Hi all! I am new to the board, thus far DD5 has flown under the radar because we homeschool, but this past week we had our first encounter with our public school.
DD hasn't been formally tested apart from the Dial-4, but started reading at age 2 and has not slowed down her learning since then. She wanted to learn more so we began homeschooling at 3 and this year started keeping official records of hours completed.
Our public schools offer STEAM based summer courses and DD really wants to attend one of these- and our school has open enrollment so we're able to attend even though we will continue homeschooling in the fall. The problem is that K is not doing STEAM- they're doing kindergarten readiness...which isn't something DD needs. 1. Because she won't be attending kindergarten in the fall. and 2. Because it's a good 3-4 grade levels below what we're working on in each subject. But, those are her agemates so the school is insisting that's where she should go.
We're in MO so education law says that they don't have to attend kindergarten if they've already done it (even in a homeschool setting as long as it's well documented) and homeschool law says a year is 1000 hours with 600 in core subjects. So legally all of our ducks are in a row, but we're dealing with an area where a lot of people "homeschool", don't keep any records or teach anything, and then pass their kids back to the public school to catch up not to mention that acceleration still seems to be a dirty word here.
We have been very polite, because my husband works in the district at the high school, and we don't need to strain his relationships with administration. They tell us that their main concern is putting her in with bigger kids and socializing, but DD is as extroverted as they come and has never been in a room for more than 3 minutes without making a friend.
It's frustrating to feel like we're getting easy perfunctory answers without them actually showing interest in where she should be placed based on readiness. We're not trying to put her in with 3rd graders even though she could probably keep up there- we want to keep her with kids similar-ish in age, but with a topic that she could at least delve into more deeply if she wanted...instead of shapes and numbers and letters.
We still haven't gotten official word on whether or not they will allow DD to attend 1st grade summer school. Last week we were told that they'd make a decision last week and this week we've been told it will be this week...so fingers crossed.
Are there things that we can do in the future that will make life easier with less-than-cooperative administrators? Or will it be easier once she's away from K-1 where everyone seems so age obsessed? I don't necessarily feel a need for official giftedness testing until she's a little older at least, but is it easier to advocate once you have that under your belt? TIA
