Hi
Have you talked to your DS about it? We made a decision not to do a full skip of 8th grade, but instead do MS/HS combo for DS. Our primary reason was he didn't want to do a full skip. He spent the morning at the HS and afternoon at the middle school.
He really didn't want to miss his 8th grade year or his friends. Ultimately, DS now spends most of his time with the older kids he met in the HS classes, but it made for a nice transition socially for him. He didn't have an problems with the older kids. They mostly thought it was pretty cool he was in their classes. I think at 13 a big part of what will work does depend on the child's interest in the option.
It was important for my DS to be involved in the decision. The down falls were the occasion schedule change for a event or field trip at one of the schools. There were very few issues for him at all. It did take some of the excitement his friends were feeling for the beginning of HS away for him. He had experience it before them. He also was less stressed by the workload because he was used to the expectations that his friends experienced coming into HS. Overall, it good choice for my DS and he had the decision for himself. We did talk a lot with him about pros and cons before he decided.
I would have never considered grade skipping was in the cards either. My DS was not learning how learning. He was disengaging in boredom. My only regret was that we didn't do a full skip early for him.
I would really make sure they intended to place him in honors classes. Originally, our school talked about accelerating into non-honors classes. Which honestly would have left DS just as bored. I would have never done a partial or full skip for non honors placement. It is a considerable jump in workload for most kids between 7th grade and all honors classes in a High school.
In thinking of a full skip, I would think a lot about how much time your DS can handle spending on homework nightly. It depends on the kid, my DS still doesn't spend that much time working. Some of his peers are spending crazy amounts of time working. The school said the average time regarded for nightly work was generally around 2 to 3 hours a night for my DS's schedule. My DS doesn't spend anywhere near that amount of time working, but many of his classmates do. My DS is ADHD and working until late night is not productive work time for him.
Good luck with the decision. I know it can be a bit overwhelming to have it sprung on you.
Jtooit
