Support Rowen and Lukah's Gifted Education

Hi. We are the Littrell Family. Recently, our boys, Rowen (6) and Lukah (5), have been accepted into a gifted school for kids. We have always known they were gifted, but not in the ways that public school couldn't satisfy their need for learning.

Rowen has been able to read and write since before he was 2. We knew he was exceptional, but the extent of this has far exceeded our expectations. Recently, he tested in many subject areas at the 8th/9th grade level. He should be a young first grader this year, but he has been doing 2nd/3rd grade work at his local school, with some gifted instruction. While they have been amazing in trying to accommodate him, he is still learning and excelling at a rate that the school cannot keep up with, and we had to seek outside support. He says he wants to be an "astrophysicist" when he grows up, and there is no doubt in our minds that he will achieve that.

For Lukah, he has always been the funny, acrobatic, wild-and-out kid we all love. But recently, we really started to notice an intellectual change. Much to our surprise, our soon-to-be kindergartener is testing in some areas at 2nd grade and was also deemed gifted. He is extremely intellectually curious and LOVES to fix things. He really likes learning how machines and living things work. His recent answer to the question of "what do you want to be when you grow up" was... "I want to build working body parts for people who don't have them." We have come to realize that the public school system doesn't have the platform he needs to succeed.

We recently came across Van Guard Gifted Academy, where both boys were admitted/accepted into their program after doing day visits. I would love to say we have jobs that could fully afford the tuition for this school, but we just cannot. As parents, we want nothing more than the best for our kids. And this school allows them to explore their intellectual curiosity at rates they cannot do within the public school system (which has been great for us thus far) and do so with other children just like them. It disheartens us to even have to put this out there, but for our exceptional kids, we are willing to do what it takes to give them opportunities we did not have (apart from getting a 2nd job and selling our kidneys).

The tuition for them is $21,500/year per child. We have some of it, but we need more support to make this happen. We appreciate anything to help these kids reach their full potential. We didn't know or ask for gifted/exceptional children, but here they are, surprising us every day. The road less traveled in this case is treacherous and takes a village to cross. We love you all and thank you for any support you can give.

Love,

The Littrell Family