The gifted coordinator tells me that "Students can compact out of the math curriculum on a topic by topic bases. I have worked very closely with the K-1 teachers to provide the materials to compact. I think the second grade teachers do a great job with this."
So your DS is just finishing 1st, is that right? I'd read the above quotation as being code for "I know the 1st grade teachers are rubbish at compacting and I've tried to get them to do it, honest. The 2nd grade teachers, on the other hand, actually do it." In which case, your DS may have a better time next year. I hope so.
But I too have a DS who can do maths at a far higher level if he doesn't have to write full explanations than if he does, and I dread to think what would happen if he had to write the whole time (as it is, he has a balance between challenging answer-only problems and "show your working" types). He is fortunate in having a much better teacher than it sounds as though your DS has had, but it's still a problem. The thing is that it really is important to be able to write an explanation - they aren't making that bit up, even if sometimes the materials seem to be asking for ridiculous things in training for that. FWIW, I find that my DS is much more tolerant of writing if it's in the context of a pretty hard maths problem; it's as though that makes it worthwhile. So I'd encourage considering making work harder rather than easier if he struggles with the writing.
What do you think about letting him work in ALEKS this summer, if he's interested, to improve the chances of subject acceleration? I know there's not enough information to answer that question, but what would you do?
I agree with Dee Dee about the disadvantage and I doubt, from the sound of your school, that it would help you with getting subject acceleration. What I'd do is to use problem-solving materials that don't involve learning a lot of new material but instead involve applying it in tricky situations. Not clear exactly what level your DS is at, but you might try
Challenge Your Pupils, going on to the
UKMT Junior Maths Challenge for example.
Remediating writing is also a good idea, but TBH I wouldn't do it in the context of maths, over the holiday - I'd get maths out from under the writing burden for a little while, to renew his enthusiasm for it.
