Is a gradeskip an option? Would he get any appropriate work in the K-1 split? Is there another local school that would be better suited? Is there an amazing teacher who can do serious, sustained differentiation? Can he become a first grader in a 1-2 split instead, giving him access to the 2nd grade work while still being with peers close to his size/age?
You might not need to bring in any big guns to solve this; what is your district's acceleration policy? It ought to help that the school people know your DD?
I had previously heard that the school is open to skipping. However, we attended a school event recently and the principal (newish) said she is NOT open to it. So...bleh. I have no idea about the district.
The tricky thing about skipping him in any case is that we do plan for him to go into the magnet at grade 2, and I'm not confident he could handle the workload/written work expectations in the magnet with a skip in place.
Our other school options at this point are only private (not possible w/o a scholarship and I don't know how much it would help, but I may inquire about one school I know of) and charter. I'm not optimistic about the charters, as I know the landscape pretty well.
I asked his preschool teacher what she thought about a full skip. She said he was completely ready academically and physically, but was a little concerned about his perfectionism and occasional tendency to cry easily. I'm not thinking these things are going to go away with another year, but it's true that they exist, although to me they don't seem terribly major.
