Brainiac

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Again looking for educational advice. Destiny is very mild RSS 6yrs old. 43in

andunknown lbs at this time but starting to look a little dare I say chunky! She

is now more height challenged than weight challenged. A far cry from the 11

1/2lb 21 in one year old I came to this group with. She's actually at 3-5% 0n

the growth charts.No GH etc. I have been home schooling her through a charter

school this year for kindergarten. Problem is she is doing third grade work in

everything but math which is now end of first grade level. She reads, spells,

and comprehends at a sixth grade level. How do I get my district public school

to give her the Stanford-Binet? They don't usually start their GATE program till

3rd grade. However I know of a first grader that was tested and is in their

highly gifted program. But I am not in a district school. I felt that the

district Kindergarten would bore her silly.Is giftedness a Special Need? Her

teacher is suggesting that we promote her to second next year but Destiny wants

none of it even though it would make no practical difference in minutes worked

per week or level of instruction. I don't know whether I should honor her wishes

or override her for her own good. I am also looking at another charter school

that has an on campus multi-age program with good test scores where she could be

in a pass or fail 1st through 5th classroom. I worry that they will not expect

her to achieve at her true level given her size and her ability to fake people

out that she is just a baby. Even the other child that I mentioned who scored as

highly gifted {and is not as far ahead in some areas as Destiny} said her

favorite subjects are art and recess. As a former gifted kid myself I do

remember feeling pressured to succeed. Although I resented it then, when I got

to college I held myself to the standard of a 4.0 and never regretted doing so.

However my oldest daughter also highly gifted now 28 never ended up going to

college and my oldest son, also highly gifted joined the army and is currently

unsure what he will do when he gets out. My third child who is artistically and

theatrically talented { but not academically) is oddly enough the one who is

determined to get a higher education.

So sorry, I'm venting here. I know this is just a tiny trivial issue. but I'm

really wafffling on what to do. I want her identified so that I have more

options, and I want her to be happy and enjoy learning new things as much as I

do, I never get tired of learning! And I want input so I can hear things I may

not have considered. Thanks for you're advice in advance!

, Mom to Destiny RSS and a host of others