Seeking Advice from Moms Who've HAD Children Skip an Elementary Grade (NOT KG)

I was advanced a grade and put into the Talented and Gifted Program when I transfered into public school for 1st grade. Despite being skipped up, I was still bored to tears. I knew how to read and write, my classmates were learning how to form the letter "R". Manage alright though socially and otherwise.

My sister in law was advanced from 3rd to 5th grade when they moved abroad. She did fine academically, but had a hard time being younger. She was into barbies, they were into boys.

Regardless of what you decide re: school. If you've got the time and wherewithal, you can enroll her in a slew of outside activities that will keep her enriched and challenged.

Good luck to you and yours.
F. B.

I can't imagine why you would even consider this option. Think about what it will be like for her when all her peers are driving and she's the only one with her mom dropping her off at 16.
Do you really want her in college at 17?
No need to rush her youth it goes so fast anyway. You should supplement her schooling right now with foreign language. How cool would that be if she could dig into that or piano, or gymnastics and not worry about academics.
I think you are doing her a disservice by moving her ahead.

My suggestion is to let her stay with peers her own age, but push the school (really it will end up the teacher's responsibilitiy) to offer her enrichment type activities to keep her engaged in learning. It will also work if you offer her the extra enrichment type activities after school (drama, art classes, music classes...)
I was a young 4 year old when I started Kindergarten at a private school. Even then sometimes I was still way ahead of the rest of the kids and would be bored with some of the assignments. I felt the real difficulties of being ahead when I got to junior high and all the kids were ahead of me in the "growing up" part. I was the last to get to wear makeup, the last to get to date, the last to start driving, and all my friends (and boyfriends) were at least 2 years older than me. My daughters are very much ahead of their classmates academically, but I would not choose to skip them ahead a grade. Instead I work closely with their teachers to make sure their needs are being met for a more challenging coursework. My third grader has a beginning algebra work group, is challenging herself to be the top AR reader for her grade, has worked on an animal project and is peer tutor for a girl in her class. My first grader designed a class flag (took a survey, designed, sewed), is working on a class newsletter, wrote a book, and does extra jobs for the office. Once they get to Junior high there are much more options for advanced placement classes, and in high school they can take dual credit which will give them some college credit while in high school. All their extra work is fun, but challenging them to think critically, design and create things/projects and they have both really enjoyed doing the extra work. So, it may take some prodding by you, and you giving the teacher some suggestions for how to keep them engaged, and you seeking out extra opportunities for your daughter to use her intellectual abilities (extra classes, contests for art/poetry).

My son is only in kindergarten now, but both my brother and I skipped a grade. We both have summer birthdays so we were in the middle of the pack age wise (the cut off used to be December) before we skipped. He skipped 4th grade and I skipped 8th grade. We skipped at the same time. We were both fine socially and academically. We both graduated high school at 16 and started college at 17 - not a problem.

My brother went to junior high school a year after he skipped and I started high school. Because there were multiple feeder elementary and jr high schools, only our friends from the first school were really aware of our ages or that we had skipped. So, it did not 'follow' us in any way. Since the current drinking age is 21, it won't matter whether your daughter is 17 or 18 when she starts college as far as drinking is concerned.

It seems that if your daughter skips she would actually be with her age mates, rather than being the oldest child in her class which is where I assume she is now.

I had the same delima when our oldest daughter started school. She has an October birthday (so is one of the oldest in her class). When she started kingergarten she could read, write, count, add and subtract. She was bored, so we found her outside activities. In the 1st and 2nd grade they tested her for LEAP and started LEAP in 1st grade. That helped, but she was still a little bored. In 3rd grade we moved her to a charter school. The charter school is self paced. By the end of 3rd grade, she was half way through 4th grade. By the end of 4th grade she was finished with 5th grade. They decided that they wanted to change some of the 5th grade packets, so she had to redue 5th grade math and science, but was in 6th grade english and social studies. By the end of 5th grade, she had stared 7th grade english and social studies and was half way through 6th grade math and science. She begged me to let her go back to the public school. She missed her friends and wanted the option of more electives. Because she had not completed all classes in 6th grade, they made me put her in 6th grade. However, she is enrolled in LEAP for reading and writing and in Pre AP classes for math, social studies and science. I asked her if she wanted to stay at the charter 1 more year and skip a grade and she said no then and still says no. She rarely brings homework home. She is usually finished with it in 10-15 min, but she loves being with her friends.
We discissed starting her a year early in a private school, but after talking to several friends we decided not too. We decided if she skipped on her own we would deal with it, but we would not make it happen.
I have 2 friends who graduated with me. One was an Oct birthday that started a year early (at private school) and one that was an Aug birthday. They were the youngest in class. One is now a teacher. They hated being the last to do everything (drive). However, the main thing they said that effected my decission. Do you want your 14 year old in school with 18/19 year olds. She will be exposed to things at a younger age and possibly wanted to date someone to old or sooner than I want her too. We decied to just keep her in advance classes and keep her involved in more extra cirriculer activities (church, sports, girl scounts).
I am sorry this is so long. I hope it helps. She is very happy to be in her intended grade with her friends.

There is a thread to a similar question in the archives Search "To skip or not to skip" Here is my past answer: We had our son skip first grade. We really had very few options for gifted in our district. He was very advanced in all academic areas, socially and emotionally mature and tall for his age. Still, he was always referred to as the "smart kid who skipped first grade." Even through High School his classmates would point it out which surprised me. Socially size is really important to boys and can affect their perception of their self, social status, ability and participation in sports. If your son is smaller and younger it probably will be an issue and could affect his self esteem among other things. For our son I think the biggest impact was social in high school when the other kids were dating and driving and he was a year behind. That said, he was always on the tall side and very successful in sports and made varsity in football, soccer and the swim team. He says he is glad we did it, he is 21 now. I think it really depends on the child. It does affect them all through school, even more than I had thought it would. I would only have skipped him knowing he was emotionally and socially mature, regardless of his academic ability. Best of luck to you and your family.