I haven't posted in a while, but I hope to get some ideas from you all. A little background: Our kids are 5 years apart. Our DD13 had a terrible time in grades 1-3 in a local district that had a fabulous reputation. We discovered that she was in the upper levels of giftedness in 2nd grade after many behavior problems (she has ADHD and likely an LD, so she didn't even get in the regular gifted program at first). The school said they would differentiate for her in 3rd grade and that 3rd grade is a lot harder anyway. By the end of Sept. in 3rd grade, DD13 had given up on learning anything in school.
Then we discovered a school for exceptionally gifted kids, which DD13 has flourished in. She now gets the work she needs and learns things in-depth, etc.
To avoid the same issues with DD8, we did everything the gifted psychologist said to do - paid for private school for K so she could start a year early, moved to be near the gifted school to get free tuition, and applied to the gifted school in 1st grade. However, DD8 did not get in. Her IQ scores were high enough, but there's a subjective step that she did not get past (she too is 2E, which I'm sure didn't help). However, her school told me they would take care of her.
Last year, the teacher worked hard to differentiate for DD8, but it was not enough. She is in the regular gifted pull-out program but gets anxious when she doesn't already know the answers, so that program causes her stress. Because her classroom work is so easy and she is a perfectionist, she gets physically ill when she is challenged and doesn't want to go to school.
Her new third grade classroom's book selections are books she read in K. The teacher says they will be doing addition and subtraction until December. When I explained the situation to her and told her that DD8 needs differentiation, her response was that she differentiates for all the kids but that 3rd grade is a lot harder than 2nd grade, so DD8 will have plenty of challenge.
I am at a loss. We left our dream house thinking that the gifted school would be our solution for both kids, only to be right back where we were with DD13. We really cannot afford private school, but I don't know what else we can do. Any ideas to give her what she needs outside of school without breaking the bank and driving all over town?
