Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Planning for a year of math in 1 semester?

I've asked DD9's principal to change her informal math accommodation (which the 5th grade teacher unilaterally decided would be Ken-Ken and math palindromes) to "get a 6th grade math book and spend her class time prepping for the test to skip 6th grade math, so it can be behind her in May."

The principal was not nearly as enthusiastic as I'd have liked, but didn't say no, either. (She actually said she'd need to get an OK from someone higher up the food chain.)

I've already agreed to:
- using whatever text the district wants us to, which may mean an older version.
- having to test out of each upcoming 5th grade unit with an 85% or better, or being stuck working through that unit.*
- giving them a week if the district already has whatever book they decide she'll use, or two weeks if they don't have a book, to get things going.

Her math teacher (who specifically agreed before school started that DD would be challenged) has previously ignored my polite suggestions, preferring instead her own woefully inadequate accommodations. I think DD will be best served if I write up what I want as a starting point, and accept modifications thereto, rather than leaving it to the school to come up with a plan.

Now I just need to figure out what I want.
- I'd go with "pretest on each unit, and only work problems from units she doesn't already know," as a starter. This will increase the odds of covering a year of material in half a year.
- Fewer problems on each topic, but a faster pace, so she'd have a similar number of problems as the other fifth graders. This will increase the odds of covering a year of material in half a year.
- Class grades are based entirely on worksheets / homework from the text, so no issue of which test to take. (DD's 5th grade grades would be based on the pre-tests, per the principal, not on 6th grade work.)
- I'm indifferent as to whether the teacher grades / corrects the 6th grade work, or makes any effort to teach DD the material, but it may be impolite to make it clear that what I'd like is an indifferent babysitter plus self-study. (DD will not do parent-imposed homework from a textbook, and will not self-impose homework from a textbook, but will gleefully do an assignment from a textbook while the teacher is telling everyone else how to do it.)

What else should I be asking for? I'd rather ask for the moon and not get it, than find myself with less than what DD needs, but I don't want to ask for stuff just to have a longer list, you know?

* I'll be buying a book to keep at home, to ensure that the pre-test is successful. I have heard too many stories of kids who did not test out of a unit for lack of 5 minutes of review of concepts and vocabulary before the test, resulting in them spending 10+ classroom hours of review of concepts and vocabulary.