therah,
Well done! ((Waving Wildly)) I figure that your schedual is your friend in so many ways, that it's ok if it doesn't fit this one particular need. Take that day off. And look towards getting them into different schools so at least each can be valued in her own way. So cool that your district is interested in a 2E classroom, and that your district has gifted teachers to get to know.
What a drag that the Montessori teachers who don't think she should be skipped are the same as the 'recieving' teachers. I would try throwing a fit and explaining that as Rimm says, the symptoms of being underchallenged as being overchallenged are the same. Have you read Rimms, 'Why bright kids get poor grades?' It's very interesting - be sure to get to the end, where she stops blaming the parents of gifted kids and starts blaming the school system.
Your older daughter sounds really neat! I have tremendous respect for Dr. Rimm, and I support your idea of getting older DD checked for 2E issues. Visual tracking can interphere with reading, sometimes, for example. I'm wondering if her grumpiness is partailly an Sensory Integration thing. I've seen lots of families where the traits of Oversensitivity, Intellectual Gifts, Intensity, Spiky Profiles (30 point spreads between high and low subscores) and Creativity get combined and reshuffled in the various family members.
I would encourage you to start, slowly to encourage each daugher to spend time at home that teaches them how to develop their gifts. Perhaps an art class for DD5 and tutor DD4 while DD5 is in class, and then sit with DD5 during the week to 'go further' in art, while DD4 listens to an non-fiction audiobook that is at her readiness level. I like the book 'Drawing with Children' for a step by step approach of how a non-artist adult can help an artistic kid, but your library should be full of 'how to draw books.'
You call about letting DD4 sit in with the Drawing one-on-one time. If she's obviously unskilled it can be ok once in a while, but the main thing you want to develop is a motto that- "In our family we believe that it takes work to develop one's gifts, and Mom will encourage each child to develop their own gifts, individually, because the world needs each person's talents."
Something like that anyway! It is a big mountian that you've been given to climb, but I'm guessing that your classroom experience of building a coheisive, supportive team will help, or at least give you a chance to practice. LOL! And you can talk about various years where the kids didn't recognise their own gifts, and how you helped them turn the gifts into talents, and how the class grew to appreciate each child.
Actually this sound exhausting. Can you institute a 20 minute meditation break when you get home, and then a 20 minute 'Talent Development' break when transitioning from school to home? (or 5 and 5, or 10 and 10?) I'm really not after you to spend all your free moments pushing each child to their maximum. Eventually everything works best if we take a leadership role in our familes, much as it isn't fair.
Well, I'm certianly looking forward to sharing the journey with you! BTW, what age/grade do you teach?
Smiles,
Grinity
