We recently bought a house in another school district, but we are living in both until we decide what to do about schooling.
At my son's current school he is grade-skipped, subject-accelerated, and in the gifted program (which is integrated into his home classroom but allows for basic gifted needs to be met like curriculum compacting, differentiation, so on). The gifted program with a separate classroom begins next year in 3rd and is grouped by age with academics being one grade ahead and he would bussed to a non-neighborhood school. His current situation is just enough that he isn't bored, but he *LOVES* his teacher.
When the new school asked about his assessment information (cogAT, reading and math scores, classroom performance) they thought he should be immediately given another grade-skip (so a smallish 6.5yo will move into 3rd grade). He would also qualify as gifted and receive similar in-classroom accommodation, and then in 4th grade the gifted program in a separate classroom begins. This is a multi-age classroom (4-6th) at his neighborhood school where true differentiation happens out of necessity, so he could be learning with 12 year olds doing Junior High level work.
If he doesn't get academic challenge, he will underachieve and misbehave. So his intellectual needs have to be met, even if that means we have to homeschool.
I'm worried about the social aspects of schooling a child like this.
Even if he is in a separate gifted classroom, the lack of social peers will remain because statistically there just aren't other kids like him in a school of only 500 students, or even in a district of 10,000. He makes friends but the only time he has ever felt truly understood was when he met other local Davidson Young Scholars.
Also, because he is so small for his age, and yet talks with an educated adult vocabulary, he obviously sticks out and we have had problems with bullying by older kids who are insecure around him.
What has worked for your children?
Anyone successfully done a double grade-skip before 3rd grade?
What would you recommend for us? Advice?
It's so difficult to raise a child like this because they just don't fit in and they never will, and making the school system work for them is so difficult. It breaks my heart sometimes.
