Thanks for the feedback! What great information. It's interesting that you both (Mia and CFK) have commented on peers and interests as well as academics. Those are two big reasons that a private gifted school was suggested for MrWiggly.
He is copping quite an attitude at school right now. He has informed me that he believes a lot more of the kids should be taken out of the class for "special help" (ie: special education/resource, which a few kids leave for) because "none of them know the answers like I do." We had a meeting last week and the 3rd grade teacher acknowledged that he really doesn't fit in with his classmates because "he talks above them" and "the other kids really don't listen to him" and "no one else brings anywhere near the background knowledge to a conversation that he has." MrWiggly also told me that he doesn't do his best or work his hardest at school "because I'm smart." Yikes!
On the other hand, the math teacher says he "fits right in with the eighth graders" and "he laughs when they do and makes cracks that they laugh at." She told us how they invite him to play their games with them at the end of the class period, how he listens in on the instruction for the 8th grade class (he's supposed to be working independently in his 5th grade book at the time) and he teaches some of them how to play specific games on the computer. In that class he is independent to manage his time, complete his work and follow directions. In the 3rd grade classroom he is distracted, doesn't complete two step directions (gets sidetracked between the two tasks), disrupts others, blurts out answers, gets upset at the teacher and other kids...blah, blah, blah....YKWIM.
We don't really want to move him to 4th grade but that seems like the only option. They offered pull out to attend the gifted program once a week at another school in our district (he already attends the pull out gifted at our school, too). That one is taught by a retired teacher with gifted experience and she is anxious to meet MrWiggly. She does a problem solving based program versus the gifted teacher at our school -who has NO experience teaching gifted and is, in fact, the art teacher! While that's a nice offer and we are going to try it, it means my DH has to drive MrWiggly there and then back to his own school once a week AND he will miss one day of the math class that he loves. We were hoping it would pull him out of the 3rd grade time!!
MrWiggly doesn't want to leave his friends and go to 4th grade. (Cute side story: a girl recently asked him to marry her and he said he would, but needed to grow up first. He keeps telling me he doesn't want to leave his girlfriend!) I asked at the meeting if he could maybe join the 4th grade science class. That's the first year that science is actually a graded part of the curriculum. They don't do much science at all in 3rd. Principal is considering that option. But we know he really just needs another full grade acceleration in this school. I just keep thinking that being with age mates who are true peers, like Dr. Ruf recommended, *would* be the best option.
<HUGE sigh> It was nice to have some breathing room at the beginning of the year. Things are, as MrWiggly says himself, "better but not all better" at school. He has not once refused to go to school. He has only had one bad morning and then actually pulled himself together and got to school because he didn't want to miss his math class! This is a huge improvement over the last two years of crying and refusing school!!!!
But clearly our journey continues. I so wish I could just mapquest the route!
