OH NO!! My son got accepted to a gifted program...no vacation for us!!

[mrsmiller]

I was told today that my older son got accepted for a gifted program for next september, and to be in this programs means saturday, and summer classes for him( he does not know yet!) so there goes our trip what I would like to know how Disney handle refunds we are in the free dinning and I already paid the trip the dates Aug 26 / sep 3...

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

he has weekend classes for the gifted program? that is strange, as i haven't heard of that in any classes i've been in/ schools i've taught at. isn't it still possible to miss school...if he was going to anyway? i know it might be hard to catch up, but i bet he could do it...

good lucK!

 

[pixistix]

She was pegged at school for this summer gifted program and yes, it would have been over the summer and I think some Saturdays too.
She told me she didn't want to go. She said she just wants to be a normal kid. I said fine.

 

[mrsmiller]

Sorry I have to explain better , He has to go to 4 saturdays this is to get them "ready" for the program also they will take(they call it boot camp!!) 2 weeks of summer in aug and it happens to be the last two weeks of the month (the time for our vacations) and some workshops, I have to read all the papers that I was given the problem is that my husband alredy got his vacation approved for the time that we were leaving so we cannot change dates...

 

[mrsmiller]

pixistix: I am debating if I should let him decide...

 

[pixistix]

pixistix: I am debating if I should let him decide...

My daughter was adamant about not wanting to go and I wasn't going to force her. I was also skeptical. Why would a child who is "gifted" need a preparation program? She is in the harder classes in school for some subjects, I figured that was enough for me. She gets really good grades, she deserves summers off.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I'm not sure how old your DS is, but let me clue you in on what's in store for your gifted child.

My DD17 is also considered to be "gifted". She has taken all of the accelerated, honors and AP courses that she can handle. Her summers are not her own anymore. She has chapters to outline, novels to read, analyze and write papers about, math packets to complete and essays to write.

We've dragged text books with us on every vacation for the past 3 years. Spring break is just another excuse to pile on additional projects. We have a 4-day weekend right now and she had to email a physics assignment in today plus she has projects in AP US history, AP English and Career Development all due the first week of June.

SATs are on June 2 and she just finished taking 3 AP exams last week.

Compared to high school, college will be a breeze.

Now, knowing that your DS is probably facing the same future when he reaches high school, would you elect to deprive him of "summer vacation" this year? My advise would be to let him be a kid. Childhood is not a race, it's an adventure.

 

[FoodLover]

I was in gifted programs all the way through school. The programs varied a lot in quality. I consistently learned more on my own, from doing extensive independent reading.

As an adult I worked for a very highly regarded (run by a major university) summer program for gifted kids. Some of the kids had a good time, but I didn't feel the program was all that enriching overall.

Personally there is no way I would recommend putting an 8-year-old in a summer "boot camp" vs. going to Disney World. A gifted child that age has many, many years of opportunities in his future. Now is the time to be a kid.

Just my .02, based on my own experiences.

Mary
MouseSavers.com

 

[disneydance]

my dd has bee invited to all the gifted programs at school and was enven invited to one this week she said no and i said thats fine with me i just had to contact to school and she was out of the program

 

[Hannathy]

I have a DD who's schedule is similar to Lisa's DD. She went to a charter school for the highly gifted until high school and she never had Summer work or a boot camp. There is no way I would do that to a young child. They should not be punished for being smarter! Her school followed the exact same days as the rest of the kids. If he is accelerated he should not need boot camp. Does he have to attend? What happens if he doesn't go? I assume reg school hasn't started or are you pulling them out of the reg. school. also, then I could see him not being able to miss. My DD could never miss school like some of the posters on here talk about or she would have been too swamped to ever catch up. She did thrive on it and did very well at the gifted school but she did sacrifice a lot of free time and social time. She did find she fit in better and was happier with the other gifted kids so I'm not against sending a child to a gifted program, I'd do it again tomorrow, I'm just against 2 weeks of school before school even starts. Wow I'm surprised your Teachers union goes along with this also. I would investigate if it was truly mandatory and also what if he joins next year.

