Out of the blue I got a call from Hanachan's principal saying that they would be accelerating her next year. WHAT THE !?!?!?! I'd been trying to get them to do that for the last year and now with a month of school left they are having her "push" (I hate all the jargon) into a third grade class for half the day to help her "transition". I was so shocked that this happened that I didn't have the presence of mind to tell him that, everyone knows you shouldn't push.
If anything I think it's making it harder. Kids in her second grade class wanted to know why she was going to the other class, so she told them. Naturally, they wanted to know why she was getting to do that and they started asking more questions. A little while later I get a call from the principal saying that she's being a distraction with all this grade skipping talk. I'm sure my little one was proud of herself and was excited to talk about it and therefore talked too much, but she's 8 people! What did he expect to happen?
They haven't had a kid skip a grade in this district in over 10 years and we are their test case for full grade acceleration. I'm glad that my cordial badgering got the district to come up with a policy to address the issue of acceleration, but it has been a full year of meetings for me and tests for her. Sadly, having your child held back a grade is much much simpler.
You may think this has changed my mind about homeschooling her, but it doesn't. This whole experience has made me realize that the flexibility and individuation that comes from homeschooling is what my quirky kids need. However, I don't want to sabotage anyone else who wants their child accelerated, so even though it isn't required, I will talk to the principal and telling him that we will be homeschooling and why. I just hope it doesn't blow up in my face.
