Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How much adjustment time for a subject skip?

My 2nd grader (7 yo) is skipping 2nd grade math this year and going to 3rd grade math. I was just wondering how long of an adjustment period I should expect?

I don't recall exactly, but for both my kids I know that they were already back to being near the top of the class within a month. Of course, in order to subject accelerate they had had to show that they already knew most of the material, so it was really just a matter of filling in a few holes, getting used to actually having to pay attention to what the teacher was telling them ("You mean teachers actually teach me things I don't already know?"), and getting over the emotional hurdle of not already knowing everything before it is even introduced.

I think it depends on what you mean by adjustment.

DD has never needed more than a few weeks to adjust to increased academic demand (mostly output-related, not content-- because as MN-mom notes, we've never truly had a situation where she HAD to adjust to content she was not familiar with).

My ds is math accelerated from 3rd to 4th, he had no adjustment time to the material..easy enough, still at the top of his class. I would say the adjustment, for what it is, is to the other expectations of 4th vs 3rd graders and he just left 2nd. We attend year round schools so his summer was 5 weeks, not time for much maturation. But really, he has had minimal adjustments, more just to new teachers as always rather than content adjustments.

Shannon L.

On the surface I bet it takes no adjustment in math.
My son went to 4th from 2nd with no adjustment time needed. This was also in the accelerated group. The hardest part was the dreaded timed math facts but that came later on in the year.

3rd grade will be no problem, any timed test would probably be addition and subtraction.

JMO

Both my kids skipped from 2nd into a gifted 4th grade math program.

In both cases, the adjustment issues have been organization, mostly in bringing papers between the classroom and the math room. As this is my second time with this, I'd already solicited help from the classroom teacher. There have already been bumps despite that.

Hi My son skipped 3rd grade finished 4th grade and is now in 5th grade. However he is doing 6th grade math. He is finding it a bit challenging. But better than getting bored in 5th. I am hoping he will get the hang of it soon. I asked his teacher she said he is doing really well, gets the concept and is quite confident. So I would say speak to the teacher to make sure your kid is not overwhelmed.

I am like many here, I didn't notice an adjustment period.

Aside, found out that DD's new teacher, first day today, totally accepts accelerated subject skips. She can do grade 10 math if she is capable. And she is in a 4/5 split gifted class so it can be a slide skip. I have a feeling though she is a little light on writing demands. DD had such high great teachers in raising the bar for her writing. I thought her essays in grade 1 were 5th grade research projects. But then the bar got lowered in 2nd grade. I think this really is teacher specific and hope I can find a teacher who keeps her within the guidelines. Writing can be the easiest way a gifties slacks off. NYS standardized tests were an interesting experience because DD did the practice test, scored 70%. She answered but without details. Without specific reference, copying the exact phrases. She paraphrased, which didn't get points. And she paraphrased efficiently which loses points.

Getting back to the topic. Math is easy to adjust.

Realized I was all over the map. Point on the ELA, I got her a workbook, pushed the writing and making her write the reasons. She got top scores on the final NYS tests but that took work.

Math no adjustment, ELA adjustment, depending on teacher.

DS was skipped from 2nd to a gifted 4th grade math class a few months shy of the end of the school year. Academically he adjusted just fine. Socially he was never able to adjust; he felt too much pressure to perform. When he couldn't meet his own high expectations (and what he perceived to be the teacher's and his new classmates' expectations), he freaked out and got himself kicked out of the class.

This probably won't happen to you.

Just make sure you've got good communication with the teacher, so you're aware of how the class is going. No news is not necessarily good news.