We are in the midst of setting up an acceleration for DS6 next year and while we all agree that acceleration is needed, we're running into several snags regarding scheduling and it looks like we need to figure out what our priorities are. I would love any thoughts or advice that you could give me.
Background: DS6 skipped K and it has become obvious to everyone (the principal, the GT coordinator, his current teacher, the 2nd grade teacher, the 3rd grade teacher) that he needs subject acceleration in math. DS also reads at a 4th grade level, but we (his parents) felt we could handle that at home because it would just be easier to accommodate a single-subject acceleration. While our DD8 has been very successful with a full grade acceleration, for a couple reasons we'd prefer not to go that route in the near future (he's a boy, his speech articulation is still immature). However, we talked generally about the need to tweak the schedule a bit so that the acceleration works (perhaps have him do specials or another subject like science in 3rd grade, for example) and we are good with that since we've seen it work and feel confident that DS could handle any 3rd grade work save writing.
Anyway, the problem is that from our years of experience in the school we have a second grade teacher and a third grade teacher who we would very much like DS to have. But, the schedule is almost unmesh-able. This primarily because the school is trying very hard to schedule subjects at the same time across the grade so that they can do ability grouping (a good thing) and have brought in specialists during these times whose schedules can't be changed. And, unfortunately, while 3rd grade has math in the mornings, 2nd grade has math in the afternoons. The best that the principal has been able to come up with so far is for DS to go to one 2nd grade teacher first thing in the morning, then to 3rd grade for math, then to another 2nd grade teacher after that. His current teacher and the 2nd grade teacher we want don't think this is a good idea and are trying to come up with another option. [BTW: DS is very outgoing and makes friends easily and might possibly be fine with switching teachers, although it might be important at this age to feel like he belongs to one particular class. Thoughts?]
The other consideration is 2nd grade teacher placement in general. We have not had great experiences with two of the four 2nd grade teachers (A and B) and have felt strongly that we don't want those teachers again. Of those, A's schedule would work best. Our problem with her was that she really singled out DD in front of her class last year as different and had her doing things like grading the other kids' math. The other teacher whose schedule works best (C) I don't know much. But we really love this other teacher (D) and we (and his current teacher) really feel like his personality and teaching style would work best for DS .
In the meantime, the principal has asked DH and me to decide what our priorities are. If you had to choose between a second grade teacher that you love versus one you don't like, a third grade teacher that you love, subject acceleration, grade acceleration, or moving between several teachers during the day, how would you prioritize the importance of these different things? Would you be willing to give one up to get the other? The only thing we're sure of is he needs to be accelerated in math.
Thanks for reading. I'm not sure if my questions are too specific and situation dependent to get help with, but you all are very wise and I'm hoping you might have some thoughts about what's important and what we can do without.
