I'm new here, so I apologize if this has been covered before. I did do fairly deep search, but may have not searched for the right terms.
Our DS10 is in a GATE magnet program in LAUSD (Los Angeles). We were thrilled to get him in, and hoped it would be a step up from our local school which was nice but not up to his level (they have an SAS program, but their idea of differentiation is somehow different from what my dictionary says). What we found is not what we expected, and to be fair this is partially our own fault.
The school believes strongly in enrichment. We assumed this meant enriched work instead of the regular work, not in addition to. (laugh now. Like I said, I'm new here) So now we're facing a serious dilemma. Our son is now dealing with 4-5 hours of homework a night. The work is mostly disparate. Rarely does one subject support the others, and worse still, it is all grade level. *sigh* The classroom population is something like 2/3 girls, and the majority of the kids appear to be what we used to politely call apple polishers. Mind you, they appear to be good kids who have always enjoyed school, so I suppose receiving even more school as a reward for being smart makes sense for them. It just doesn't for our DS.
Had I known what I know now, I would have pushed for advancement back in 2nd or 3rd grade. Back when it would have made sense. Now we are dealing with the emotional issues of a boy who is in a new school and has almost no friends. Moving him to a middle school (which starts at grade 6 here) at this point is not really in the cards.
Anyway, what I am looking for is studies/data that show the efficacy (or lack thereof) of enrichment, and/or homework in 5th grade. I happen to like DS' teacher, but find the amount of work to be crushing for a kid like him. He is already talking about not liking school. Often. This is not a good sign to us. Yet we don't know what exactly to do.
Ideas. Suggestions. All will be appreciated, especially if anyone knows of studies I can show to the school's magnet coordinator. I prefer to politely point out the schools flaws rather than beat them over the head.
TIA
