Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Why did you choose NOT to accelerate?

Here's a thought. If your exceptionally gifted child is not challenged in, for example, the second grade, he or she will not be challenged in the 3rd or 4th grade. The key is not just moving through the curriculum, but being challenged at your level of intellectual ability. For that reason, we never skipped our exceptional child, but hired an outside tutor who could challenge him at his level in mathematics--his particular area of interest and ability. The school allowed him to treat math as an independent study. Now that he is in high school, we feel he could do well in college, but he wants to play lacrosse, be in the band, and hang with his friends. We are still using a tutor, and he will likely graduate from high school with a good chunk of the credits necessary for a college math major. Fortunately, we could afford a quality tutor. Unfortunately, this may not be feasible for all.

But the bottom line is intellectual challenge, which may not be supplied simply by a grade skip.

Thanks for all your thoughts everyone.

We have decided not to grade accelerate DS6 for the time being.

Though we have doubts about the rigor of the 'cluster', I think it will get him in the right ballpark for things like writing.

He is being accelerated 2 years in math regardless.

I have a feeling we are just postponing the inevitable, but I guess we have to go one year at a time.

Ul.H.

Congratulations on making a decision! I remember how hard it was to make that decision. We've always taken a year-by-year approach, hoping for more than one year of a successful placement but knowing that there are always options. We all do the best we can for our kids, and each parent knows his kid best.

Hi everyone... I'm the OP on this thread. 9 months later I thought I'd give an update.

I think not grade accelerating was the right choice. The math
acceleration has addressed the most glaring need, and the G&T teacher actually spends an hour with DS7 every day (half of that 1 on 1!) working on language arts. He seems to like the specials too.

The 'gifted cluster' has been a total bust, DS learns very little
while he is with his regular class. Fortunately this adds up to only about 1/3 of the school day.

DS7 says that he likes being with kids his own age and does not want to skip 3rd grade next year.

In short, not skipping has worked out because the school is allowing DS to be a 'closet 4th grader' while also spending time with age peers. It's not perfect, and who knows how long it will last. Still, we are lucky that the school has been so flexible.

Ul.H.

That's a great solution for your DS. It's wonderful that you didn't need a skip to get him more appropriate work.

As you noted, you can always revisit this need later when/as things change.

The situation is reasonably good, but there's still plenty I could complain about! So I guess I will...

1. Everyday Math (need I say more?)
2. Homework passes every time the Ravens win a football game (huh?)
3. 27 kids in the class
4. School academic standards are not horrible but still not what they should be.
5. On the few occasions that DS sees something that is honest-to-goodness challenging he freaks out rather than sinking his teeth into it. This is what has me most worried.

Not sure grade acceleration would help with these issues.

Ul.H.

We have chosen not to accelerate but I agree with you:
1) We have Everyday Math too. Blah!
2) 35 kids in a class in 4th-6th!
3) Our grade school just enetered Program Project Improvement with NCLBI.
4) Our school board just decided to do a random lottery to let in kids for our self-contained G/T program, for everyone who gets above the 96% on the OLSAT, WISC, etc. Instead of ranking them! Grrr...

I know someone who didn't accelerate he child when she really wanted to because it would have meant going against the principal's very strongly stated position.

I have opted not to accelerate my daughter at this point in time because the school has been great about providing subject acceleration and enrichment. My DD is accelerated two years in math and goes to a TAG pull out reading group. Right now, this works. She has lots of friends in her class, so I would prefer to keep her with her same age friends, if possible. If, when we get to middle school, the opportunities evaporate, then we will revisit grade skips. That said, she is my youngest and I am in no rush to push her out the door to go to college.

1. DD is emotionally and socially immature and has some emotional problems
2. She is accommodated pretty well at a gifted magnet school

DS is a far better candidate for skipping. We would probably pursue it and still might, but are hopeful that he will be okay with eventual admission to the same magnet. My sole concern abut skipping otherwise is that his writing is age-appropriate and his spelling is probably only about a year ahead; it is his weakest area.