Thank you all, for such supportive and understanding responses! I was at work when my husband told me the news and (as you all know) the couple of people I told at work were NOT as thrilled as we all are!
Trinity, I am honored by your kudos! I am glad to moving into the same arena as Dottie, where I can say that I've not only BTDT but had some success to share with others coming up in the "field of battle."
BK1: I think that this has been a slow process, turning the principal around. It involved us presenting the school with private testing last summer, then MrWiggly having a great 1st grade teacher who recognized a qualitative difference in his learning and then the fact that we had to homeschool math last spring (son was so bored in math class he was becoming disruptive and refusing to get on the bus in the morning!). Last year when we pulled him to homeschool we asked if they would consider the 3rd grade placement in the fall. Sometime, with all that going on, the principal really did a 180 degree turn around.
Delbows: When we talked about this last night, my son asked if anyone else from his class would be going to 3rd for math. He seemed disappointed to hear the answer was no and I worried that he might be feeling anxious about the new class. But then I told him how lucky he was to have TWO classes and that many more friends to have. He said it was okay, because "I want to do that math, not the kindergarten stuff!" So I am sure that this move will work out just fine.
