So last year I was on here discussing what we were going to do with DD5. While she has not not technically been grade skipped, she effectively has. We originally planned to send her to a public school with a later birthday cutoff for K, and then decided to send her to a private school where she was technically too young to start K, but we decided to send her that year anyway. She struggled with reading and writing all last year, we talked about repeating K, but she has tested into the gifted range, and I thought that she probably just needs a bit of time to catch up, and then she will be in a good place. But the school is quite an academically challenging school, and now she has started year 1, granted it is only early days of year 1, but she is in the remedial reading class, and the lowest math class, and she is also struggling with the organisational skills she needs to succeed in the classroom.
I spoke to another mother who had her for reading groups this week, and she commented how lovely DD is and how hard she was trying. And it was a nice comment, but made me sad because she is trying hard, she is bright, and she is still at the bottom of the class for everything. I guess I was just picturing she was a bit behind in reading and writing, and she would catch up. But if she is behind across the board, then why I am pushing her on? What is she really getting out of it? Holding on to a grade acceleration that may or may not ever actually benefit her. She said at the dinner table last night, 'I am in the red group again'. If she is struggling to keep up, she won't get the opportunity to engage in deeper learning.
I am in the process of setting up a meeting with the school to speak with her teacher and some other staff about how she is going. But I think my gut at this stage is saying, put her back to age level, let her be at the top end of the class and build up her confidence, and really explore the topics. The school is good at catering for students varying needs and academic levels, and I think she would be challenged through the years even if she does drop down a grade.
The best option may be to finish year 1 and then do it again if it looks like she is still struggling, and maybe that is what we should do, but part of me feels like, we are only 5 weeks into the year, maybe it's best just to make the change now.
