For background, DD just turned 9 and just finished 4th. She skipped 2nd, had a great teacher for 3rd, and had a less-great teacher for 4th. We've got no formal testing, but she missed the DYS 4th-grade cut on the EXPLORE by a point; I'd anticipated that the achievement score would be the part she'd more-likely fall short on.
As I said, she had a less-great teacher for 4th grade - particularly for math. (DD told me today that her teacher scolded her for solving a problem comparing fractions denominated in 14th and 7ths by rewriting the second fraction in 14ths, because they were supposed to use whatever 7*14 is as the implied common denominator.) So we've been summer-schooling math in an attempt to break the bad habits she's gotten into, establish better fraction-handling habits, and develop some number sense. DD is not intuitively mathy, but she likes math.
Fifth grade math is taught in a self-contained classroom in our school - one teacher for all subjects, no ability grouping. We've requested a teacher who's good at teaching math, but there are only 3 teachers to choose from, so "good" is relative. Sixth-eighth grade math is at the middle school across the parking lot, with a dedicated math teacher and 2 or 3 ability levels. State law lets you test out of any class by passing a test in that subject with a score of 90% or higher, and out of an entire grade by passing the tests for each subject.
I'm trying to brainstorm possible options for the coming year, including options unacceptable to one or more of us. The ones I've come up with are:
- be a normal 5th grader and suck it up
- be a normal 5th grader and assiduously afterschool (DD suggested this one; she says school is less boring if she's got something to learn after school)
- full grade skip to 6th (possibly not within her abilities, since Social Studies in 5th is all US history, and we've intentionally done no work in that area)
- subject acceleration to 6th in math
- subject acceleration to 7th (pre-algebra) in math (a stretch, but likely not impossible)
- subject acceleration to 6th in science (with or without an accompanying acceleration in math)
- subject acceleration in some other combination of subjects (unlikely due to lack of kid interest)
- homeschool for a year, possibly with the addition of outside tutoring
- private school (multiple possible options, none of them ideal, and the late-in-the-game timing makes it more difficult, also unlikely due to lack of kid interest)
- online charter public through K-12 or Connections Academy
Anyone have suggestions we haven't thought of? We don't have the option of part-time school / part-time homeschool, due to state law.
