Hi Trinity, etal. - thanks for the suggestions. I'll check that book out as soon as possible and will hit that website as soon as I'm done typing this!
One thing I am trying to do is connect with other parents in my district who's children have qualified for the HiC program, or who suspect that their younger ones will. My thought is to try to form a group to advocate for support for the kids that fit all the ranges of gifted. Two of my daughter's 3 best friends are gifted - one is being homeschooled because her mom felt she was not being adequately served by the district. The other is not only gifted, but is highly motivated.... and frustrated. Her mom and I have been in touch for a number of years and would like to change things - but find that all we seem to be able to do is gripe to one another about all the problems... and neither of us have a clue how to make things change. She has been more active in trying to find solutions - after pushing and pushing, she was able to convince the math dept. head at our (only) high school to asses her daughter's math skill... and she was deemed capable of taking H.S. geometry. It just irks us to no end that they can't provide for our kids at their OWN school - instead, she is going to have to truck this girl 25 minutes from the middle school to take ONE class, then truck her back. (as an aside, her 3rd best friend is on the opposite end of the scale - struggles with all subjects)
I wonder, have any of you tried to form a local advocacy group? It seems like there just aren't enough of us who care... it's always on the PTSA survey - do you want to put PTSA funds and effort to HiC classes/activites - and it's ALWAYS at the bottom or near the bottom for interest.
Have any of you had ANY success in changing policy or curriculum in your districts?
As for going out of district.... unlikely to happen, as the surrounding districts have all indicated that due to their OWN overcrowding (and we are overcrowded in EVERY school ourselves) that they will not be accepting ANY variances. And, I noticed that
Homeschooling.... I think it works great for some people... but I don't think it would be a workable thing in our situation for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I'm going to a student myself starting this fall (coincidentally, in education with additional coursework to teach secondary math - I decided that I can't bark about the situation if I'm not willing to get into the fray and advocate for change). i considered it briefly a few years back when my daughter had a horrific teacher (here's a sample - would not allow the children to compliment each other on artwork - they were only allowed to issue a global classroom compliment to EVERYONE) who could not handle having a student who was smarter and better informed (told the class that sharks were mammals and became incensed when Lena told her they were NOT). At that time, though, I was weeks from giving birth in what had been a difficult pregnancy, so we worked through it... hoping that it had offered some sort of lesson to our daughter in how to deal with idiots who have power.
