(I tend to recap because I know others might not know me but may also find replies helpful in their situation... sorry to my e-friends for the repetitious repetition)
Where we are now: advocated for and received early admission into first for DS5.5, skipping K. DS is definitely gifted, but we're not 100% sure of his LOG (at a minimum he's solidly HG). For our DS, where his birthday falls, and our situation, this seemed to be the best choice.
So, it's been a full week of first grade, and initially it was a little hectic. Going a full day was (is) tough on the little guy, but he has seemed to settle into this new routine. This was actually one of our last areas of concerns as during this summer he was still taking late afternoon naps. We got creative and we now have "brain breaks" for 30 - 45 minutes after school. They are like naps, but because we use different
semantics, DS doesn't resist laying down during that time
His behavior at school--as far as we know--has been great. In fact he'll tell us about his peers that have already lost part of recess time due to their behavior but he (according to him) is listening to the teacher. Good boy!
We're still in the middle of review but the material (surprise) that he's getting for math and reading are for things that he's been able to do for probably about a year now. We're very lucky in that despite being very enthusiastic about school, he'll still do his homework (even though he finds it boring). However, it's starting to get tougher and tougher to motivate him. And based on what they've been sending home, it's going to be a long while before they get to interesting topics for him. Here in PA we do have a process to get a GIEP (it's been started) but he won't be officially identified and get his GIEP until Oct/Nov. We don't want to wait that long because we don't want him to disengage from school. We're already seeing lots of "doodles" on sheets. I'll admit... some of this may be normal. The gap between we he can do and what he is doing in school right now though is very large (can I get a BTDT?!)
So finally I'm getting to the point
We have arranged to talk with the teacher to see how we can work together to keep DS engaged. She's gotten back to us nearly immediately via email and she is aware that he skipped K and she's read his psychologist report. All positive signs. Unfortunately we'll have just 30 minutes (max) to talk about the situation. Suggestions welcome. DW and I are going to brainstorm about how to best approach it. Since this is the first meeting we're going to have to balance the relationship building part with the urgency part. I don't want to see DS's school experience deteriorate. Then that might turn into "see we should have never allowed this".
The objectives for this meeting is an initial hello-how-do-ya-do-we're-SON's-parents and let's-work-on-a-plan. Suggestions on our approach would be appreciated.
JB
