Terrified. DD11 starts middle school (6th) in our local public, the system that gave her a complete breakdown in 3rd. She's graduated from a lovely gifted private, and I just hope that having been seen and loved for who she truly is can insulate her emotionally from the bureaucracy of the school and the pettiness of the other 250 6th graders.
Academically she decided against taking the 'skip 7' math test since there are some topics she hasn't had yet, which means she's not guaranteed the chance for any acceleration at all. If her particular teacher feels like dealing with the program, she can have 6th grade assessments and 7th grade math instruction in preparation for the skip 7 test next spring. (There is no 'skip 6.') If the teacher finds it inconvenient she can choose not to have her class participate, and only offer the test to those scoring 100% plus extra credit/optional problems. Given her slow output in language arts I think the chances of having the time to really wow the math teacher are minimal. But if it goes well and she gets one of the better teachers, she could have actual instruction, a quality problem-solving curriculum as enrichment through the school, and wind up in a class next year with agemates who are peers. She is starting to hate standing out and so this matters to her.
So, terrified. Huge positive potential, huge negative potential, no control, and we don't find out who her teacher is until the first day of school.
