Thank you all for everything you wrote. It was all valuable and helpful, even the "yea, it is hard!" comments.
I don't feel as alone and discouraged as I've felt the last few weeks.
Several of you have asked where we live. We are in Maryland. In our particular district, there are no charter schools or gifted/magnet schools. Our district is proud of their schools and publish test scores that are nothing short of phenomenal. Sixty percent of the district participates in some level of gifted programming. I'm saying all this with sarcasm.
I believe the downside to living in utopia where every child is above average, is that there isn't a real interest in truly above-level kids. I've called the BOE GT department. I was told that GT doesn't start until 3rd grade so I just need to work with the teacher.
The pull-outs that happen are called "enrichment" and are based on teacher nomination. GT doesn't want to get involved in the selection because it really isn't GT, it is just enrichment.
Thank you again for all the wisdom I've gleaned. I'm going to continue reading this thread every time I start to feel down.
One more question: I've contacted several educational advocates who have said they only work with special needs. But, I was looking at Hopkins CTY and it looks like they do some advocacy work. Has anyone worked with them in this capacity?
