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To my thinking, the public schools are beyond the point of wanting to try to figure out which ones to save.

They literally can't, even if they want to.

If you'll look at my posting history, you'll notice a huge gap this year. I became very ill, and was facing not being able to homeschool our youngest in order to recover. The first of our kids who wouldn't have been homeschooled. We were very sad.

The schools here didn't seem terrible, so we were upset, but thought we'd be ok. So close to the school year starting, no vacancies in any private schools, and we felt that we had no other choice.

We were not ok. Right off the bat, our youngest tested out of math. Several grade levels beyond the actual grade.

When we went to the school, we were told that they don't skip grades anymore unless the child has been in school for a few weeks to show proficiency (lie #1).

Then we were told that, no, they didn't mean a "few weeks", that the year would have to be completed and that they'd consider placement next year (lie #2). And we were told that there was nothing to show us or to put in writing about the matter (lie #3).

Then we were told that she couldn't "just" advance in math, because it wasn't fair to the other kids. This was not a lie, it's just sick. Can't have my kid making the others feel bad.

It came to a head when a teacher took pity a day or two before school started. She told us that (as to lie #1, 2, & 3) they can move kids up, but they don't, because they need bright kids to raise the test scores for NCLB. It is now unofficial policy to never move children up. They really don't care if your kid is special. All parents think their kids are special. They aren't, so forget it. Believe it or not, I took what she said as the most wonderful blessing - a kindness. She really did help, even if she was a bit blunt. The nicest part of the whole experience, frankly.

We thought and prayed, and pulled her out before the first day. We scrambled, but we managed to start homeschooling two days later. She's doing fine, she's more advanced that we first thought, and has yet to meet a math problem she couldn't tackle.

I've had a difficult time of it physically, but get better ever day. We lost an older family member in October, and that was hard, but we keep our eyes on what is important and that helps.

I do not "get" sending kids to a place where they are a number and not human. If it's the last thing I do, I will do the right thing.

Do a search for "No Child Left Behind" + Gifted if you want to see what schools are doing to smart kids in the name of test scores. It is frightening.