I do take it fairly seriously b/c I was seriously depressed in my teen years and wound up missing part of my senior year spending time in the hospital for a suicide attempt. I don't want to wind up there.
My gut feeling is that if the environment changed, her outlook would significantly improve. I hate to be a problem this early in the semester, but I have left a msg for her counselor. I don't know what more they can do but the few options I can come up with are --
* reduce the amount of work; for instance not making her do all three copies of the history assignment (rough draft #1 plus coloring, rough draft #2 plus coloring, final draft plus coloring -- none of this can be typed or photocopied; the pictures have to be redrawn and recolored over and over).
* take her out and have her do something like an online high school and supplemental courses @ the community college.
* have her repeat a year of 8th grade somewhere else so the work is so easy that she can coast for a bit.
I'm hesitant on the last one b/c she is so advanced academically (she's consistently in the 99th percentile in most areas as compared to grade peers) and the fit socially has been tremendously better post-skip.
Honestly, none of this work is too hard for her. She doesn't feel like she's learned much at this point and is actually finding Geometry quite easy (math is usually her weakest subject). It is quantity that is the issue not difficulty. Of course, things may get more challenging as the year goes on.
