What is it like to be the parent of a gifted child? featuring Kate Gruber

Welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy's education channel. This is the fifth episode of our new series, What It's Like to be the Parent of a Gifted Child. My name is Kate Gruber and I am the parent of a gifted child, and I am excited to share my story with you today. 

So from a young age, we knew that our son was a really bright kid. He was putting together complex puzzles, his vocabulary was outside of his age bracket, he had the way to remember things that had happened years before...in detail! So in looking for a school, it came time for kindergarten, my husband and I knew that we wanted to look for private education, and we settled on a school that had a very small teacher-to-student ratio. So we thought that that would be in our favor, and our son would get a lot of personalized attention. We were also assured that the curriculum would be tailored to meet his needs. 

So we have this kid who's so curious and absolutely loves learning when he's home, and he gets into the school environment and it doesn't take long before he just starts to go downhill.

I would pick him up from school and he would be almost angry and sad a little bit on some days and really defiant. And that defiance would go into our home life where he was just acting out. He was so mad. He was fighting with his brother. He was transforming into this kid that we didn't recognize anymore. Every morning when it was time to go to school again, we were battling. He was like, “I don't want to go to school”, “I’m bored”, “I hate school”, “I’m bored”,  “Did I mention I'm bored?” And so I kept pushing him out the door, “You know, school can be boring, buddy. Just give it a try, do what your teacher says, you're learning. This is exciting.” 

It just kept getting worse and worse, and at the time, our son was going to a vision therapist who had done some testing on him, and he was reading at a level that most five-year-olds aren't reading at. And she said to me, (and the sincerity in her eyes really struck me that this is not normal), “He's reading at a level well outside of where he should be for his age. I would suggest looking into gifted education and seeing if it's something that would fit for him.” 

So right away I go home and I start Googling gifted kids. And I'm looking at the National Association for Gifted Children's website and the Davidson Institute’s website, and I'm reading articles that are coming to life before me because they are writing about my kid! And I really quickly, because we're approaching the end of the school year, go and get him tested to make sure he's even qualified to be in a gifted school environment. And the test is done and shows sure enough, he was bored at school, and he did need to be in a different environment. And the psychologist suggested we look at Vanguard. 

So I called Vanguard up. And luckily there was enough time in the school year. We could squeeze him in for a shadow day. So I take our son for the first day of school, one shadow day here at the school, and dropping him off he was excited, a little nervous, and coming out that day, I saw a different child. He was completely transformed.

After day after day after day of him coming out of a school where I thought I had put them in the right environment, fighting me, angry, mad, bored...one day at Vanguard, and he comes out and he's got a big smile on his face.

And he's even walking with his head held high and his shoulders back and his chest is out and he is just so excited. And he says to me, and I'll never forget, “Those teachers are really, really, really nice. And I really, really, really want to go to school there.” 

And so the next year we enrolled our son at Vanguard and I can honestly say every single day that he has been at school here has been just like that shadow day. He runs out of my car in the morning, runs in the door of the school, says “Good morning!” (And that's the best part of my day...I roll down the window to listen for that. I hear him say “Good morning!”) And then he comes out at the end of the day, again with his head held high and a big smile on his face, and he is just so happy to tell me about his day, everything he’s been learning. They were building teepees. They were digging in the dirt. They were out in the wilderness. Everything comes to life for him. He's so excited. 

And it goes beyond his school days because even our family members have noticed. My mom said to me shortly after our son started school, “Gosh, have you noticed he just smiles more now? He's just so much happier than he used to be!” And I can honestly say this school has transformed my child, has absolutely 100% transformed our daily lives for the better. And I couldn't encourage you more to, if you see signs of your child needing this environment, call Vanguard and schedule that shadow day. That day was so insightful, and as a parent, you will see a different child walking out, even after one day. Give it a try. 

The only reason that I'm here sitting in front of this camera right now, cause trust me, this is not my comfort zone, is to hope that this story resonates with one of you and that you will see that this truly is a life-changing experience to give your child the outlet that brings the very best out of them, and gifted education has been that for my son.