Testing is Finished

J came home yesterday with stories of being pulled from class and going to a room where a nice lady asked him questions. It was the second day in a row that he was tested by the Gifted Coordinator on academic subjects. He also brought home an envelope stuffed to bursting with "very important" papers.

I opened it up this morning to find a questionnaire touching on several important factors about J's likely success in skipping to 2nd grade. It asks about his home life, siblings, social maturity, emotional maturity, behavior, etc. And one question was about J's attitude toward the skip. I couldn't very well answer that, since I hadn't talked to him about it at all!

When I picked him up from school today, we stopped in at the PTA ice cream social. While we were waiting in line, I said I had a very serious question to ask him.  I told him that, while we don't yet know what his scores were on the tests he took, people at his school wanted to know if he would like to be in second grade now instead of first. I mentioned that he probably had a lot of questions, and so did I, so we'd talk about it as often as he wanted to.

I was surprised when he said he'd heard me talking to Dad about it one night. I guess we thought he was asleep. J said his first reaction was, "No way!" I asked him why, and he said that he felt like he was just getting settled. I can certainly understand that. On the way home, I tried to address some of his concerns. We talked about how he would still be able to play with his friends at recess, just like he still played with some of his kindergarten friends who didn't end up in the same class this year. I brought up the conversation we'd had the day before when he told me that his reading group was soooo slow! He's in the most advanced group, but he says they spend a whole week on one tiny paper book, and he's done with it on the first day. So he says he does nothing for 4 days. I told him that in second grade, he wouldn't be as bored because the work will be closer to what we know he can do (although I don't believe for a second that it will be hard enough for him). I also mentioned that, depending on his tests, he could also go to the Gifted Coordinator's room twice a week with all the other smart kids. He really liked the Gifted Coordinator, but said he'd rather just go to her room for some one-on-one testing. I thought that was cute. He really did enjoy the testing.


After talking through a few things, J exclaimed, "I keep finding more and more reasons to skip to second grade!" 

Tonight, we talked some more. I told him that we have days and days to make the decision, and that lots of people at school would help us make the best decision. And that we would consult the only One who knows everything. For His opinion is the only one we can truly trust.