S/O Poll: Is the % of gifted parents/kids greater here than in the gen. population?

[Barb_]

Private poll. I suspect many people who are drawn to TWTM are here because it provides such a wonderful framework to challenge asynchronous kids. It's the type of education many of us wish we would have been offered. As a result, I think there is a greater percentage of kids and parents who would test out in the gifted ranges than you would find in the general population. You don't have to have tested to vote...a strong sneaking suspicion is enough for this poll. Elaborate only if you are moved to.

 

Barb

[Tap]

Bright, but not brilliant. I work with some brilliant people, and see their ease with learning and recall of complex, very accurate material and know that I am not in the same intellectual class as they. I think the same of my family. I know my kids are bright (they always test very high) but not brilliant like others I have seen.

[kalanamak]

I work with some brilliant people, and see their ease with learning and recall of complex, very accurate material and know that I am not in the same intellectual class as they.

 

:iagree:

[Barb_]

Bumping this because so far the results of the poll are telling. 80% to 20%???

 

Barb

[EmilyK]

I was drawn here when I was looking for material to meet the needs of my gifted child. I dislike that label, but like many labels it can be a useful shorthand. He was begging for history at 4 and 5 and my husband and I were reaching the limits of what we knew offhand (despite being history majors) and I somehow found SOTW.

 

I have another child who is bright, musical, wonderful etc but is not the same sort of asynchronous "problem" that his older brother was. I might not have learned about TWTM as soon with him -- though I agree it appeals in the sense of the education I'd love to have (though I had a wonderful 6 to 12 grade education).

[Renee in NC]

Bumping this because so far the results of the poll are telling. 80% to 20%???

 

Barb

 

It is self-selecting, so invalid - those who do test higher (or have children who do) are more likely to answer. Not only that, but only 52 people have answered out of how many members? Not a representative sample.

[lionfamily1999]

It would be hard to get a really good sampling, or even one that actually indicates the percentage of gifted...

 

Interesting question, though.

[Tokyomarie]

It would be hard to get a really good sampling, or even one that actually indicates the percentage of gifted...

 

Interesting question, though.

 

It is an interesting question. Even though this type of poll is anything but scientific, it does seem to reflect some trend toward a greater level of intellectual giftedness in the population of people who frequent these forums than the general population- maybe even the population of homeschoolers. I think the writing styles and level of intellectual curiosity evident in those who frequent these forums would support a generalization that families aiming for a classical education are significantly brighter than average, and many would fall into the "gifted" IQ category.

Edited March 8, 2010 by Tokyomarie

[lionfamily1999]

It is an interesting question. Even though this type of poll is anything but scientific, it does seem to reflect some trend toward a greater level of intellectual giftedness in the population of people who frequent these forums. I think the writing styles and level of intellectual curiosity evident in those who frequent these forums would support a generalization that families aiming for a classical education are significantly brighter than average, and many would fall into the "gifted" IQ category.

I think for many parents, the draw of a classical education is how rigorous it is and that it does not underestimate the capabilities of a child. I think that many "gifted" parents would have experienced enough of that as a child to see this as a chance to give their dcs the education they never had.

[Nan in Mass]

We're just brightish. I did, however, select TWTM because it assumed I had a reading-fairly-well-but-not-yet-writing child starting school, and it was the only thing that looked doable. It also had a grammar-stage literature list that matched my family's childhood must-reads. I began on those grounds and took the rest on faith. As I used it, I discovered how well it suited us. In retrospect, it was proably the only choice out there that would have worked for both of my children and me. I'm not voting because I am rather allergic to comparisons involving IQ. I also am thinking that there is no way that this statistic could be considered accurate enough to be useful.

-Nan

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't feel like I can answer because I don't know what an IQ of 130 looks like. My ds would definitely be considered gifted by the public schools. I've been told by people that he is "scary smart". But I live with him and know better.:D I've never had him tested because I never saw the need since I just teach him at his level. I do know that I've had to totally change my teaching style with my dd who is a bright normal. So I would suspect that he would meet the yes criteria for your poll. My guess is that he is HG but definitely is not PG.

[melmichigan]

Interesting question but one must realize that an IQ of 130 now is much higher than an IQ of 130 in our day. :)