charter school... public school
Could he shadow for a day and contribute input to a decision?
it would be wrong to keep moving him
In an ideal world, I would agree. Unfortunately the reality for many gifted kiddos is that they may quickly outpace the curriculum/services/students in any given learning environment therefore parents may need to re-visit placement decisions as the child's developmental/academic/intellectual/social/emotional needs change. The best fit (or least worst fit) one year may not be same the next year... or even mid-year.
Keep options open, don't feel obliged to stick to a decision which is no longer useful/beneficial/optimal if there are other more useful/beneficial/optimal options.
If it helps, make a list of PROs and CONs regarding each option. Brainstorm as a family... does anyone have additional items for either list? As a family, weight each factor... maybe using a scale of 1-5, where 1 matters a little and 5 matters a lot. Possibly a child would see friends as a 5 and everything else as a 1. Possibly parents would see factors such as IEP/504 as a 5 and length of commute as a 1. Creating a decision methodology can help a family:
- analyze the factors important to them in making their decision,
- keep a track record which may be useful in adjusting to a learning environment,
- provide input for use in future decision making.
