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Thanks, people. I stated that assigning social studies enrichment wasn't the way to develop a strong math talent, but was ignored by the vice principal. The clueless teacher from the first half of this year at one point told us that the V.P. was a gifted education coordinator for a school district in another state, but we later learned that he in fact had just been cross-trained on gifted issues with the other educators. He likely got lots of ideas then about serving moderately gifted kids in the classroom, which he's misapplying now. I hate busywork for anyone.

The info on Montessori is helpful. At one point last year I reviewed their math approach and manipulatives, and I ruled it out as a possibility then because I'd read reports that Montessori schools may not compact at all, by insisting that a child complete every single item in a unit before progressing. That, plus the emphasis on manipulatives that DS really doesn't tend to need at all, meant to me it might be a poor fit. I agree that they should tell you the details up front about the depth of the program.

At one point computer-based instruction in the classroom was brought up, but they have a program I wasn't too thrilled with (Odyssey Math) and essentially refused to let us provide something better for him, and in any event were suggesting mostly that we use it at home. Er, thanks, but if I'm going to afterschool my kids due to a school's failings, I'm going to pick best-of-breed materials. :|

We the parents also prefer that DS be taught by a human being for his main instruction, which might be too old-school of us. To us early on that meant that we preferred a subject pull-out for math, but knowing what we know now, we are done with Everyday Math as implemented in our district; we wouldn't want him pulled out to a fifth grade classroom or above if it meant he were still stuck doing EM.

Yes, you are right about Montessoris in that you must complete every single item before moving on. It can be very tedious. The child is not allowed to skip things they already know.
For math, we mix and match- we did IXL when the kids were really little; Montessori PreK-first; Singapore Math, and now some other things. My third grader is breezing through a 5th grade math book- I'm happy with that for now.
Our school doesn't do alot of math competitions, which is a bummer; you can't really do that until junior high here. I'm buying a MOEMs book and will just try to work some of the problems with my kids.
Both of my kids are 2 grade levels above where they are in school for math and reading, and that seems good for now. Our school district doesn't skip anyone since we have an excellent full-time G/T program starting in 4th grade. Both kids seem very happy and have lots of friends, etc.
I figure they will have lots and lots of G/T opportunities in high school (over 30 AP courses), they can get into molecular research in nearby labs and try for the Intel Competition, etc. Maybe you can just keep trying to plug the academic holes at home that the school leaves behind.

(From my phone) Got a call today from the principal. They are willing to do a pull out to fourth for math and further if need be after that (he said if they need to send him to the high school they will). That could be a partial solution. They will also pay for an outside educational consultant to do an assessment of his needs, and it seems my wife (a uni professor) will be able to choose that person. "Manifest hardship" was glossed over during the call, as was our offer of afterschooling. More meetings... :[ I am excited about homeschooling, but he does like social aspects of school.

Sounds like good news! This is a good example of what can happen when you state your case effectively and in writing.

I do not completely agree with Anti- Montessori. FYI- I do not work in Montessori or anyway related to it. My DD did wonderfully in Montessori program. Depends on what type of teacher that particular school has (that is of course true for any type of school), her teacher was fantastic. From not knowing even alphabets and barely few words (DD lived first 3 years in a foreign country with grandparents and non English speaking), she was ready to skip K within 2 years. DD use to mentor other kids if teacher was busy with other kids and even parents started appreciating that. DD proudly says even now ( 2 years after she left Montessori) that she did multiplications and divisions in her school. Teacher was very dedicated and did wonderful job. Her teacher still teases her- all she could speak when she started Montessori was--- for How are you? DD used to say fine, Thank you. That was all.

So it not all bad with Montessori

I agree. Montessori schools in my experience are all over the map, with some schools and teachers adhering more strictly to Maria Montessori's methods, and others apparently just using the name Montessori as a selling tool. I think that encouraging an active, seeking mind and interest-led development in little ones is good. I just didn't want to hobble DS6's math development, or have to afterschool him on math, while paying a bunch of money to send him to a Montessori; we'd homeschool him first.

