We had our plan for DS8 all worked out at the end of last year: going into 4th grade, he was to have math with the middle school 6th grade GT class first thing in the morning and then come back to his regular classes.
Well, of course, the middle school changed their schedule before school started, and now that class is 4th hour -- at the same time that his class has lunch and recess! We had a last-minute meeting the day before school started, and hammered out a plan: he would take that class anyway, then get lunch during the last ten minutes of 5th graders' lunch in the cafeteria, and they would walk him back over to eat in either the office or the classroom. He liked the idea of having more time to eat, as he has always complained of the lack of time there. Recess was a sticking point, but it was a work in progress to be determined as we went. He liked this idea yesterday.
Today, not so much. We weren't going to start the math class till Monday, to give him time in the bonding activities of his new class -- well, he got lunch and recess today and decided he didn't want to give it up.
He went to the counselor's office and told her that he had a plan -- he would go to math every other day, and lunch/recess on the other days.
So today we're still trying to figure it all out. The other option is that there is a 7th grade math class first thing in the morning, but it is a teacher who is new to the district, so an unknown quantity. The other teacher is the GT coordinator and has met him and is excited to have him -- the new one, no idea where she might fall. And the 7th grade class is just a regular class, where the 6th one is GT or at least advanced and may be using both 6th and 7th grade materials. So even though he has had most of 7th grade math (or at least the level beyond 6th on ALEKS, which is actually labeled MS Math 1, I believe -- anybody know the correlations?), the 6th grade class is theoretically kids who think a bit closer to the way he does, where the 7th grade class is a grab-bag.
I've floated an option of letting him have lunch/recess on Wednesdays and math the rest of the week, although I don't know if it's either possible or advisable.
Arrrgh! Why did they have to screw up our plan?
