@bookwormsmom SevenDad wrote up his family’s “journey” after going through the application process a few years back. You might enjoy reading that thread:
I hope that link works!
Thanks @london203. Can’t wait to read it :).
I understand to apply to the HADES BS that the children are exceptional. By definition PG is very rare. I find it kind of funny how this thread appears to the epicenter of all the PG families in America.
@laenen, not as rare as to those who get into HADES BS. 
Pure statistics tell us that there are 33k per each grade level in the U.S. In reality at least 100k can be identified that way due to inaccuracy of tests.
I want to point that prodigies are but a tiny fraction of profoundly gifted. In fact, vast portion (probably majority) of profoundly gifted have learning difficulty and severe asynchronous development that it is hard to be also high achieving. And often very difficult to be just average achieving without special handling such as homeschooling or small class size private schools.
@bookwormsmom – If it makes you feel any better, there are many CDB scholars who did not get into every school. Like I said, it’s a capricious process. I do think winning the CDB is the golden ticket because any one of those kids will likely have choices among various schools, but the CDB is yes/no. I’m sorry it was so close but the process of application and interview is great practice for your daughter and will likely lead to happy options. Your DD will have many options come March 10.
@SculptorDad – there are kids bored at boarding school. Kids have different needs and it is unlikely that any school meets the needs of all PG kids. I agree with the sentiments on this thread that there is much learning at boarding school outside the classroom, but not all kids are fully challenged in the classroom in every subject, despite what is often claimed here and sometimes by the schools. We appreciated the honesty of many of the acronym schools about what needs could be accommodated and what needs could not. There were compromises to be made to make this work.
@gungablue - of course. There are many high achieving kids that puts mine’s pale and BS probably won’t work for them. I am not expecting an BS to fully challenge mine in all subjects either. But I believe that she will be sufficiently challenged so that the classes are not boring and she will be keep learning. Experience outside the classroom are the more important reasons.
I have homeschooled my daughter for 8 years, and there were earlier times that I thought it was my holy duty to maximize her learning, academics or otherwise. I have gradually changed and now I think I was silly then. Now I want her to be happy and contributing to the society, hopefully the two goals are helping each other or at least she can find a balance between them. I don’t care much if she doesn’t develop her full potential in academics, art or anything else. It’s awfully hard to maximize any potential, and then it often goes wasted anyway.
The compromises were already made when we decided to apply to BS.
Mom of 4 PG kids (Davidson young scholar, Mensa etc…). Before kids went to BS, we tried parochial school, public school, partial homeschool, full homeschool, and magnet schools. We grade skipped, subject accelerated, and supplemented to try to fix the underlying issues of not being challenged and not having a peer group.
Our kids were all challenged at their BS. Their school teaches critical thinking skills and classes are discussion based. They had to learn to work harder than they had in the past and to get outside their comfort zones. They learned time management and self reliance. They have found lifelong friends that are all really unique passionate individuals. They have experienced amazing moments- traveling abroad- and have a global view of the world. It is not for everybody. One of our kids decided she wanted an easier road and went back to public high school.
Meeting academic needs is a small piece of the puzzle and most of the top tier schools can absolutely accomplish this.
Food for thought – Spotted this piece on Psychology Today’s website and thought it might spark some more discussion.
I love this; “Just because he can, doesn’t necessarily he should.”
@laenen I do not understand your comment above. By definition “PG” means “post graduate” so how can they have skipped high school? Most PGs I know about are athletes that are already committed to a college that wants them to strengthen (both academically and physically). Obviously that is not the only scenario for a PG, but I can guarantee that they would all be expected to have graduated from high school already.
@london203 in this case, I think PG refers to profoundly gifted.
@london203 PG in the context it started in this thread is Profoundly Gifted. There is arguably 4 categories for gifted. Highly Gifted, Exceptionally Gifted, Exceptionally/Profoundly Gifted, and Profoundly Gifted so you might see HG, EG, EPG, or PG. It appears everyone in this thread has PG kids
OK! That explains it! LOL Thank you for the explanation. I guess I should have realized that sooner, but was thinking along the lines of boarding school…
Posting 55 or 56 really started using it. Maybe you should read the thread start to finish. I am sorry I couldn’t resist. JK
@laenen LOL I actually had read most of the beginning… I confess that a bit before post 55/56 I stopped as it didn’t really apply to me or to my knowledge. But I take the “dig” willlingly!
@laenen, after being involved in homeschooling and gifted communities for 8 years, I now find distinction between HG, EG, EPG, PG or whatever rather meaningless, not to mention that the naming is not generally agreed between professionals.
What matters more is that if a gifted child has number of mild or severe learning disabilities, which is increasingly more common among those at the right end of the bell curve, and/or is high performing, which usually requires exceptionally good support from home and school, even for the lucky kids with no or mild learning disabilities.
@london203: From post #75…I tried to address this.
“I believe, even for PGs (don’t love this contraction when used in the BS context, as PG is much more associated with the concept of ‘Post Graduate’…those 5th year seniors who want an extra year of schooling for any number of reasons, sometimes athletic in nature) that pretty much any of the schools mentioned with any frequency on the forum can and will serve them just fine — well, in fact.”
@sevendad I realized it all popped up later in the comments. I had read and participated early on in this thread, but when it morphed into a thread about gifted kids, I gradually stopped reading. I had gotten some notifications that there were new posts and I confess I just jumped in without reading the bit in the middle. I have a plain ole kid and know little of all of these “G” abbreviations (other than the commonly accepted boarding school designation to which we have both referred). But I see now, that I was not alone in my thinking. 
@SculptorDad – I agree that the definition and ranges are not agreed upon. I disagree however that a 2E (twice exceptional) is typically on the far right of the spectrum. In my experience the 2E kid is on the lower end of the HG spectrum. My youngest son is probably a 2E. He has tested for ADHD yet he is 4 grades above in math. He does his older sister math problems in his head which drives her nuts. He shouts out answers in class which drives his teachers nuts. He has no executive function which drives me and my wife nuts
@laenen, your youngest son strikes me as a typical profoundly gifted, with learning disability, very asynchronous development and delayed executive function. I think his example contradicts your argument that 2E are not on the far right side of the bell curve.
For those reasons many profoundly gifted children do very poorly in school, especially boys at younger age. I have personally observed dozens of them and I always feel sorry for the parents’ hardship, although sometimes I envied the kids amazing ability of solving advanced math problems that makes my profoundly gifted child rather look dumb. But I have also seen that it gets easier with age. Delayed they are, the executive functions eventually kick in.