 

[Lisa_M]

I'm not sure how old your DS is, but let me clue you in on what's in store for your gifted child.

My DD17 is also considered to be "gifted". She has taken all of the accelerated, honors and AP courses that she can handle. Her summers are not her own anymore. She has chapters to outline, novels to read, analyze and write papers about, math packets to complete and essays to write.

We've dragged text books with us on every vacation for the past 3 years. Spring break is just another excuse to pile on additional projects. We have a 4-day weekend right now and she had to email a physics assignment in today plus she has projects in AP US history, AP English and Career Development all due the first week of June.

SATs are on June 2 and she just finished taking 3 AP exams last week.

Compared to high school, college will be a breeze.

Now, knowing that your DS is probably facing the same future when he reaches high school, would you elect to deprive him of "summer vacation" this year? My advise would be to let him be a kid. Childhood is not a race, it's an adventure.

I don't know about the summer classes thing because in the district I am in, there is no summer gifted program.

Anyway, you will be so glad your daughter took those AP classes when she gets to college. I took 3 AP's in high school and because of that I graduated a year early with my Bachelor's. I saved 15k by spending $231 in high school. So completely worth it....

 

[shortbun]

Go on vacation. He'll be ok. Ask them for the written information and you guys can read it while you wait in lines. lol yeah, right! I'm betting he won't be the only one to miss it.

 

[swilshire]

I'm jealous that there is so much extra for your gifted kids. My three oldest were all identified as gifted but never got much extra. What they did do, they enjoyed, but it was very minimal.

Other counties around do more. I even taught at a summer gifted program when I worked at a university.

Our state treats being gifted like a handicap. I suspect it's because they get more federal money that way. You go through all the same processes as I do with my youngest (who really IS handicapped) such as the IEPs. It was all pretty much a joke here, though.

Sheila

 

[formernyer]

What a sore topic for me! Before I give my own story, I'll make a recommendation.

If you want your child to be enrolled in the gifted program and he MUST attend that summer program, then why not just change the vacation to the first week of the free DDP? He would only miss one Saturday of the program that way, and I honestly doubt they would kick him out of it over one day. Either that or change your vacation to the very last week of the free DDP. It would probably be his second or third week of school and if he's a gifted kid, he won't fall behind over just missing a few days.

 

[Kellydelly]

Your son has many years of school ahead of him to be in gifted or accelerated programs. I don't think I'd change my planned vacation to accomdate something like this. I would speak to the person that's coordinating the program and find out if it's mandatory he be there or if there's any wiggle room with his attendance.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I was told today that my older son got accepted for a gifted program for next september, and to be in this programs means saturday, and summer classes for him( he does not know yet!) so there goes our trip what I would like to know how Disney handle refunds we are in the free dinning and I already paid the trip the dates Aug 26 / sep 3...

I would not want him to give up Saturdays and all summer. Talk to him first before canceling. This seems like too big of a commitment for a kid his age.

 

[formernyer]

Now for my story (and this is totally OT, but it's a topic that still makes me mad to this day...)

I live in a fairly large city in TN. The elementary school gifted programs around here are pretty good IMO. The gifted students are removed from regular classes for only two hours each week, plus they attend a few extra field trips. Children are tested for the program at the end of 2nd grade and admitted into it at the beginning of 3rd grade.

When my daughter was in kindergarten, her teacher called us in for a conference. She indicated that she felt my daughter belonged in the gifted program and she wanted to get permission from both the parents and the school to have her tested, so they could put her in the program at the beginning of 1st grade. It isn't common that exceptions are made to test a child two years early.

We got the permission to administer the testing early and it taught me a lot about this state. Apparently in TN, children cannot be admitted into the gifted program (since it is state funded) unless they are determined to be "learning disabled." There is a very strict set of guidelines which determine if the child is learning disabled, and there is no judgment or discretion allowed in making this determination.

(1) The parent and teacher forms/recommendations must be reviewed and assessed.

