Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Need Advice on Grade/Subject Acceleration

Now that my daughter is in sixth and we have been in two (drastically) different schools, my advice is to really look at the climate.

In our current school district, sixth grade girls are dating ninth grade boys (on a regular basis). My daughter is both appalled and feels left out at the same time. She is only slightly younger. Luckily, our school district allows for her to take accelerated subjects. However, there is very little social studies or science until middle school.

At our last school, most of the students were way above grade level (not considered GT). My daughter was reading three years above and she considered herself a "bad reader". She totally fit in with the group and they had very stimulating conversations. They had two hours of homework per night in fifth grade and they were able to finish way more of the curriculum and beyond. They also completed a full year of social studies and science.

This varies from school to school, city to city, and state to state. Unfortunately, Colorado is a local control state, which means that each district sets the curriculum. In our town, they are forgoing the science and social studies to concentrate on testing areas. And these subjects are usually to help with reading. Last year in American History, they studied until the Revolutionary War. We had quite a bit to learn in the summer.

well, luckily DD6 is a quick recoverer. (Is that a word?) Anyway, she loved grade 1 Tuesday and has not even mentioned the idea of going back to only part time gr 1 again. So, I think all will be well for the rest of the year. (I say with my fingers crossed.)

I cannot believe my DS6 just cried this morning saying that he skipped 2 grades kinder and 1st grade and that that was "unacceptable" WOW!! He is upset because the 1st graders are doing measurement which comes much later in the 2nd grade txt book and he wants to learn it now w/them because he doesn't know it "completely". I told him I would do it w/him at home but he said he wants to do it with the kids!!!!

Boy my DS6 cannot handle being w/older kids.
He knows he will go to a new school in Sept.
He said he had a dream he will be w/8 year olds and they will tease him. We are going to put him w/kids his age and worry about the academics later.

traceygns,

That sounds exactly like something my DS6 would do. Heaven forbid he should miss out on anything! He actually tried to convince his math teacher to send him to 3rd grade for math as they were learning how to do lattice math. Never mind that DS has been multiplying since he was 2.5! He never learned that method. She had to show him how to do it before he was willing to move on.