My 10 year old son was homeschooled until this past spring. This year he is attending a very small private school as a 6th grader (he is 5th grade age) with an additional year of acceleration in math. I'm wondering if I should pursue the idea of a second skip (for the reasons outlined below) and I'm hoping for guidance about how to decide from those who have gone through this.
The school is so small that they have combined the 6th and 7th grades for almost all of his classes. He is very happy and has found a home socially with the 7th graders. He finds the 6th graders dull.
We decided to put him in the 7th grade math class (prealgebra) because we weren't sure how overwhelmed he'd be by school in general. He did prealgebra last year and is more than ready for algebra. He is by far the strongest student in his math class (and everyone else is in 7th or 8th grade). The school is open to the idea of moving him into algebra this year if needed.
I have no doubt that he could handle the 7th grade work--he is essentially doing it now. Socially he's in with the 7th graders. Other than the fact he is young, it seems that it would be the appropriate placement.
FWIW, I went through the IAS for a second skip (he took the ITBS at the 7th grade level last year and I had the scores reported as compared to 5th, 6th, and 7th graders) and it showed him as being an "excellent candidate." His ITBS scores as compared to end-of-year 6th graders were at the 98th percentile. He is HG with some motor skill and processing speed issues.
Since he is essentially doing the work of the 7th graders, maybe I should leave it alone. But I can't assume that he will continue to be with this same group next year. On the other hand, the idea of him graduating at 16 is kind of freaking me out.
Any advice would be most appreciated!
