Just an update on this in case anyone is interested. The "rebellion" worked! My son did his longest book journal entry to date. I wrote the teacher a note to accompany his journal when he turned it in on Friday. She returned the journal the following Monday with a note back saying we can use our own books. Yay!
Since then, we had a parent teacher conference. She also agreed to let us determine the homework he is doing instead of what she sends home. I agreed to grade it for her. My son was grinning from ear to ear that he could turn in more challenging homework. Since then, we've been turning in crossword puzzles and 3rd grade math worksheets. We've been learning about the Titanic with the Kids Discover magazine and using the worksheets you can download to accompany them. No more adding dominos or counting coins like they have done all year long. Who knew that just controlling the homework aspect would be such a relief! It is about 2 hours of work every week, so I'm happy to spend that time helping him learn.
Her attitude was so different from our last conference. I'm happy it was different. I guess she just needed more time to spend around him. There wasn't any doubt about his giftedness this time. Whew! I feel way better about the last 10 weeks of school!
