targeted academic placement about .5 to 1 grade level below the best estimate of the child's true instructional level, on the premise that the additional EF and social-emotional maturity demands of the higher grade placement would be enough of a draw on cognition and coping skills that a lower academic level would leave resources for managing the other aspects of a skip, while still performing near the top of the class (reducing grade penalties from acceleration)
aeh said it much better than I ever could. Your school sounds like a great school and chances are that this might not be your only chance at acceleration, so your choice of taking up 3rd grade math option is a sound choice. As for how to spend the 30 minutes in 1st grade math, could you send in a work packet for him to work on during that time?
