I know the kids in the group. Maybe one other child could do work 2 grades up. The rest don't know their times tables.
somewhere, I would be cautious of making generalizations about what the other children in the group know or don't know or are capable of re math unless you've seen there work from the previous year. "Knowing" times tables it a developmental skill that comes late for some children, early for others, similar to reading. Being able to quickly recite times tables in early elementary doesn't necessarily correlate at all with being able to understand above-grade-level math concepts. My EG ds was not able to quickly recall his multiplication facts until around late 5th grade, but he was able to learn advanced concepts quickly. Same situation with my HG+ dd - although I thought she had her multiplication facts down cold last year in 3rd grade when there was daily drill&kill... this year she seems to have forgotten most of them and is "multiplying on her fingers".... yet she's in accelerated math and doing really well.
I will certainly go to the next meeting with a positive attitude and will ask to see the curriculum (they still claim that they don't need one).
I would be really bothered by the idea of not needing a curriculum. I think what I would do in your situation is have a list of the district's math standards/curriculum for each of the early elementary grade levels, as well as a list of the topics your ds studied last year in 3rd grade math. Let them know you expect the math group to build on what your ds already knows. If the principal is dead set on the idea that it's only going to be sideways enrichment, there still needs to be a plan.
FWIW, our ds was not accelerated in early elementary - not because we didn't try, but because his school simply wasn't going to do it. We after schooled in math instead - not the ideal situation, but it worked out a-ok in the long run - math is one of (imo) the easier subjects to after-school in and show what is learned vs district curriculum standards, so it was relatively easy for our ds to be subject-accelerated once he was at a school that was willing to accelerate.
Good luck with your advocacy - I hope things work out!
polarbear
