Well, I had a meeting with the teacher this morning and I think it went well. He showed me a printout that says according to the Front Row program DS is working at about a 6th grade level. That gave me a lot of credence when I said, "If he pretests and passes a topic, can he use his classroom time another way?"
For starters DS is going to do Khan Academy during class time, and will also have some flexibility for homework time, including letting me find him some challenge work or having the teacher offer at least a weekly challenge problem from the fifth grade curriculum. I will also have the option to send in a packet for class time if I find something I think would be valuable for him to do. Although the teacher still doesn't seem to understand the kind of learner DS is (he keeps conflating the frustration of having to do many intermediate steps, with the struggle of working on a worthy challenge) I think it was a productive conversation, and leaves the door open for us to keep exploring the best fit for the rest of the year.
