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    Joined: Sep 2008
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    Hooray - I know that feeling of relief :-)


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    What great news! Well done for being so prepared and what a great outcome. smile

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    That's great news Dandy what a great way to start out - it'll be good to hear how it all works out through the year. Sounds like you've got a good school situation there.

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    Thanks for sharing your success story here and I'm hopeful you'll have more good news for us as the year continues!

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    Dandy Offline OP
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    It's been a couple of months since I posted an update, but as we have finished the quarter, received the report card, and have several weeks of the skip under our belt, I figured I couldn't jinx this by sharing.

    Bottom line -- it's been awesome.

    DS began a test-drive of 5th back in October by spending part of the day in each class (4th & 5th), and was supposed to keep that schedule until the end of the quarter so everyone could discuss whether or not he was ready for a mid-year skip to 5th.

    Instead of waiting that long, though, the receiving teacher & principal both agreed that DS had no problems with the switch... and most importantly, DS was thrilled with the move. As a result, he was advanced to 5th full-time after just a few weeks of the 4/5 test-drive.

    He's now had a full month and has finished out the quarter in 5th. Everything points to a positive outcome. Whew!

    His grades all dipped a tiny bit, with A-minus & A instead of A & A-plus across the board. AND he is having to work a little harder in order to get these grades. I am actually relieved with the slight drop, otherwise it would be difficult to argue with him that he needs to expend more effort!

    The biggest difference is that the 5th grade teacher has much higher expectations regarding written communication. DS can no longer skate by with itty bitty answers to questions -- he must give supporting details and examples to backup his writing.

    Given the switch to 5th, the only additional acceleration is in math. He finished ALEKS 4th - 6th so far this year and started with EPGY 6th this month. We had considered EPGY for language arts, but have decided to hold off for now. He's enjoying the interaction with the classroom for this stuff, which he would lose if he were stuck listening to Grandpa EPGY for another subject.

    Socially, the switch has been mostly a non-issue. According to the teacher, he's been well-accepted by the others, and according to DS, he spends most of his time with the 5th/6th kids on the playground and at lunch.

    He is getting exposure to some language & topics on the playground that are new to him, but he discusses these very openly with us and so far nothing has been too hair-raising. It's funny to hear some of the same off-color humor virtually unchanged in the thirty years since I first heard it.

    Behaviorally, he has actually improved. Given that he doesn't zip through all his work anymore, he's not left with all the extra time that inevitably led to disciplinary issues in 3rd & 4th. Never anything serious, but still not acceptable. Although his 4th grade teacher questioned his emotional maturity, I believed all along that he would adapt to the other kids in the classroom -- and he has done so.

    For a school year that started out with me being a frustrated mess, we've made tremendous progress. It's nice not to be beating my head on my desk with a lot of worries about schooling. Well, there is the big, nasty long-division dragon that we are battling at the moment... but this is a battle I don't mind so much.


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    Dandy- that's so great. all your hard work has paid off. Keep us posted. It's nice to know what can work.

    I was wondering about a few things, if you care to share...
    How does your son's size fit in with this group? Is he a sports loving kid? Is he doing sports at school? How does gym class work out for him?

    Last edited by onthegomom; 12/19/09 07:07 AM.
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    Thanks for updating - that all sounds great, and glad to hear it so. And ah yes, the long division dragon, we have that too ;-)


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    That's fantastic and very comforting to hear! My DS begins a mid-year skip from 1st to 2nd after the holiday break- it's good to know their attitude about it makes all the difference! DS is bouncing off the walls with sheer joy so that has to be good news!

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    I am so glad to hear that things are working for your son and hope it continue to work in the future. I'm glad to hear that some of the schools really can get it.

    I wish someone could get through to our administrator, so many people below him seem to understand and their hands are literally tied by his ignorance, misinformation and lack of flexibility.


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    Dandy Offline OP
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    Originally Posted by onthegomom
    I was wondering about a few things, if you care to share...
    How does your son's size fit in with this group? Is he a sports loving kid? Is he doing sports at school? How does gym class work out for him?
    DS goes to karate and plays tennis throughout the year. Both sports are grouped mostly by ability, so he fits in nicely without regard to age or grade.

    He's not been interested in soccer/football/baseball(or even encouraged, frankly) despite these sports being very important in our area.

    In P.E., he really holds his own. He's one of the fastest kids in 4th & 5th, so he has no problem keeping up. And despite his slender (scrawny?) build, he's quite strong. We call him our little spider monkey.


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