Wow what great thoughts! I particularly appreciate being called out on my characterization that they are being "pushed." Yes, that is totally my judgement coming out, and that's exactly why this thread is so helpful to me - lots of perspective and food for thought! I think that the characterization from the parents of kids there has definitely affected how I think on this. At least one of them was very clear that this school was not "enjoyable" but was what was needed to push her child to meet her full potential and I think that's what got me headed down the path in the first place about how much to "push." I think you're right that it is VERY possible that this school would be the bees knees for some kids, and I need to really remember that!!!
In terms of the classroom atmosphere, the kids and teacher all looked exhausted and honestly sort of bored (kids, not teacher on this one) - and this was at 9:45 in the morning. Other parents who have toured report similar observations, so I don't think it was just an "off day." Now, that said, the 2nd grade classroom was a relaxed, happy place - there was a volunteer there doing a lesson on Impressionism and the kids were loving it! The teacher was very short with the kids in the K/1 class; the 2nd grade teacher didn't have that "vibe."
In terms of the work, I have no doubt that DS could do the work - but, it is extremely heavy on math and writing, and while DS likes math a LOT, it's the practical application that he enjoys - doing lots of problems isn't appealing to him. I saw almost no evidence of science other than a weekly visit to a (totally tricked out!) science lab (and that observation comes from both looking at the schedule for their days and the student portfolios). That clearly changes in 2nd grade because there was lots of science stuff in the classroom.
Not sure where DS would fall from a score perspective. From an achievement perspective based on what I saw the kids doing (and what parents have told me their kids are doing), I think he'd be right in the middle - trending to the high side in math and the low side on writing. Probably right at the average on reading.
Ordinarily, we'd be all over the "try it" idea, but we switched him 3 times for preschool and ended up pulling him completely when he was physically assaulted by a teacher whose buttons he pushed one time too many. That's a story for a whole other day, but suffice it to say that it's taken us MONTHS of "homeschool" to "unwind" him from his past school experiences and we don't feel like we can risk that again. The good part of homeschool has been that I've gotten to see up close what he loves/how he love to learn. But, it's put a real strain on everyone else (I have two little ones younger than him and he'll be 5 in May) and he wants to go to "kindergarten" - NOT school, but "kindergarten." He is VERY clear that he thinks there is a distinction...go figure!
And, we are really lucky to have so many options. Actually, we also have the 'perfect' school here too - in the form of a Charter school for the HG that is AWESOME - exactly what I think we want...a very "regular" school environment that just happens to be geared WAY up in terms of content (my favorite quote from another parent that originally came from a teacher... "K kids should all sing head, shoulders, knees and toes, but here, we just happen to use the parts of the bug instead of the parts of people!"). But, unless I somehow knock out the entire K class 1.5 times over, he'll never get a space because he drew a horribly low lottery number (and siblings took well over 50% of the total K slots).
So, I think I'm sort of answering my own question as I type the previous paragraph - THAT school is our goal...now we need to figure out the "least worst" of the rest!
