(Sorry for being incommunicado for a while. I like this site and get a lot of valuable info here; it's just been one emergency after another lately. I'm worried that I may now have to look elsewhere when I wish to purchase handbags, SPAM, or MBT shoes, but there are still plenty of pluses that keep me coming back.)
We had another TAT meeting. Nobody had spoken to the district math consultant yet. A suggestion was made to give DS more breadth of knowledge by doing projects, perhaps having him do reports, etc.; it was more of the same, and it didn't seem like any progress had been made. We'd reviewed four online programs at the suggestion of the team, including EPGY and ALEKS, and presented our findings, but the principal said that they would prefer to use something called Odyssey Math. I afterward checked this out, and it seems to present info in an overly cutesy way. Though it is claimed to be able to be used as a primary resource, I wouldn't feel comfortable using it that way for several reasons, not least of which is that DS seems to really like having some sort of textbook to flip through. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for a month later.
We've now followed up and requested either a math pull-out to fourth (even this would not be ideal IMHO because they use a somewhat poor curriculum here and we're in a Title I district, but it'd be better than what's happening now, which is fourth-grade worksheets at home and in math class), or that we be allowed to partially homeschool/afterschool, and send written work in to be done during math class to minimize time spent at home on this. He's shown the ability to go quickly through Singapore Math lessons with very good retention, and this would solve the pacing problem, so hopefully this scheme will work and be acceptable to everyone. If they don't go for either of these options, we may have to escalate to the superintendent and beyond, with the idea of being able to pick a school elsewhere in the state. We feel like we've been very patient, but we can't let things go on forever.
Another option is to consider homeschooling. DS already learns science out of interest at home, and essentially self-develops in reading and writing, so I'm pretty much unconcerned with those areas (and to the school's credit, they've done their best with language arts differentiation). I'm really loath to homeschool and lose the social aspects of school just to properly teach math, though. We may be more likely to just give up on advocating with the school, and afterschool math a bit more rigorously, though we're loath to do that too due to infringement on family time.
