My 10yo son is in his school's GT program. This is a pull-out program that has turned into nothing more than extra work. This semester they are working on a "Backyard Getaway" project. I don't necessarily mind the project but the GT teacher seems to think his every waking second should be spent on it. They started in January and apparently the "Expo" for them to impress the Superintendant is coming up soon. A couple of weeks ago she sent an email to all GT parents to "encourage" the kids to spend any free time in class working on the project. I wasn't happy about that because we had finally made progress with his math teacher to let him work on the computer on more advanced math when he finishes his assignments to reward him. Then last night I got an email from the teacher asking us to remind the students to go to the library at recess to work on the project. SKIP RECESS. She also wanted them to stay after school which isn't an option since I'm a working parent and wouldn't have a way for him to get home (daycare picks him up normally).

The project was optional and I did consent to it but I had no idea it was going to take this much time. It seems like a lot for a 4th grade project. What do you think?

From what I've read from assorted people this is one of the biggest problems with pull-out programs. Instead of being something different it's something extra. I've been asked to give some feedback to DS6s school about gifted kids and that's one point I weant to make clear, it can not feel like punishment. It would be unacceptable for my child to skip recess to do a gifted project. Ideally that project would be achievable in the regular class time allowed for it.

FWIW, this type of project was exactly why we pulled DS9 from the GT program at school. The GT pull-out is only two hours a week, so anything else was during recess or after school hours. Things were OK for a week or two, until we got the notice that daily after school and weekend time would be expected. We felt that the cost outweighed the benefit to him participating, so we pulled him out. Had we known that so much of his personal time would be required ahead of time, we never would have signed on for that...unless DS really wanted to do it (which he didn't).

Just my experience. Good luck to you.