Hi!
I recommend reading up on gifted education -- I spent a summer plowing through about 10 books. Well worth the time!
It's so hard when your school doesn't differentiate... or pretends to! It is such a hard decision to make, even if it is on the table.
Our school was willing to grade skip 8th grade for our 13 yo. She balked. Socially, she is too into her friends and was not interested in the idea of graduating a year ahead of her peers. They told me that 8th grade is a great year to skip if you're going to because you don't miss much.
A skip for our son wasn't even on the table. They don't like to skip elementary kids because of worries about maturity.
One thing our school system does do for some gifted kids is allow them to split their time between two grades. Last year, our dd skipped the rest of 7th grade math and language arts and took algebra and the second half of 8th grade language arts, while keeping her in two classes with her age-mates. It was meant to bridge her over to a skip, plus it is what the small school could actually do to accommodate.
Our son.. that was another story. They said they'd differentiate, but that was not the reality.
We opted to homeschool this year because we couldn't sell our house last summer and move to a better district with more opportunities. She would also have practically been forced to skip because of what they could realistically do for her based on what they did to accommodate last year. She was devastated... and cried and cried.
How far do they want to skip? 1? 2? If it's 1, then you could ask about splitting time between his current grade and the next one up.
As an aside, our school did skip one kid that I know about and he struggles so much with maturity. His is super smart, but truly lacks maturity due to asynchronous development. Sometimes his behavior is more like a kindergartener and he's in 4th grade. It's a tough row to hoe for teachers and parents alike.
For our son, though, he picks up things quickly, especially math and science. The spiraling schools do can be torture. With Social Studies, at least, he gets new material that he hasn't seen before.
Good luck! My only other advice is to know your rights and know that when they meet with you to present a plan, you are not required to agree/disagree on the spot. Take it as it is --- an offer. You wouldn't pay full price for a used car without haggling and you should approach the meeting with the mindset that there is some negotiating on your part that you can do to advocate for your child to get your child the best deal possible.
