I'm so glad to hear your dd is having a good year!
Re your idea, I agree with master of none, I wouldn't call it gifted, I'd call it an enrichment program and I'd ask the teachers to decide which students they feel would benefit from participating in it. We did this in my children's elementary school - one parent led a group of students in math enrichment during the week, and I was involved in an after-school science program. Both of us (the math parent and myself) had the same general goal - offering intellectual challenge to our kids (and other students) that wasn't happening during the regular school day. The parent who did the math pull-out came in during the same time the regular math instruction was going on, my program was after school. I've also helped with Battle of the Books at the same school, and the majority of kids who ended up there were among the higher level ability kids - not because they were selected by teachers but because it was the type of activity that just seemed to draw higher ability kids - you had to like to read and you had to read a lot of material. I thought all three of these programs were very successful for what they were - none of us had a goal going in of actually accelerating our kids in the specific subjects based on what was learned in the pull-out. If acceleration had been the goal, it would have been complicated, tricky and probably politically tough to navigate given our school climate. The kids seemed to benefit the most simply from having a chance to think about more challenging things, to have discussions move along at a faster pace than in the classroom, and to be with a group of other students who were focused and enjoying schoolwork.
The downsides to it were not a big deal, but it was interesting. There were a lot of odd rules in our school/district for parent-led activities. For instance, parents were not allowed to be alone in a classroom (with or without students), but they could be alone with students in the halls or the library. Teachers did not want to volunteer their classroom for use by our group (or any group) after school. Technically we were supposed to pay rent for the after-school activity if you followed district policy to the letter. We also had to have a teacher-sponsor for the after school activity. The math pull-out that was held during the day was held in the hall - not the easiest environment to pay attention in. The biggest downside I saw to the math pullout was that the parent who was leading it didn't have experience in teaching elementary school math, so it didn't seem to be put together well and I know she struggled a bit with knowing what to do. With your background, that shouldn't be an issue at all if you're leading a group in reading/literary analysis etc. Another difficult part for me and my group was the teacher-sponsor role. I soooo appreciate the teacher that was willing to host the group with me - but there were school politics involved. The teacher that *I* had asked to sponsor the group, and who was a good fit (science background + works well with kids) and who volunteered and wanted to do it - wasn't allowed to be the sponsor by our school - I was told that this other teacher would be the sponsor. She absolutely stepped in and tried her best and it worked out ok - but she didn't have that spark the other teacher would have had. The last thing that was an issue that I felt was really difficult was that our school did not share info about which students had 504 plans or IEP accommodations with parents - and I totally understand that it was due to our not officially being district employees... but the really odd thing was the school also did not share this info with my teacher-sponsor so she had no idea either if kids had accommodations etc. FWIW, it caused an issue in my group with one student. I found out about his ADHD and 504 plan from his mom, who thankfully stepped in and let me know what was up and what he had accommodations for.. but there was also another student in class who's behavior was really challenging and caused issues for the entire group, and who I suspect had a 504 plan but if he did the info wasn't shared with me and I was really challenged trying to figure out how to deal with the student and with the situations that arose due to his behavior.
I think you've got a great idea moomin, not only for your dd's benefit, but for other children at her school. I hope you get the approval to make it happen!
polarbear
