Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful insights. And thanks for the book recommendation, Trinity. I will definately be reading that one. I see Kate's perfectionism holding her back and causing her such unnecessary anxiety. I'm afraid she inherited that from me. I remeber once baking a three layer Italian cream cheese cake for my boyfriend's birthday, deciding it just wasn't going to be good, and throwing it away before he ever tasted it!
And, Trinity, I think you are right about the achievement test. WHy would her scores on spelling and letter recognition be so low? She had known all her letters FOR YEARS. And she is reading pretty well and ought to be able to sound out any word she doesn't already know. That said, I hate to keep calling the tester and asking her more questions!
Also, I didn't mean to diss Montessori. You know, it occured to me that Montessori may be a big part of the reason she scored in the 99th percentile on the Academic Knowledge subtest. I think this sort of thing is probably more emphasized than spelling/reading drills. And perhaps that is the way it should be. It is so HARD to know what your child is getting short of following them around all day.
I feel Kate, with her WISC scores, will be fine in this private school with a rigorous cirriculum. For those with gifted children in some public schools, or exceptionally gifted children, you have to work hard to ensure your child is getting everything they need.
