That's us! The family that successfully got a grade skip for younger DD into big sister's grade. Some quick thoughts:
A)I found a copy of the Iowa Acceleration Scale online so I knew what I was up against concerning the school. I knew IAS warned against a child accelerating into a sibling's grade. I ignored that and adding all the points, DD (then 9), scored very high for a successful grade skip.
B)We had a psychologist who recommended the grade skip. DD(now 10) was very unhappy in 4th. We had the psychologist go to all the school meetings as support and "authority figure".
C)Had all the testing done privately except for out of level testing which was done by the school (ITBS).
D)Found that the principal, asst. principal, and district AIG specialist were helpful! Very surprising. And when the "BIG MEETING" occurred (10 or so people?), the school district pooh poohed the idea that you don't accelerate a kid just because his/her sibling is in the receiving grade. I was pretty shocked, but happy.
So we have a little over 2 months of 5th grade under our belts. DD10 is happier. I think part of that is getting away from the 4th grade teacher, part is the realization that mom and dad went to bat for her, and part is she found it's not nearly as boring as 4th because she has separate math, language arts, and science teachers so she can actually get a bit of differentiation. She and DD11 still fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but that happened before the skip. Plus they work on homework together. DD11 couldn't do a math problem today, and DD10 exclaimed, "Oh, I can help you with that!" and did! That made my heart warm.
Weird stuff - social. I am not always sure who is getting the Evite for birthdays! Mom's are getting better at specifying who is invited or just inviting both, like twins.
Emotional business: Most of the time DD acts like a 5th grader yet at home and elsewhere she jumps into my arms like a little one. Also, since the skip she has wandered into our bed in the middle of the night quite a bit so she's feeling a bit anxious. We have a "how's it going" meeting soon so I asked if DD was doing ok with the grade skip. I told her if it wasn't going well she could go back to 4th. She was horrified, and said she wanted to go to middle school next year!!
Hmmm, the only other thing I can think of is that DD went through her closet tonight. She dumped some things because they are not middle school-worthy. DD is the size of a peanut, so she can wear little kid clothes, but she is determined to be a real, cool, middle schooler.
Oh, another point. I don't think DD has learned that much more, or she's just absorbing everything like a sponge because she sure isn't struggling! She (and big sister) will be in a compacted math class next year and is supposed to be in an advanced LA class as well.
Oops! This was not quick! I hope it was helpful though!
