Kudos are due

[Comment left on previous post for the Anderson Private School]

Being the mother/advocate of a gifted learner, I applaud you Dr. Anderson, for your willingness to concisely state you assessment of the current educational collapse in our country. I know for a FACT, based on experience with my daughter, that the public school was not willing to educate my daughter. You stated it beautifully, they have the talented educators, they just do not allow them the FREEDOM to teach the INDIVIDUALS as they need to be taught. They have spent the time and money to be sure that the children have been labeled deficient in some way go get what they need to be successful. But they have completely ignored the other end of the spectrum that is just as in need of attention and care. Again, i will go back to the distinction of INDIVIDUALS, children are just that, individuals, not buckets of like kinds. So either way, children need to be treated as individuals and taught as such.

I need to give kudos where kudos are due!

I have been actively searching for the correct educational model for my daughter, Iyan, since she was seven. She started school at the tender age of three and had we known how to identify what we were seeing in her behavior in school, we would have been able to identify her giftedness earlier. Unfortunately, she went through many years of frustration and anguish, as I searched for a way to satisfy her zest for learning. The traditional classroom was not a successful environment for her, University model education was not a fit, homeschooling didn’t work (I am not qualified), public school, in the highest level classes, didn’t work (boring)….help!

My child had grown bitter, angry, troubled, mixing with the wrong people, spent more time in the AP office than in class(he liked her…she was a great conversationalist), none the less she was being referred to the alternative school. I started searching again… The Lord led me to Anderson… I took a leap of faith and moved my family from Houston to Fort Worth for hope to save my daughter from a fate worse than death, having to stay in the public school.

In three short weeks, my daughter has started to smile and laugh again. She is not angry anymore (except when the boys really annoy her… that is normal), she gets in the car everyday and comments that she had a good day and actually talks about what she did that day, with details. Wow! A far cry from the previous, boring I hate school. She gladly irons her pleated navy skirt and wears hose with her navy blue pumps with a little heal, amazing. Before she wore only black, black and black.

My daughter of 12 actually looks like a young lady again. Dr and Mrs. Anderson thank you for responding to the call that the Lord put on your hearts to minister to gifted children. I know that you are blessed to do what you do and I am blessed as a parent to support you in being the educators of children, mine included. The world is a better place because of your daily efforts with the children you teach and the lives you impact. God bless you and your family.

Elizabeth Holloway-Wren
Mother if Iyan Wren, Student of Anderson Private School

www.andersonschool.net