So far we are quite happy.
DS10 has started fifth grade in a gifted program across town. The commute had been a major concern for us but currently it works out alright if one of us takes him as far as the second bus he has to take, which shaves off half an hour of his normally hour long commute and 20 minute of the commute are in a warm car with a parent and only 10 on the city bus. On two days someone can pick him up at the bus stop, too, but on the other days he's fine coming home on the city bus.
His classroom has only 16 kids, and the teachers are raving about what a wonderful class it is - every single child nice and well behaved, and everyone a quiet and assiduous worker. They couldn't shut up about it actually, and did say that normally the gifted classes are QUITE different and much more problematic. DS has mentioned how much he enjoys being in an environment without jerks and know it alls for once, and being right in the middle age wise because about half the class has been accelerated before! The class will stay together until 10th grade, though they are being mixed up for PE and religious ed, and later will be for languages and electives. The college prep curriculum which is already accelerated is taught at an telescoped pace, with one MINT and one humanities enrichment period In the time that is being freed up. I wish I could say it is all good but the EF demands of middle school are really biting him, and he has been having meltdowns about it. The good news is that so far, he's only lost his new phone (we decided he needed one on the bus) once, and that was in the house, so we found it again. Looking forward to our first parents night at a restaurant larger this month.
DD6 has been enjoying her split grade classroom which ended up being 5 first graders and 24 second graders very much, though she has been exhausted. On parent teacher night, the teacher (after spending about two hours quelling second graders parents fear about how much attention the first graders were taking away) mentioned that all her first graders were doing exceedingly well, with excellent work habits, better than a number of second graders, and that she would have to group some the first graders who were reading better than a lot of her second graders with second graders for reading, and struggling second graders with first graders, which was going to benefit everyone. So that was reassuring to hear, particularly as I happen to know how the others first graders read, and it was just DD she was talking about.
Again, there are no academic issues interfering: DD has been having headaches for several weeks now, right through fall break, so I know it's not school, and the only thing the ped and pediatric ophthalmologist could find after extensive examinations and blood work was that she needed glasses. She's had them for a few days now and it appears they are slowly getting better but it really has slowed her down a lot. I kept her home from school for a week before fall break after they had phoned us that we needed to pick her up.
DS4, severely disabled, has been kept in special ed preschool for another year even though he started talking and walking, and and we were right to do it, the tiny classrooms and lots of adult attention are good for him. Now that he's not working so hard on walking and talking any more, he is asking about letters and numbers, learning the alphabet and counting to a hundred with a bit of help.
With being behind so much in s language development until this year, all they would ever say about his cognition has been "probably not a concern" and "probably even above average" and we are content to wait and be surprised. We will probably have to finally mainstream next year, with most children at his current preschool being multiply disabled and no one that I know of having as much language as he has, but it remains to be seen how well they can accomodate his physical and emotional needs at the mainstream school. He will be almost five then, so fingers crossed things will be mostly stable for him.
All in all, DH and I have told one another we have made good choices for this year.
