Jenrose wrote:


I balk at the notion that a parent should "have" to homeschool to get a
gifted child what they need (although I would have yanked my kid out of
school so fast if it hadn't been great for her...) or that it should take
"extra" time outside of school hours. Kids are in school for what, 29-30
hours per week? That's PLENTY to learn what they need to learn.


Sure, they should have programs and opportunities for
gifted kids. But if they *don't*, then besides agitating for
them to have appropriate programs, one has to find a solution
that is workable in the current environment. And believe me,
having *been* a gifted kid in a school (at various times--I
was in a lot of different schools) where there were no programs,
I would *NOT* have wanted a solution where my folks pulled me
out of school once a week! I was already different enough,
thank you very much. Doing something that made it painfully
obvious that everyone else was having to accommodate me would
have been much worse. We found other solutions that worked
within the classroom structure. Sometimes I'd go to the
library (to read, to help, or to do special projects) *after*
I'd done the work for my regular class. Sometimes the
teacher would give me extra projects to do when I was
bored. There were always plenty of ways to keep me from
being bored in class when we looked for them.


Some of the ways bright kids can "get more out" of existing units.

Rather than doing ordinary spelling like the other kids, the better spellers
are in "dictionary" spelling where they basically pick out their own words.
snip
When writing assignments are given, in a 1-3 class, the first graders write
a few sentences and draw a picture. The third graders write a few
paragraphs. The brighter kids might write a page or two. In fifth grade, my
daughter is touch-typing 1-2 page papers.

Reading...is always at the kid's level.

snip


Math is done by grade level, but is so open-ended that kids who fly get to
work on really neat logic problems and word problems while kids who are
working on the basic concepts spend more time with teacher and
helping/getting help from peers

snip


The upshot is, my "highly gifted" kid has been educated right along with all
the other kids for the past 5 years and aside from insisting on some
alternatives to learning the alphabet (which she knew before she was 2) in
K, I've not had to play the "gifted" card since she started 1st grade. Her
teachers just provide *all* the kids with a good education, no matter how
slow or fast they learn. All children learn better from an enriched,
interesting educational environment. ALL children can benefit from hands-on
learning.


But you'll notice that none of your suggestions involved
taking your child out of school every week! Your child is
working *within* a very nice system--and using adaptations
that the OP very likely *could* get implemented for her
child with a little effort! Personally, I think that's a
much better approach than trying to "fix" things by bailing
on the regular classroom once a week. It's far less likely
to cause problems or resentment, and it's likely much easier
for the teacher to accommodate.

Best wishes,
Ericka