Is there a child in your family who is gifted? Are you exploring different school options for this child?
First of all, what are gifted children? They’re children who have a higher level of mental acuity than their peers. They’re able to think more abstractly, with more complexity, and more quickly than children of the same age. Gifted students may seem older than their peers, but are not. They need social and emotional support to navigate their way through the numerous challenges their young lives experience.
Furthermore, some gifted children also experience disorders such as autism, which creates the need for exceptionally personalized learning plans to help them. Their situations are sometimes referred to as twice-exceptional.
Unfortunately, most traditional schools have limited resources and curricula to accommodate the needs of the gifted. Other than offering academic acceleration such as entering kindergarten or first grade early, or skipping a grade, there is little a public district school can do to meet a gifted child’s needs.
So let’s turn to more suited options. Perhaps charter schools would be a better fit for gifted learners.
What is a Charter School?
Charter schools are publicly funded, independent schools that offer an educational alternative to that provided by a traditional school. Frequently, their approach is based on a specific pedagogy or teaching method; e.g., Montessori schools, Classical Education schools, or schools focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education.
Charter schools aren’t bound to comply with as many state curriculum regulations as the district schools. Thus, they offer more flexibility and customization of lessons to match the needs of their students. Additionally, smaller classes, strong parental involvement, and specialized curricula make charter schools a better fit for students with special needs…including gifted children.
One such exemplary charter school is the Leman Academy of Excellence. Following a classical education model, Leman’s K-8 curricula apply the Trivium of classical education in teaching; the grammar stage for elementary students and the logic stage for middle schoolers. Leman Academy prepares students to enter the final stage of the Trivium, the rhetorical stage for high schoolers. Against the backdrop of these three Trivium stages, gifted students excel at Leman, scaling their potential.
What are the challenges gifted students face?
Typically, students who are gifted experience conditions that aren’t common among their peers. Such experiences may include:
- Boredom — students’ curiosity isn’t being nourished
- Asynchronous Development — this is a discrepancy between their intellectual, emotional, and social developments.
- Heightened Sensitivities — students exhibit a higher level of energy in psychomotor, sensual, imaginative, intellectual, and emotional actions and reactions.
- Argumentativeness — adolescent students’ rebelliousness is laced with high-level reasoning and complex thinking
- Attention and Focus — gifted students often think about the “big picture” instead of focusing on a simpler task at hand.
How can Charter Schools Help Gifted Students?
Charter schools are, by design, places that nourish the needs of special children. They were created to accommodate families who needed a better educational fit than that offered in traditional schools. Exceptional curriculum flexibility, enrichment opportunities, and accelerated programs to challenge their cognitive abilities are embraced by charter schools’ gifted students.
Charter schools understand that encouraging student creativity leads to excellent problem-solving skills. For example, one charter school activity was led by an elementary science teacher. She organized a project in which her students transformed their classroom into “under the sea”. From floor to ceiling, they created coral reefs, fish and other organisms, shells, seaweed, and even a shipwreck. The children had to “swim” through the water to move around the room. They had to think about where things would go to make room for them to “swim” to their desks and the door. They had to make the “sea” accessible to their classmates in wheelchairs, too.
Opportunities abound for charter students to work on individual projects that demonstrate their mastery of new concepts. One humanities teacher assigned her students to read the play Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard. The learning concepts she wanted her students to grasp were entropy, fractals, and chaos theory. Following the reading and discussion, her students’ projects ranged from poetry to computer games, and musical compositions to board games.
These are the kinds of learning methods that resonate with gifted learners. Their specialized abilities lead them toward complex representations of ideas, sparking creativity and innovation.
Are There Drawbacks to Gifted Students in Charter Schools?
Finding the right school for your child isn’t always simple. Every child is unique, and there are many different teaching methodologies within charter schools. Some are college prep, some emphasize the fine arts, and others focus on the sciences.
Additionally, some students identify as gifted, but they’re actually twice-exceptional which means they have both gifted abilities AND learning disabilities. Intellectual students are complex, and no teacher, school, or teaching method is going to be an absolutely perfect match.
It all boils down to your child’s unique abilities and needs. You know your child better than anyone else. Shop for the right school for your child; it’s well worth your invested time.
In Conclusion
If you have a child who identifies as “gifted”, you need to consider an education that will allow your child to excel according to their potential. However, most traditional public schools don’t have the accommodations or resources to meet that criteria. Search for a charter school that meets their needs. Remember that charter schools are also free of cost with funding provided by the government.
Discover Leman’s Virtual Academy where your student can learn online at home. Or, if you live in Arizona or Colorado, check out the Leman Academy of Excellence. Their schools encourage mastery and critical thinking through the Trivium of the classical education approach. Leman Academy would no doubt be a great fit for your gifted child.