[shari626]

I have an acquaintance - that I knew about 5 years ago when I helped her with nursing when her daughter was a baby. We are friends on facebook and she is now struggling with something near to all of our hearts - her daughter is like our kids and she is faced with putting her in public school. Anyway - here is some of what she has described of her situation:

I know I'm not objective about my own kid, but I really would like to know on what basis the Brandywine School District decided that she does not qualify for the gifted and talented program.
This leaves us with either figuring out how to make private school tuition work or send her into into a mainstream public 1st grade classroom. This is a child who reads CS Lewis independently and intuits the products of multiplication problems at age 6.
I have been praying and praying and praying that my daughter end up the educational setting that will best serve her. I'm having a really hard time trusting this one...
She's coming out of 3 years in a Montessori Preschool. I just feel thwarted at every turn.

This is how her daughter was determined to not be accepted:
They solicited questionnaires from parents and teachers and did an observation day which was an abbreviated "school" day made up of activities designed to elicit gifted/talented qualities. Her teachers sent a portfolio, and we gave 6 typewritten pages of detailed examples. And the kicker is, it's not a quota issue. The district said if they qualify, they're in. So somehow, she didn't qualify. I just can't make sense of it.

I sent her a message and told her to homeschool if she could - since we are in the same boat with the public schools. It doesn't sound like the TAG school (this school I considered for Erin last year - but had transportation issues) even tested her. Just observations and recommendations. We talked for a little while and she wants to get together for coffee to discuss what I think further - since I have already been down this road. I don't know her daughter at all but am just going off what the mother thinks.

Any advice from other gifted mommies?
Chrystal - homeschool advice for his mom?

[BensMom]

Is she open to homeschooling? What state is she in? She's certainly welcome to contact me.

Sounds like the "school day" was somehow rigged and/or the teachers didn't know what to look for. Gifted kids are often introverts, but teachers - like the entire human race - are instinctively drawn to extroverts. When observers see a classroom full of kindergarteners, they're looking for the kids who are able to read simple books aloud. If a child is sitting alone, quiet, and turning pages without reading, they "must" be looking at the pictures, right? Not if the child has already transitioned to quick, silent reading and is bored to tears with the book offerings in a K classroom! A bored child will usually not appear gifted during a random assessment, because they're not motivated to do circus tricks.

Tell her to read the book called "Academic Advocacy..." It talks about this oversight in gifted identification.

[shari626]

She is in Delaware - like me. I will pass on all that info. I knew you would be a good one for information! Thank you so much!!!!

And yes, she is open to homeschooling if that is the only option she is left with.

[BensMom]

Of the north/east areas, DE & NJ would be my first choices for HS'ing. It's really easy there.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Delaware.pdf

[Butter]

LOL... MD and VA are *super* easy for homeschooling, too. They just don't look like it on paper

[clouise]

I wonder if she can appeal the decision in some way. You can here. You can also request restesting the following year.

For me, the real question would be, is the TAG program even worth it? The one at our current school is not. We went through a simlar process for B to get in, and then the acceptance letter wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

[shari626]

Well, in my opinion, it's worth it. It's a k-8 school for gifted students only. I looked into it for Erin, but there were drawbacks for me:

1. It's housed inside a regular school.
2. Said regular school is not good.
3. Same school is in a bad area of the city.
4. No transportation at all.

[clouise]

That sounds exactly like the school we applied to send Beth to, except in our case they do offer transportation. And she already goes to a bad school in a bad area, so that isn't anything new. The one that I didn't think was worth it was the pull-out program they offer in her current school. They are just stretched too thin for it to be of much help.