked the teacher to send homework home to keep him interested. Plus we do activity books when my daughter does her homework.
They are 16 months apart and I would put him into a private school before her and she would be smiling and waving goodbye. She doesnt LOVE to learn like him she is there to socialize and get by. I try to encourage her but like it has been said ...they are all different. She wouldnt want private and the more strict environment and I know he would love it.
Dont worry about the fairness just try to evaluate the learning style.
We are getting ready to move to Huntersville and when I ask her if she will miss her friends and school (she is in 1st grade) she tells me over nad over "no" that she is happy to get away from her teacher. That is so sad to me...she isnt even thinking about her friends just the opportunity to get away from this teacher. I asked her why she didnt tell me that she didnt like her and she says because I told her how lucky she was to have a smart teacher.
I know I am venting here but I feel so bad and this has just come up in the last week and I feel so responsible for her quiet unhappiness.
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Southlake Christian Acadamy--huntersville
