My eldest skipped two grades. My youngest skipped one and was given a quasi-skip this year. All her work is a year up but she's still in the lower grade. Her school is wonderful that way. They also know that she's uncomfortable with the age gap.
My eldest is spending an extra year in a dual-enrollment program because of not being ready for college at 16. Both see advantages (academics) and disadvantages to the skips. There were some hard social times for my eldest. Bottom line: being so young makes you a bit of oddity among your classmates. My youngest dreaded the first day of school one year because everyone had to tell their birthdays. She remembered how people reacted the year before. The school is nice, though, and they stopped doing that when they became aware of the problem.
This advice may not be popular here, but I recommend against multiple grade skips apart from exceptions below. When kids are little, skips tend to be fine because little kids don't really notice. But when the class gets to 8th grade or so, a double-skipped student is a little kid with peers who are adolescents. This really
is a big deal, regardless of how it's downplayed among the gifted advocacy groups. I've met too many people who were multiple grade skipped and talked about high school misery to believe that multiple skips are a good idea for many/most kids.
IMO, the dynamic on this forum and in other gifted groups focuses too much on the benefits of skips (academic) and too little on the very real social challenges that accompany them. I'm going to be honest and get myself into trouble and suggest that maybe this is due to parental emotional reaction to the skips. Sorry.
Yes, you can undo a skip later, but this tends to happen after the child has gone through hard times induced by the skip.
Very intelligent kids stand out regardless. Multiple skips tend to magnify the difference, not hide it --- even in socially adept kids like mine. In a perfect education system, everyone would study subjects as they became ready, not in lockstep. But the vast majority of US schools don't run on that model. If you can find one that does, that's great. If not, it's a tough decision.
Our education system is lousy in many ways, and charting a least-worst way through it is important. This may involve acceleration. However, it's critical to consider the social implications and not pretend that they won't happen, regardless of other people saying, "But I/my child skipped 11 grades and it was grand." The reality is that every child is different, age-gap problems can happen, and they must be considered for the sake of your child. The kid is the one who has to live with it.
Exceptions:
* Dual enrollment programs, because high school classes are with kids close to age. For college, everyone chooses different classes and spreads out, so the age/ability gap is less obvious. I highly recommend these programs. Students get some exposure to the demands of college early and end up with college credits at no cost.
* A school willing to make accelerations that keep a student in-grade while doing above-grade work. Works best when other kids are in the same boat.
