Hi everyone!
It has been a while since I went hibernating and trying to find some answers.
1. Subject acceleration is �illegal� in our school district. I have email and left messages for a few nearby school districts around our area. The couple of the schools that I was able to talk to a human said that subject acceleration can only be done via in-class differentiation. Others never returned the email or phone calls.
2. With this new school year, our school district simply stated that it follows Dr. Donald Treffinger�s Levels of Service. The website has removed the specific service for Level IV gifted students at the elementary school, i.e. no more individualized educational plan can be found within the school district�s GT section for primary school level students.
3. We have tried to look for Level 4 schools (Dr. Ruf) around here, but without success for the following reasons. 1. We cannot move to a new place with the current market and job situation. We looked into potentially renting a place�. But one family told us they got busted and got disqualified from the special GT program. So, we have decided not to take this route. 2. We are not crazy about private schools because of the cost and religious affiliation. 3. I am terrified of the crazy traffic around this Northern Texas area. We have a friend who, big kudos to her, spends 3 hours every day commuting to give her two children the best education she could find. I don�t think that is an option at this time. Plus, we could have a lot learning fun with those three hours.
4. There is a charter school about 20-30 minutes away, but it is almost impossible to get in via lottery and moving there is not an option (can�t afford to live there). Also, we are still searching for someone who actually goes there to get the inside scoop. We will keep you posted if we win the lottery.
5. DD (6.5, first grade) is happy at school with all the easy work�. Sigh. Do you leave it alone because she is happy? But re-reading parts of Dr. Ruf�s book� �Doing nothing at all, which is what most often happens, is an unconscionable waste of natural ability.� But what to do?
This probably sounds kind of silly, but I felt like I went through the five stages of grieving after our numerous meetings with the school and gifted program coordinator.
We thought of home school, but just terrified that I might ended up doing more harm than good for the kiddies. How do you wear both the �mom� and �teacher� hat without jeopardizing the wonderful mother-child relationship we have right now? Also, I am a terrible writer (as evident by these posts) and speller�. How am I suppose to teach them if I can�t even get it right after 40 years of learning the language? �Why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?� Hum�.
Hope all of you are having a great school year!
Mag
