Do you think that he will likely be where you/he would want to be abilities-wise in the 2nd grade GT classroom next August?
I truly don't know.
We have the advantage of having an older child who has been through the program. However, she came in at the top of the class and has remained there. She has had straight As every quarter. I don't really know the full extent of of the range of other children's abilities. In other words, I don't know how far below her skills he could be and still be doing fine. I think quite a bit. For whatever it's worth, she is constantly saying to us how he should be skipped, despite the fact that she has quite a lot of jealousy issues with him.
Really, my two concerns would be 1) workload and 2) writing. Also, looking ahead to the future, I wonder if a skip is wise for an MG/HG child (probably) who will also be accelerated from gr 2 on.
I glean that the main reason she is saying "He shouldn't be here" is that it is kind of killing her to see him sitting through the group lessons. However, there was also some talk from her about how he is not really a child who can really be accommodated well at this point in any case. (This did not upset me. I agree. What do I really think they should do to instruct my 5yo who can read at the 5th grade level in reading, in a class of other 5yos? Yeah, it's very tricky.)
I do take your point about her youth and experience level, though. I really do. My husband and I are really leaning against trying for a skip but for advocating as much as we can for him to travel to other classrooms for instruction. Maybe we can market it as "Instead of a skip, we are asking for..."
