Dude, we had the same issue with 20-minute lunches at our public school - oooooh that was so beyond ridiculous! And so unhealthy - the kids all rushed through lunch and trashed whatever they hadn't eaten at the end of lunch to be sure they didn't miss recess. My talkative dd routinely never ate *anything* more than a few bites. My ds who isn't all that talkative also didn't eat much of anything because he was so stressed out about not finishing lunch in time for recess. And that 20-minute lunch was usually very early in the day, so then the kids had all afternoon to feel like they were starving while they were doing most of their academic work (pullouts for pe, music etc were in the morning before lunch). OK.... I'd better stop talking now before I get stressed out all over again over it!
Anyway, fwiw, I wasnt the only parent who thought it was a *really* bad way to handle lunch. I'm guessing you're not the only parent in your school or district that has the same issue. If you feel like fighting it, I'd at least give it a good try - talk to your superintendent or school board or do something. It might not change anything, but at least you and your dd will know you tried.
Re the math, honestly, I'd not let them take her out of science and social studies with her class - even if it means you ultimately are having to give up her favorite math teacher or as rapid acceleration. But that's just me. We accelerated our ds and are doing the same with our youngest dd in elementary through after-schooling. That worked for us because our kids like math and they wanted accelerated math so they were ok with doing math at home. When ds was in upper elementary he was then able to accelerate to his appropriate placement within school. I don't think you're there yet - I think you need to request that the school differentiate in math at the same time the rest of her class is studying math. I know it's not as simple as it sounds from what I've written, but I think it's worth fighting for. The thing that would really concern me about the current situation is what might happen during science and social studies that's spontaneous and not part of the lesson plan or perhaps not included in the textbook. This happens all the time at my kids' schools in science and social studies etc - during classroom lessons kids will be exposed to something new, questions will come up, discussions will go off on slight tangents or include new info or direction etc. Those things might never show up on a test (or they might?) but they are a big part of being part of the class and also potentially play a part in inspiring a love of social studies or science or just learning in general that you might not get from reading a textbook.
I'm also curious what specifically is holding her science/ss grades down - is it accuracy on worksheets she does in class, is it test grades, discussion grades...? I think that if you looked at the specifics of how it's impacting her grades that might help in advocating.
Best wishes,
polarbear
eta - about the pull-out times not being in sync - do you have a district-wide G/T coordinator that you could discuss this with, and ask for help in advocating or for suggestions?
Last edited by polarbear; 08/30/13 09:33 AM.
