Hi Willa. I'm back from looking at the curriculum. DH and I agree that Saxon math just isn't going to work in the long run for DS. Too slow moving, too repetitive. And DS has already mastered most of 2nd grade. Now that we've seen the curriculum we are more prepared to advocate for just moving him into second grade math tomorrow (read: asap) and do some home tutoring to "fill in the gaps" for the knowledge he doesn't have. We think he would do just fine. And be more challenged, at least for a little while. Eventually the whole darn thing is going to get boring again, as he learns math independently at home and everywhere else - craves it almost, like air! And looking at the 3rd grade program we realized that he is already learning some of THAT material. So, when it rolls around he'll be bored again.
As for the assessments, what they are doing is pulling the end of the year written assessments from the Saxon program. So they are doing a "curriculum based assessment" using the actual curriculum to see just what he knows in THAT curriculum. That was what the teaching consultant at the Saxon publishing co. had suggested. In her book, Susan Assouline recommends doing that to determine just where a child should be placed in a curriculum. It also helps to identify any gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed.
Our mission now is to listen patiently to what the school has to say, advocate for what we think is best by educating them on just what he needs and then figuring out what to do in the long run, since Saxon just doesn't look very promising, even in third grade. I'm thinking they are going to balk at putting him in second grade, but maybe they'll surprise us.
I started to pave the way by giving the principal copies of two chapters from Assouline's book (myths about mathematically talented kids and the programming chapter) and contact info for the Educators Guild at DI. Who knows, maybe he'll even look at that info before next wed.!
