I don't expect dd to be an olympic swimmer, I hope she would continue through high school and swim in college (D1 or D2). She just aged up on her swim team so when she was the oldest in her age group she was consistently in the top 5 and winning occasionally. Now that she's the youngest in her age group she's in the middle of the pack so it shows to me age does matter. This is a year round swim team and goes by age. It's not just about swimming, what if she decides to do another sport?
I have a dd who will enter 6th grade in the fall who is a talented all-around athlete but currently heavily invested in competing in one sport, at which she excels. Although her sport doesn't move up children specifically by age (instead by competition level), she is a kid who enjoys competing at a high level rather than acing everything at an easier level. I wouldn't for *one minute* use sports as a reason to not grade-skip a student who was academically needing it.
Although you're seeing a difference with moving up a level in swimming now, I wonder how large that difference really would be once your dd is in high school, or if it would even be relevant at all. What I've seen with my dd and other kids I know who compete in individual sports, the true standouts come as a combination of innate talent combined with years of practice. The high school teams don't necessarily draw kids who have been competing since grade school or the most talented kids in the sport. I don't know how swimming works where you are, but in my dd's sport some of the most talented kids don't even compete on their high school teams because it takes time away from the competitive league that leads (ultimately for the top kids) to the Olympics. The stand-out athletes still get college scholarships even though they aren't on their high school teams. I also suspect (from the collegiate sports tournaments I've seen) that the kids who get the scholarships for individual sports are truly the kids who have that combination of innate talent plus history of time invested in the sport to achieve to a certain level. Will skipping ahead one year in swimming make a difference? I don't know because I don't know anything about swimming, but... fwiw... in my dd's sport... the only time that type of a skip might make an obvious difference is in the early levels of competition, kinda like a certain number of kids can learn to read "early" if they are exposed to reading lessons, and they might look "gifted" because not every child has learned to read yet, when really they are just early achievers due to exposure. By the time kids get up into middle-elementary school those "gifted" readers aren't looking like stand-outs anymore, but the truly highly gifted kids have learned how to read and are taking off. Same thing seems to happen with individual sports (or at least it does in my little corner of the world lol). By high school, success is much more about ability and time devoted to the sport than it is about actual age.
OTOH, for my dd - I'd much rather put my focus on working toward academic scholarships so that she's prepped to go to the schools that offer an advangage in whatever field of study she ultimately chooses. I went to a great STEM program. Our university had several competitive sports. They weren't Olympic-league teams, because the top swimmers, for instance, who had a shot at the huge scholarships, went to university at a place that had a nationally competitive team and college was all about swimming and they got some type of degree as a sideline, but the degree programs at those schools weren't necessarily anywhere near as highly respected as getting a degree at a school with an academic reputation. In return, most of the competitive athletes at our school got really nice scholarships - without having to be at the very very pinnacle of their sport.
The other thing about making a plan now for a sports scholarship later - what if your child has a career-ending injury between now and the end of high school? I sure hope she doesn't, but it can happen. What if she gets tired of competitive sports in general? Decides she wants to spend her free time volunteering?
So no, I wouldn't worry about the sports and instead focus on the academics.
Last year was the only year dd was happy and that was her first year in the self contained GT class and was a mix of 2nd/3rd graders so she was with older kids.
It also probably made a difference that she was actually in a GT class - no matter which grade it was. That's been our kids' experience even if they were in the same grade level - just being with kids who "get it" quicker than the average in the typical class made a *huge* difference in their educational experience. Soooooo. that's one thing I'd look at re the STEM school - the differentiation sounds great. What about the student body? Is it primarily motivated or GT kids, or is it an assortment of different types of needs/backgrounds?
She's tall for her age and was the 2nd tallest out of the whole class and some parents thought she was a 3rd grader. So she would fit right in with a grade older I think.
I wouldn't worry about the height. Honestly, I think we think about height too much when thinking will our kids fit in. Personality plays a larger role, imo.
That said her strength is math, her writing is on grade level or a little above but not anything spectacular (PRI 151, VCI 124) so she's not an all around strong student working years above grade level in all areas (just math).
That's still a strong VCI, so even if LA isn't her strong point, I wouldn't use that as a reason not to skip, especially if it's not a gifted-all-around program but is a school that differentiates.
Good luck with your decision!
polarbear
