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I had a wow moment today. Actually, my DH was the one to elicit and observe the moment, and I was lucky enough to walk in at the moment when DD's face lit-up.

We had been dragging our feet about radical grade acceleration for our DD (soon to be 5). We were advised by her Private school after placement tests last January that she was ready for 3rd grade. And we were in such shock that we couldn't even fathom putting her in 3rd. We did compromise, and enrolled her in 1st grade.

She did learn a fair amount in 1st, and enjoyed the novelty of learning as fast as she wanted, however, we also encountered the boredom issue. She would just hesitate or flat out refuse to do work at times. We knew that she knew the material, since she could/would apply the same knowledge on a daily basis in every day situations.

Her teacher tested her out of the remaining 1st grade curriculum and after looking at the scope and sequence of 2nd grade, strongly reccomended that we move her to 3rd grade. (this is in attempt to prevent the boredom issue).

So here we are, she started 3rd grade today! And in her first Language Arts class with 5 other 3rd graders, she raised her hand and volunteered to read first during their lesson on Inference and Prediction. Now, I will have to admit, it was hard listening to her read and hearing a young/immature/childlike voice and then hear the more mature fluid voices of her classmates as they read. I actually silently questioned our decision in my mind. Now, she answered and activly participated in all the comprehension and analysis questions. And her take on the lesson was right there equal to her classmates.

All in all, it was a great first day. The wow moment came when DH asked her how her first lesson was. She looked up from her art project and told him that it was great and that she even got to read first. He asked if anyone else read, and she said yes 2 other people read. She then looked back down to her art and after thinking a bit she looked back at him and said "they read really well" this was said with a sparkle in her eyes that we had not seen before. (Almost like she was excited that she was in a class with peers who could read better than she could). With that same twinkle in her eye, she then told DH (this is when I walked in) that she was so excited and wants to practice reading out loud more, so she can read as well as they do.

WOW - she wants to rise to the level of the students in her class. I think 3rd grade will be a great fit!

Today is a huge smiley face day in our house.

Awesome (and I'm jealous!).

My DS is at 3rd grade lvl in reading/math and is stuck in K learning his letters We're planning at this point to pull him home next year and see how that goes since at most he would be in 2nd grade (doubtful) and might get to go to 3rd for math. Most likely they would put him in 1st and send him to 2nd for math. Given he's at 3rd now that wouldn't help much.

I'm thrilled that the school is working with you and your daughter and that she found a place she fits in and enjoys. I love that she wants to read as well as her other classmates. She's got a challenge, I imagine it's the first real 'challenge' she's had at school so far. Hopefully it is the 1st of many many challenges to keep her interested and learning!!

Wow, just read your post! Lucky daughter, lucky you!! My 1st grader visibly cringes when the other students read aloud. He turns away, puts his head on his desk and says he can't stand reading time. I feel so bad for him, but reading aloud is part of school. He has autism and is way, way socially immature, so I have never thought skipping was an option. I'm so happy for you and your DD!!!!!! Nan

This is so great to hear! Our DS5 skipped K and is in first grade. We have talked about further skips, part of me is for and part is against. I think the school is concerned because they think another skip or two won't really be helpful....since he is doing about 5th grade level stuff then he wouldn't be challenged in a 3rd grade level class kind of thing. I go back and forth. I guess for now since they give him his own stuff mostly it is working, but I do wonder if he will need more skips in the future. I guess time will tell.

That's wonderful!