Feeling a little down - our request to accelerate DD to grade 1 has been rejected. We recently moved to a new area so they obviously know nothing about her, but they feel that there are too many unknowns to move her into the elementary level (grade 1 +). It is a private Montessori school so our request was to skip casa 3 and move straight into their elementary program which just has so much more going on.

I am really disappointed - all this talk about their concerns with her being the youngest student and how she would most likely be happier with children who are her age or younger (!!!!!!) just drove me mad. I purposely didn't provide her IQ test results because I thought just showing her written work and math books would suffice.

All of her closest friends are older and she never has issues befriending kids or keeping up with kids who are older than her. I am worried about how she will do - they reassure me that they will keep her busy and challenged enough but i'm not sure what to think.

Anything i should watch out for this year to make sure she is happy?

Has she been in a Montessori school before?

Portia: thanks - i'll definitely be watching out for that.

RoyalBlue: Yes, she was in an academic Montessori program for 2 years, but they have concerns because she hasn't used some of the tools like the bead chains and grammar boxes.

I'd give it a few weeks and then ask for another meeting with them, once they've been able to observe her. Is it a public school?

My DD3 is only about to begin at a private Montessori that goes through the elementary years so I don't have direct experience with your situation but I have been thinking ahead. I was reassured by our school that they keep materials in the primary classroom (ages 3-6) up to second grade level and they happily (and regularly) pull materials from the upper elementary grades when necessary to meet the needs of the kids in that class. When I toured there was a K student who was reading at a 5th grade level and they insisted they were able to meet her needs in that setting. Have you been given any assurances that they will focus on your daughter's individual needs regardless of grade level? Are they open to reevaluating at a later date?

I would try not to worry about it too much at this point - since you're both new to the school, let your daughter give the class a try and see how it goes. As spaghetti mentioned, there are many different flavors of Montessori as well as many different degrees of willingness to differentiate in any given classroom. Because Montessori in general tends to be less class-wide everything's the same, there's a good chance your dd's new teacher will have time to spend with her and observe and she may change her mind re acceleration before the quarter's over - or she may decide she can work with dd and differentiate in class. Meanwhile if your dd complains of boredom/etc.. you can meet with the teacher, see what her impressions are, and possibly broach the subject again, this time sharing her IQ scores.

The other thing I'd recommend doing is getting to know other parents at the school - you can learn a lot about how a school operates by talking with parents who've been there a few years. Having that type of knowledge in your back pocket can be very helpful when advocating.

Best wishes,

polarbear