You are right, Grinity. I really need to observe the alternative environment if we make a move. She had 30 minutes of English per day last year and really enjoyed the environment. It was not very academic in the sense of working on literacy skills though, mostly exposure to the language. She was able to bring up a lot of things she was interested in and the teacher would go with the flow. She might have unrealistic ideas about the English program.
BaseballDad, I don't have scientific literature on bilingualism and reading acquisition. I wondered more about the relationship when I came across a book called Infinity and Zebra Stripes by Wendy Skinner. She writes about her PG son's experience in a dual language immersion program. He started to shut down and also didn't progress in reading. The program was resistant to differentiating for his exceptional abilities in math, and (for other reasons as well) they pulled him out halfway through 1st grade. He went on to an English program and quickly excelled in reading (I think he went from beginning readers to chapter books within a month). He blossomed in his new environment.
Of course, each case is different and DD is not at the low point that Skinner's son seemed to be. We keep hoping that things will turn around if we give it more time. On the other hand, we're nervous about getting too far along and finding out too late that it's just not a good match.
As a side, we had her check out a private school towards the middle of spring. She absolutely it. The curriculum was integrated, there were two teachers per class, and the students were working on individual long-term research projects on Peru. She had observed a couple of other schools and this was the only one she said she would leave her current school to attend.
We were excited as we felt that it was a good match for her interests and learning style. She said she could learn so much there (she had been complaining about how she only learns one new thing per month at school but she wants to learn 10,000 new things per week -- yes, a bit of hyperbole!). Unfortunately, her English skills were not at the level they needed.
The dual language immersion program is a real commitment. It can be hard to watch the struggles but I try to keep in mind what you have said, Texas Summer --it takes time.
