Greater Chicago and Illinois Gifted Kids Have Great Schools in Their Backyard

This modern world requires parents to explore every advantage for their kids. This is even more true when your children are gifted. While gifted education practices are sometimes controversial, if your child qualifies for them, you must consider every avenue and take advantage of this blessing. Illinois has a great reputation for education and the Chicago area is full of great gifted schools. Parents in this area need to take advantage of these resources.

Letting your gifted child stay in a regular education setting is doing them a great disservice. It doesn’t matter if they are in public, private, or parochial school, keeping them in average classrooms is the wrong move. There is no shortage of options in Chicago or Illinois in general for gifted school programs. Chicago parents of gifted children can expect the following advantages to enrolling their child in a gifted education program.

1. Positive self-image. Being gifted will be a great boost for your child’s self-image. It is important to seize that feeling and keep it going. Your kid is going to stand out after they are labeled as gifted. That may or may not be a good thing if they are in a normal classroom. Being in a gifted child program with their peers will make them feel accepted and understood. This will keep improving their self-confidence and encourage them to embrace their gifts.
2. Better socialization. This goes with the previous point. Gifted kids often have different or elevated interests than their peers in general education classroom settings. This could lead to them feeling as if they don’t belong in comparison to the other kids. In a gifted child program kids can find peers who share the same pursuits that they do. This will allow them to better fit in, make friends, and develop better social skills than if they stayed in a regular classroom.
3. Intellectual challenges. The curriculum in gifted programs is designed to challenge your child. Most children identified as gifted say they often feel bored or disinterested in school when it’s not on their level. This often leads to these children acting out when left to their own devices in standardized educational settings. Gifted students in America rise to challenges put in front of them by gifted school programs. Chicago kids know that challenges aren’t a bad thing, gifted children even crave them.
4. Individualized attention. Gifted classrooms have far fewer kids than general classrooms do. In greater Chicago, ask any parent and they’ll tell you they wish their kids had more one-on-one time with their teachers. Your child will be getting much more attention from their teacher in a gifted classroom than they would if they were in a usual classroom session. Numbers suggest that gifted classrooms are about a quarter to a third of the size of average ones. This means your child’s instructors can spend more time with your kid, which will no doubt help foster good educational habits moving forward.