Anonymous wrote:...And this thread is asking for reasons to "make the best of it." Also, there ARE (believe it or not) people who choose NOT to go to AAP centers. Some parts of the county just aren't that interested in AAP and are happier with keeping a child at the base school --- blasphemy in other parts of the county.[/quote]

Yes it is blasphemy. AAP is not a beauty contest. It's a program that addresses legitimate needs of some children, regardless of the hysteria surrounding it. And if a child should be in AAP, who cares about what your neighborhood thinks about the program? The best thing for the child would be to send him/her there.
I speak as someone who, as a kid, had to endure hours and hours of classroom time sitting around listening to the teacher talk about things that I had somehow already learned years before on my own, till I thought I'd go batshit crazy with boredom. By middle school I absolutely hated school. It's only when I got to high school and was able to take every AP class they offered that things started to improve.