We are pleased to announce that we found a wonderful private school for Lily -
The Gardner School. The Gardner School reflects our values and the education is unbeatable. Being parents to a gifted child like Lily required a lot of attention that we simply couldn't give. In just one month, her teachers have tailored a curriculum just for her that will enable her to flourish academically and emotionally. I was so impressed at how they picked up on the learning issues we've faced as
homeschoolers, and have answers to help us solve our problems.
For example, we believed Lily started reading from age three, but it probably was more like 18 months based on the fact that she is a sight reader. When she was that young, she would recite books to us, but I thought it was only pure memorization. Because she learned to read on her own, she never learned to read phonetically, and as a result, has been struggling with spelling. Now that we have this information (about her learning to read as a sight reader), we can work with her teachers and give her the tools she needs to learn to spell. In just this month we've come a very long way. Another issue they've helped us with is that Lily has a trait of perfection, which was actually stopping her from trying new things, and learning new things - in her mind, if she couldn't do it perfectly the first time, she wouldn't try it at all. So back to the spelling example - two years ago she was demanding to have her own dictionary and wouldn't "sound anything out". It was getting hard for me as a homeschooling parent and mom to another little one to be spelling everything for her almost every minute of the day (she was writing her own books and comic books). I'm now learning, from this wonderful school, that Lily couldn't learn to spell on her own because kids that learn to spell on their own are initially phonetic readers. We needed to approach spelling differently with Lily and her school is pointing the way. Perfectionism is another trait common to gifted kids. We are learning that we have to approach life very differently with Lily in order for her to be able to face life's challenges in the best way she can.
While we always knew there was something different about Lily, it's nice to have the validation that we weren't crazy as parents to a very sensitive, opinionated, challenging, bright child who would require more than we could give her as
homeschoolers. So, how does Lily feel about all this?
She was not happy about going to school. It was not her decision, so she was pretty pissed off. She was worried that the school kids would "know" more than her. Her perfectionism was making her feel she wouldn't "match up". She needs to feel in control and I can understand her feelings. We really felt we needed to put her in a situation that would be more challenging and in a place where we could feel she was getting the best academic care and wouldn't be thrown into some
categorized "gifted" program. Her emotions about school and her anxieties are being addressed in a most caring way. The Gardner School really reflects our values, provides us with a good sense of community, and we are looking forward to the next 7 years with Gardner.
Above is the inside.
Here is Lily leaning up against the plankhouse with schoolmates.
Here's the kids having fun at lunchtime.
Here's the Loowit class.
More Loowits inside the plankhouse.
