Hi Heather,
I am sure you will get some helpful responses. We also had to switch out of private school for financial reasons. It's a difficult transition - going from a valued customer to an ???.
I got one child into a gifted charter, but my older son is in a regular public school. It's not great, but he doesn't seem too bothered by it. If I'm completely honest I have to admit that he seems to be developing some nice study skills and this week the gifted teacher said she was going to work with him on his writing. He writes barely at grade level even though he reads really well - finished the Harry Potter books before starting second grade.
I wanted to clarify - is your daughter in first grade or kindergarten? Because if she's in kindergarten then I think your situation is much more problematic for three reasons:
1. She can read reasonably well and the other kids are only learning to read - they probably aren't actually reading yet.
2. She's six already, so she's not even a young kindergartner.
3. The school is giving homework to kindergartners.
I would go ahead and get whatever private testing you can. You don't have to tell the school about it.
