Yeah! What she said!

Apply. The worst that will happen is that they'll ask for more info...which you'd have to be getting together if you didn't apply yet anyway, right? So you might save yourself some time and money by applying now. Nothing to lose.

With his scores, I feel quite confident that they won't give you a flat no. "Need more" is as bad as it gets. It's a no-lose situation!

ebeth, I truly believe my DS8 would do just fine in 7th grade science (with accommodations) if he were so lucky to have had it offered to him. Not sure if your DS is in public or private, but our district's detailed curricula are posted online. Not only that, but our district's 7th grade science refers the kids to the kid sites, while DS has spent hours (or months, as the case may be) on the regular sites. Writing, and probably reading, would be a big issue for him, however (and he'd have to catch up on the math, depending on the course, which does not appear to be an issue for your DS).

So, thought I'd mention that we are training him on Dragon Naturally Speaking 10. He's only had one session, and as long as he doesn't mumble, it hears him almost perfectly. I expect your DS8 would be able to use the software very easily. I just got it. The new version is still on sale for $99 (Dragon Preferred 10). It is great. They also have portable transcribers, so he could dictate his observations into his lab book. Of course, being 8, he'd probably be too self-conscious to do it, but you might want to look into it. It is the great equalizer, as far as I'm concerned. The only problem I've experienced so far is that my DS doesn't want to type or write, just dictate, now that he sees how easy and how much fun it is (especially in the early round where it misunderstood him.)

Maybe this helps?

About the lack of desire for math acceleration - ebeth, my DD11 just started in with her math acceleration for this year (only a +1, but involves school transfer & getting up an hour earlier) and she is over the moon about it. Loves math class, math teacher, everything. I haven't seen her so happy about math since before first grade and I am SOOO glad we pushed on this.

A lot of this may be teacher dependent though, she was moving up a grade for math the second half of last year, but into the class of a very uninspired teacher. That only led to her really hating it. Which is just to say that disliking math may really mean being tired of the current teaching methods and material.

Too bad that the science curriculum is lectures instead of hands-on.

I just would make sure to ask what your 7th grade science entails. My DS is in 7th grade science which is life science. He said they got their texts yesterday and everyone flipped to the section on the human reproductive system. There was much blushing and giggling since they are all 12 adn 13. I am quite sure DS would have been able to handle that material at 8, but I am not totally sure it would have been fun for him to be with a bunch of 13 year olds while he was learning. KWIM?

As science is his greatest area of academic interest and intensity, I am certain that my son would have loved the strong 7th grade science class at his previous school at age 8. The teacher there is a true science guy and was known to be demanding, but if he didn’t penalize too harshly for spelling errors on tests, I think ds would have done really well! He really would have loved it and if given the chance, we would have subject accelerated him to that level in a heartbeat! I think you should give it a try.

My only concern is if your ds doesn’t receive math acceleration commensurate to the science instruction, will he be eligible for continued science acceleration into high school level classes? According to some books and articles that I have recently read, math acceleration is a required accompaniment or possibly a prerequisite for rigorous high school science courses.

Could you request a math evaluation by a middle school or high school teacher to determine his eligibility for math acceleration too?

EXCELLENT point Delbows, I'm off to check our own course selection guide on that one.

Interesting thought from ACS as well, !

DD13 is taking 10th grade health in 9th, due to a scheduling snafu. I thought it ended up being a great idea to have some "delicate" course material with unknowns, rather than close pals anyway. Of course she's only one (okay two) year(s) younger.

I spoke w/ a mom in my district whose son is the only whose been accelerated, perhaps ever lol. She said something to the effect that to have DS tested in 5th grade on the end of year math test for 6th grade. If he passed it, he could go into 7/8th grade honors math. This would then make him eligible to accelerated in science. So it sounded like math acceleration was required for science acceleration.

Here's some of ours...

Honors biology (first high school course for top 9th graders), concurrent enrollment in algebra 2 (darn, DS can never take it...ROFL!) That's probably more about the "honors" nature though than algebra in biology?

Chemistry, concurrent algebra 2 or higher

Physics, concurrent trig or higher

etc, etc...definitely worth looking into!

My son’s middle/high school describes AP Chemistry as a rigorous math based course which requires math department approval.

My daughter’s school requires concurrent or prior AP calculus in order to be eligible for AP physics.

Hummm... So if he skips to 7th grade science now, how much of a math skip would he need in order for the math to keep up with the science? Would he have to skip all the way up to 7th grade math, or would a partial skip (merely up to 5th or 6th, ROFL!) keep him close enough?

I don't know what the math sequence is for our school? Is Alegbra 2 in 9th grade then for your school Dottie?

I'm so confused... He was in second grade six months ago, and now I'm worried about Algebra 2? Ye gods!