It's at least evidence that they may take us more seriously, in response to a written threat. Actual results remain to be seen. As of right now DS is saying he's "heard it all before" but willing to give it one last try. I'm ambivalent about a subject pull-out to a more advanced Everyday Math classroom. It's bound to be better than a below-level class, but probably still not the best thing for him.

If you don't mind my asking, what is your objection to Everyday Math? I know it's controversial among some groups, but it seems to me that a move away from traditional math's rote memorization of processes and toward a more conceptual understanding of what those processes actually are would be a good thing for gifted kids.

My daughter's small private school uses Everyday Math with in-class differentiation and pull out "extension" groups for the most advanced students and they have one of the strongest math programs in the area. They've also put a lot of staff professional development time into EM and have made a strong effort to reach out to parents in order to help them understand what the program is supposed to do and how they can support their kids at home.

My daughter is in second grade now (going into 4th next year) and has been in Everyday Math since kindergarten, and her recent MAP math score put her at 7th grade equivalency. Yes, her current math instruction is a bit too easy for her even with differentiation and extension, as are all subjects, really (hence the need for the grade skip), but any math curriculum would be like that for her, and I suspect that many of them would have been worse. EM certainly hasn't hurt her, so I'm curious why you feel like it might be such a problem.

I've read many of the websites objecting to Everyday Math, and I'm really not swayed by their arguments.

One objection is that it gives demonstrably poorer results here than you've experienced. Every school in my district is in Title I status for math. This has prompted the hiring of a math consultant, who has instituted months-long drills at the start of every year in an attempt to bring up test scores, detracting from the amount of time spent teaching the new concepts and skills in the first place.

It may be that EDM takes expertise to administer. What I've experienced with DS6 is that when I don't afterschool him on math at all, and he doesn't teach himself but focuses on other things, he stays at exactly the same MAP score for math; the teaching at school does nothing for him. With Singapore Math, he grasps things nearly instantly and actually progresses (quickly).

One reason I don't like EDM as implemented here, which might be different from elsewhere, is excessive stress on the concrete, use of manipulatives, etc. It's unnecessary for my son, but that is admittedly probably due to the fact that he grasps abstract concepts much more quickly than normal. But that's also why I don't think that EDM, at least without discarding a lot of this excessive handholding, would be good for kids with a strong math streak in general (not saying anything about your daughter here, please understand-- in fact she may be compensating for the shortcomings of EDM a good deal by sheer talent ).

I prefer an exceptionally clear explanation of a concept, with concrete and pictorial representations perhaps, but without clutter such as description of things as machines when teaching multiplication, etc. Kids don't in my experience need to be babied to that extent. I've also seen an excessive focus on silliness like drills on constructing whole numbers in a bunch of different ways, I suppose in the hopes of building up number sense; this doesn't constitute problem solving skill development or anything really useful in my opinion. This might be due to how it's implemented locally, though.

DS's MAP test was essentially a nullity at the start of the year, due to the fact he didn't have paper and pencil for much of the test. When he tested in the winter, he wound up with a huge advance, but it wasn't due to schooling. At the time he was showing 50th percentile or above up to the ninth grade. His score went down four points by the end of the year. That's why I say he's learned nothing. This is partly simply a big level mismatch, of course.

I guess, to sum up the things I don't like:
- May take more expertise to administer than is typically found, or at least locally found here
- Excessively babyfied, at least in the early grades I've had occasion to see materials for; cluttered presentation of concepts
- Do-work such as constructing whole numbers ad infinitum makes it very yawn-worthy for my gifted son
- Far better options are available

Hi JM! Welcome! Congratulations on getting a skip for your daughter. I've found that getting a school that prides itself on it's quality to admit that it can't quite accomidate every blessed child in every possible way can be quite the challenge. I hope it was easy in your situation. Anyway, glad you found us and hope to hear more about your family.
Smile,
Grinity