there are reading groups by ability in the classroom

They did do this in my kindergarten class back in 1971-2, but not until second semester (most kids didn't know how to read until they started school back then). My mom told me several years later about the meeting the teachers had with the parents in which they announced the groups. They made the announcement in order from lowest to highest, and when they got to the last group and my name was the only one in it, she said that there was a lot of muttering about "what makes her so special?!?" Mom wanted to point out that I already knew how to read before school started (thank you, Sesame Street and book-loving genes!), but decided to leave it alone.

Oh, in Kindergarten, I was totally taken out of the room while the other kids learned to read! I forgot about that. They had an older kid read with me instead, which seems really smart to me now -- I'm sure it helped the older kid, too.

getting me to compete with myself with SRA cards (see how high I could get my reading level)

I loved the SRA cards, because the class reading was boring and slow. I usually tore through them all by spring, though, and then I was bored, bored, bored. The bored part is why my first reaction to "should I put my child in the gifted program" is "hell, yes." None of the schools I went to had gifted programs, except that I did spend a wonderful summer in Georgia's summer gifted program. My experience was that the teachers assumed the smarter kids could be left alone and they concentrated on the ones who needed help. The result was that I was bored and generally disdainful of school in general. I've always thought I could have done better in college if I'd ever had to stretch before. Having to actually work was a terrible shock to me.

There was one other kid in Kindergarten who could read with me.

At our school they have a reading program where kids can get books with a point value and then take computerized comprehension tests to win the points. At certain point levels the kids get a prize like lunch with a teacher, or a free book. It seems to work pretty well giving the higher level readers a chance to work on their reading. On the downside the prizes tapped out way too low for our reading machine daughter so we have to add a few more prize levels to make up for it. We now owe her some Krispy Kremes.

I had advanced reading groups through 2-4 grade, and a full on gifted program for 5th and 6th grade. Spent two days a week at a separate school with other kids. To be honest, the best part was the socialization at the gifted school. Everybody was on a more or less equal footing coming in and you weren't pegged with certain roles as "the smart one" in class. Everybody was the smart one.

My prep school just advanced us in classes to the next year (we had a strange 1/2-yearish setup) until you were socially adrift and then dropped you down one. My first high school really didn't care, and my second high school expected you to take courses during your lunchtime and to go to Oxbridge, so who needs gifted?

I posted this news last night and then deleted it because it seemed silly to leave it up in the midst of the condiment discussion that was going on, but I guess I want to share:

Those shootings in Alabama were in the little town where my family lives. It's utterly bizarre to me that this could happen, like hearing that Godzilla skipped Tokyo to stomp on Mayberry. My parents' office is just behind the all-shot-up hardware store on CNN's picture page. The metal processing plant where the shooter died is maybe a mile-and-a-half from the family farm.

I was reading when I was around 3. My mom claims I was born reading. She read to us for hours a day, but now doesn't understand why I have all these books. Anyway, when I went to kindergarten, there were pictures of the alphabet on the wall and the teachers said things like "This is Mr. A." I thought some terrible force was making my parents lock me up with crazy people.

I've always thought I could have done better in college if I'd ever had to stretch before. Having to actually work was a terrible shock to me.

My first year of college was actually easier than my last year of high school. My high school had some good high level classes. My last year I took AP Calc, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, and AP English. Two of the teachers in the AP class had taught at the college level before and the other two had post graduate degrees in their subjects.