Sadie2

Thanks everyone for your contributions!

Still pondering.......yes, D does tend to over think.

I am having her tested. Her brother has a verbal IQ ( Wechsler test ) of 148. I think I would recognize if she was slow, despite the good grades.

I have my own theory of what happened. And yes, she wants very much to go to BS. Or any good school. She is used to being thrown a lot of work, but it is not all quality. Grade point average she is in the lead out of 200+ kids.

The public school, at least ours in Massachusetts, is training kids for the state test. Private day school kids, while the curriculum may or may not be more challenging, are being trained for the SSAT. This is I believe, a major contributing factor. If they didn't train for it they would go out of business, at least the ones I am familiar with. Of course they aren't advertising this - they don't have to. But they know the game, so to speak.

Home schooled children, especially those of bright and educated parents, are more apt to be taught to think independently, and be more genuinely involved with their studies. Consequently many home schoolers are getting a superior education.

Large public schools improve their ranking by feeding quantity at the expense of quality. My daughter wants to succeed in life, and recognizes that the habits she develops now are instrumental to achieve her goals. She has proved she can handle quantity, but has not had a chance to savor quality.