Val: I have an 8 year old boy who has had one grade skip, although it looks more like 1.5 to 2 since he was a young summer birthday in a school district that holds kids back. He is in 4th grade, much like your son. We did get a subject acceleration in science this year, which has helped immensely.
It is a hard call to know when to leave the child in their current situation, even if they are bored, or when to accelerate them further. I guess I would listen to the child. They will let you know if they need a change. The flip side of that is this: DS said, post science acceleration, that he couldn't believe how awful 4th grade science was compared to 7th grade science. He would never have known that such happiness could exist if he had not been accelerated.
This is great advice. Thanks. I have a feeling that my DS8 might react the same way to jumping ahead in this subject. He ADORES science.
We were talking about the relative level of difficulty of school today. He told me that overall, it's "moi-cile" which means a mix between medium (moyenne) and easy (facile; he speaks French). He said this last year a month or two before he started really complaining (as opposed to mild complaining).
I asked him what his easiest subject was and he surprised me by saying science. I was NOT expecting that. I figured spelling or reading. They were facile too, he supposed. Social studies was moyenne, which I was glad to hear.
I looked at the 5th grade book and it's much more detailed. It discusses cellular organelles, for example, and has more detail about types of plants. What I saw told me that it would be right up his alley. I saw a copy of the book at a local library bookstore for 50c, and will pick it up for him. You can't go wrong for fifty cents in this regard.
I think I'll try to move this forward at the parent-teacher conference later this month. (Advice appreciated.)
Val
