Hi Grace, I have 11 yo twins who just finished elementary school with no skips. Both kids would be excellent candidates for grade skips in many ways. Both received very high scores on the Explore test when they were in 4th grade, along with other indicators they are both hg+.
Reasons we have not pushed for skips:
1. Dd and ds are not unhappy. This by itself would not be sufficient. In addition, they have been learning, perhaps not as much as if they had been skipped, but enough to face some challenge and develop study skills.
2. They were in a good environment at their elementary school for developing social skills. Our kids have not been advanced beyond their years in the area of maturity, perhaps even a bit behind other kids their age. They have come a long way and I am now comfortable with them entering middle school in the fall.
3. The teacher-student ratio will drop significantly when they start middle school, so we had an incentive to keep them in an environment where we knew they would get more individual attention.
4. While there were no gifted programs or pull-outs at their elementary, the school has a focus on in-class differentiation, which really did work pretty well for the most part.
5. We have supplemented with music lessons and on-line courses through NUMATS.
6. From my own observations back when I was a college student at a small, elite college, there are pitfalls associated with going off to college at a very young age - it works for some but is not a perfect solution for every kid. I'd rather my kids start college at 17-18 yo with a head start on the college curriculum.
7. We happen to be zoned for a middle school that has *some* mechanisms for accommodation. For example, this coming year in 6th grade, our kids have been placed in Honors Algebra I for math, in a section with only 6th and 7th graders (no 8th graders).
Our kids are thriving, and I think they would have also done fine with a skip or two. Whether or not to skip can be a hard call. For our kids, I have no regrets about not skipping, at least for now.
I totally agree. I prefer advanced curriculum in their grades. I felt that education is the marathon event and sprinting all the way may not be a good idea. But all depends on the kids and their environment, I suppose. If the kids are happy in their environment and we can still give them challenges/stimulation with advance curriculum, why shouldn't we keep them where they are happy. But if the kids are frustrated/bored (especially leading to behavioral probelems, emotional distress) definitely need a change.
I guess different strokes for different folks. (But I do reserve to change my sentiment if I see my DDs get frrustrated with the class/school.)
