Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Grade skipping - revisited

I'm sure by now this seems like beating a dead horse but everytime I think we've wrapped ourselves around a course of action, everything changes.

I asked awhile back about grade skipping and got lots of good advice. Our school district has skipped kids before, but never done a multi grade. We've had a few discussions about having DS6 start next year in 3rd, rather than 1st. They seem to be coming around to the idea although his IEP won't be for another couple of months. Today I had parent conferences for my kids and the gifted teacher told me that she had written a recommendation that my son be grade skipped to 4th next year. Her reasoning was sound but skipping 3 years at once?

Has anyone gone through this sort of radical acceleration? I admit, i'm freaked out all over again!

I haven't done it but I'd be hesitant. Think about your 6 year old in class all day (including gym and recess) with 10 year olds. And, you might consider his writing skills. Is he mature enough to sit that long? Mine is only skipped a year but because of his summer birthday, he is 23 months younger than the other kids. The teachers report a definite gap in maturity there and his handwriting is certainly not up to par. My thought would be to skip your son to 3rd and ask for subject acceleration any place he needs it. Not to be negative and I don't really have basis for this, but I think I'd look at it carefully.

They indicated to me that regardless of how many grades he skips, he will pullout for PE and recess with the first grade class. Even in 4th, he'll still have to be accelerated for math. He has participated with the 3rd and 4th grade classes this year for language arts and science. Both teachers have reported that he does fine in their classes. They've gotten around the issue of writing this year largely by allowing him to type his work. His keyboarding is much better than his penmanship!

I agree with Squirt. Start with 3rd and see what happens. You're not ruling out radical acceleration later if needed. The 'holes' your DS will need to fill may be enough to keep him challenged in the beginning - and you can also do subject acceleration as needed. It's great that your district is so open, but sheesh...

Yeah, there are gaps--which I wouldn't worry about--and then there are GIANT, GAPING HOLES!

Do YOU think he's really mastered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade as much as he needs to?

Most people do multiple skips rather than one giant leap, and that seems more sensible to me. I'd certainly be wary of such a big step!

Yes, there are certainly worse things than being offered too much challenge or too much acceleration.

As of today, he is in 3rd through 6th all day with the exception of lunch and recess which he does with Kindergarten. He's already passed the year end tests for 1st-4th for NM standards. The NWEA places him in 5th in all subjects. Because of a December B'day he is one of the oldest kids in his class. So a 2 year skip would put him at about a year and a half behind his class mates. I'm fairly sure that he will do fine skipping to 3rd but his schedule will be the same as it is now, pullout for every core subject. The GT reasoning with moving him to 4th is that he'd be able to spend a large portion of his day in his homeroom and not have to move around anywhere near as much.

Oh, if only I had a crystal ball........

Well, then maybe it's not so bad. It's not as if he's really in 1st grade, you know? He's really in 3rd at least, so 4th grade wouldn't be a stretch.

Sorry to change my tune, but I had forgotten that he wasn't *really* a 1st grader. That changes everything!

The elementary school is going to accomodate him as long as they can. They go through 6th grade. They've already told me that they can work with the middle school to get him 7-8th grade math. He'll be taking that with the gifted teacher next year. For all of his other subjects he should be fine for at least two more years. After that? Not one clue.

I'm leaning very hard toward a 2 year skip, 3 just seems like too much. If we need to, he can always skip again in mid year to 4th or skip 4th the following year. Somehow that just seems more reasonable although I find it funny calling any of this reasonable when my DS is 6!

Not only do you have an amazing son, but you have an amazing school as well. So nice to read about a pro-active school that truly cares about his individual needs.