Hi,
I am new here, so please excuse me if I get this wrong right out of the gate. I am just so frustrated that I need to vent and hear from other parents out there.
I have been advocating for my now 8yo son since he was <2. He is EG/PG. He taught himself to read at 2 and was tested at 4 wherein we discovered his verbal abilities were not even the tip of the iceberg. Math is his thing.
He skipped Kindergarten and from 1-3rd grade he was pulled out daily for his own math class with another child in his class. They were one year ahead in EnVisions Math, with plenty of extensions, enrichment, etc. He was stuck spinning his wheels in all non-math areas, but at least he had math!
Now, we have moved to Italy and are enrolled in an American school. We arrived at the tail-end of 3rd grade. He is happy as a clam and really enjoying the bump in the quality of his language arts, history and other programs. But math! His 4th grade class is piloting EnVisions Math. Yes, that means he is sitting through the exact math program that he had at an advanced pace last year. With his near-photographic memory, this is torturous.
His principal is dragging his heels on a pull-out program because he does not believe in differentiation outside the classroom. But, with my constant pushing, he is now working to identify other students for a pull-out program (still undefined, but likely 1-2x/week) using MAP math scores and some other metric he still hasn't determined. (I know only that DS scored "over 230" - the official results and reports have not been released) The rest of the school is using Everyday Math.
His classroom teacher turned various shades of green when she came to understand that DS had completed the exact material she was presenting to him. She is so upset on his behalf, but is not sure how to help him herself because she has so many students who are struggling and she's out there piloting a new program with little help. As a stop-gap, we've discussed math packets with problem solvers etc for the math period.
SO! I am debating insisting that he be pulled out of 4th grade math and marched over to another grade for their Everyday Math (scheduling IS a problem, but I'll tackle that next). The question is: WHICH GRADE? MAP >230 suggests, to me, that we shouldn't waste time in 5-7th but push for 8th or higher. But Everyday Math concerns me. Am I setting him up for failure (especially with a principal who clearly does not understand giftedness)? I've been told time and time again in the past that EDM, by its structure, does not really allow kids to jump from one grade to another. They will be lost.
Please, please help!
