Welcome!
I am not sure if this is typical of schools and I should expect my girls to basically learn to transition into traditional learning or if there is going to be a struggle for them.
This may be typical AND the girls may struggle, based on their level of giftedness (LOG), personality, the mix of other kids in the class, and the teacher/administrator attitudes toward gifted.
While I do not have answers on gaining school-wide adoption of a gifted program for middle school, you may wish to work with the handful of other interested parents to raise awareness. For example, teachers can join the
Davidson Educator's Guild, many families engage in afterschooling/enrichment, and it is beneficial for gifted kids to be able to spend time with intellectual peers. There is a group of parents in
SE Michigan which may be able to help with some of these things.
If your local parents research and agree on cost-effective and easy-to-implement alternatives for your kids, such as a math alternative, and science alternative, presenting those may help - in general, schools like solutions. There are threads on these forums which discuss advanced curriculum alternatives. There was also a recent thread on
Meeting emotional needs of gifted students. Your local parents may wish to become familiar with
advocacy, as it is common for parents to engage in individual advocacy in attempt to get their child's needs met... or provide some amount of appropriate challenge and support during the school day.