(2) The child's grades must be all As

(3) The school psychologist must observe the student in class and also meet one on one, then submit a report

(4) The child must take an IQ test and achieve no less than a 130 in each of four areas (which would also mean no less than 130 overall).

So they take my 5-year old and gather all the necessary recommendations, then they send her in for her IQ test. We were told that there is no test geared to the younger kids, so she would have to take the one that they administer to kids who are at the end of 2nd grade (and some of the questions are pseudo-academic, so it puts her at a huge disadvantage).

Anyway, she takes the test and ends up with scores in the 140s in three of the areas. In the fourth area she had something like a 126. The school psychologist who administered the test indicated that the area she fell short in was one which required her to view photos of various structures and then replicate them by using blocks. The test was timed. Apparently she made no errors at all, but didn't complete enough of the structures because she was spending too much time making sure that the blocks were perfectly neat and aligned. The psychologist was not permitted to remind her that it was timed or ask her to hurry up.

In the end, she was denied funding by the state because her IQ test (via the 7-8 year old test) fell short of the minimum. The school told us that we still had options...they could enroll her in the special nerd school or she could skip a grade. I wasn't fond of either of those options, so I just let it go and they told us that they could re-test her at the end of 2nd grade.

Her second grade teacher was unaware of prior testing and suggested that we try to get her into the gifted program...we were told at that time that there needed to be 3 years between testing. Her third grade teacher, also unaware that she was ever tested, recommended the program. We decided to test her again. After going through the entire paperwork process, it was determined that they weren't even going to administer the IQ test because she'd already taken it once and IQs don't change over time (ummmm, she took a 2nd grade test when she was in Kindergarten!)

That was the end of my efforts for gifted programs. My daughter did just fine in regular classes and I don't feel we missed out on anything.

She enters Middle School this year and I don't intend to pursue any kind of honors or advanced programs. Once she gets into high school I might consider it again (for college credit), but only if it's what she wants and she's able to handle the workload.

 

[Liltx]

I don't think it sounds like too much for an 8 year old. At my school the GT program studies a different topic each year. This year it was space before it has been Louis and Clark etc. The kids do amazing things. Yes, there are high performance expectations but this is what these children really need and aren't getting in regular ed. They are pulled out of class 3 hours per week and are not asked to makeup classwork they miss.
The two weeks might be a fabulous experience for him. Most kiddos go to some kind of day camp in the summer anyway so 2 weeks out of 10 or 12 weeks doesn't sound excessive. It just happens to be during your vacation. I would really try to change your family vacation and let him attend. If he doesn't like it you can always pull him out but it might be the best thing that could have happend to him academically. Also 4 Saturdays over 40 weeks is also not that bad IMO. Think of it like soccer only much less time. Your vacation is one week (which you can reschedule) his learning is forever.

I think these children really need these programs to challenge them otherwise some of them become very apethetic toward learning.

BTW Congratulations to your son. This is a really great thing for him!!!!
Monica

 

[TN_DISNEY]

Can you change your Disney trip plans?
I'd get an answer from Disney about this possibility and go from there. If they say "no problem," then you've got "no problem."

I'd also check with the school and see what you'd need to do in the event you can't attend all of the classes.

Get the facts and then make a good decision...quit guessing.

 

[tink2dw]

Go on Vacation to WDW!!!!!!! Those are memories you can't get back!!!

If you want to challenge his abilities, have him study the Countries of World Show Case then have him tell the family several facts about each as you tour the back streets where you get a real feel for the country.

Learn a new language by using Cd's in the car, and on the computer. Then have him use the language with the CM's from that country at Epcot.

Learn about Dolphins. Sea Turtles, go to Crush!!!

Read, most libraries have summer reading lists. Ours even has little prizes for each week, like super ball, small plastic slinky, pirate eye patches, rolly eye balls, all this stuff can be bought at a party store or the dollar store. Then at the end of summer they get a Shirt.

You know your Son best!!! Only you and your Dh can make this decision!!!