I was offered a two year skip that was turned down for me. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, sports were fabulous and social life was fabulous and school was easy so I had tons of time to play and dream and play sports and do high level ECs. On the other hand, school was easy. Way too easy. I got used to doing well with no effort. My current work depends a great deal on my brain and knowledge, but it also depends a lot on my ability to deal with other people. I think I'd know more and would have worked harder academically with the skip, but I think my social skills were enhanced by school experiences with a variety of age peers. I suspect I am better at interacting the diverse backgrounds I encounter than I would have been if I'd skipped and not learned to fit in socially with kids who knew a lot less than I did.
For my children, I have turned down skips for several reasons. First, one or two or three would not help but would make the good parts of school potentially more difficult. The skipped kids that I knew in school, particularly the boys, didn't date much. Second, the skips weren't offered at the right times where it made sense and would have helped. Subject acceleration worked better because of logistics and school types and grades at a school. And finally, my kids have areas of interest with competitive aspirations. They enjoy high level competition and while they can have excellent results at a state or regional competition at grade level, it's much harder a few years up. If you look at mathcounts nationals, there are very few 6th graders compared to 7th and 8th graders. While a 6 yo is going to the national spelling bee this year, most of the winners are close to the maximum age and grade. While not impossible for a 15 yo to win national science fairs and get admitted to great universities, it seems likely that the same kid would have a better chance a few years later.
There are so many ways to do this. Skips can often be undone. Kids who don't want skips at one age can change their minds later and radically accelerate. Every child is unique and sometimes a skip can be a social blessing rather than a hindrance. Some very social kids are so social that they can blend with older kids seamlessly. I'm not convinced that the research supports one way over another. I try to focus on teaching resiliency and optimism and commitment to hard work so my kids can thrive in less than ideal circumstances and shine when opportunity knocks.
