st pauli girl, thanks a lot. I am going to document as well as I can; it must have been dreadful to find out that bit of wisdom the hard way. The meeting minutes should help some, and I am going to copy or keep all homework. I am going to volunteer to help out in the class. I will definitely consider applying to DYS when we're in a better position to do it. I want to let our son recuperate a little before we consider testing him again.
Tallulah, it's as st pauli girl says: I am hoping that he will find kids more his level in a higher grade. I don't know if multiple skips would be in his future, but this seems like a risk-free way to test out the concept; he'd only be with kids up to a year older, and would probably fit in all right, especially since he's very physically active. Also, it seems like a beachhead of sorts might be reached; it would be hard to deny after that that he is due some accommodations, as long as he does well, which he easily would.
You're right that the pace would still be wrong in third. I anticipate in our local system that he would face endless drill on multiplication and division facts, which would be boring. One thing that would be very helpful for him, though, is that the cookie-cutter art projects, simple sing-song learning drills informed by Multiple Intelligences, etc. would be replaced by things like grammar, science, etc., which is something. Skipping to first gets him a little closer to the beginning of more stimulating work, where he doesn't have any accommodations at all right now for science, and in the meantime would give him more intensive work on handwriting at a more appropriate level.
Last night, the boy brought home the first run of his new homework. It's not too bad. There is reading aimed at teaching him some beginning grammar concepts (parts of speech, which he already knows past this level), vocabulary, and spelling (again not up to his level, but there are places for him to choose and write his own words). There is a thoughtfully chosen set of math problems, for example a simple permutation problem, basic multiplication (e.g. the number of tails, ears and legs on eight cats), and time duration. It seems like the teacher chose the problems with an eye to feeling out his level, and she sent a note with the homework asking for feedback.
