at parent teacher conferences in october
hazel's teacher told me she wanted hazel to be tested for the gifted and talented program
i was a little surprised
i know she is smart and hard working and does well in school
but i had no idea she had the 2nd highest MAPS (standardized test) score in her entire school
she scored in the 96-97 % on them
her teacher told me that she gets things right that no one else does,
she is an excellent student and has a unique mix of natural intelligence and strong work ethic
she is such a sweet girl and loves to help her classmates
so we started on the path to getting her tested (which they said could take up to six months)
as i filled out the paperwork i didn't think she would be a match with the program
it seemed like they were looking for kids who didn't fit in with their current classes
hazel totally fits in
she's super social and loves school
but i filled it out anyway and a couple weeks ago she got tested
the testing involves looking at her grades, paperwork we filled out versus paperwork her teacher filled out, her MAPS scores and they gave her a language IQ test
she scored 99% on it! this girl is somewhat of a genius i guess
i told her the test was to see if she needs more of a challenge at school
and she told me, "i do"
she is now enrolled in the program
which doesn't me mean too much this year
she'll just keep doing a challenge class on mondays at her school
but next year she will either be bused to a different school once a week for a challenge day
or attend a neighboring school all the time for their program
it's up to us but we're leaning toward keeping her at our home school and being bused once a week
i think it would kill her to have to switch schools and make all new friends again
we haven't told her too much about any of this
i don't want to make any of our other kids feel sad
or make her feel uncomfortable
we're trying to play it cool
we're trying to play it cool
but we are so proud of our girl for working hard and wanting to challenge herself
5 comments:
Wow! Go Hazel! She has always seemed to be wise beyond her years. I guess now you have to evidence to prove it :)
Grandpa Olson says:
Wow, besides being pretty she is smart too!
With Love
That is good that she is so talented. Sounds like you are handling it the right way.
very exciting. pretty girl.
I think the fact that she recognizes that she needs more of a challenge at school("I do!"), but she hasn't complained about it or been a problem for her teachers, and even loves school in spite of the fact that she is way ahead of what's going on, that definitely shows maturity and gifted-ness! Good for her, and good for her parents seeing that she gets what she needs! I think I would go with the one day a week option as well, not that it even matters because she's not my daughter, but just saying - it makes sense to me!
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