Really? I recently found myself thinking something similar, but the more I thought about it, the less clear I found it.
We all just want challenge and decent pace, but for some kids, that may come at a grade level that involves a radical skip and has many future repercussions that might be worth considering. If you get decent pace and material but it's with 10th graders, would that be ok with you? I was asked recently by a principal what I would choose for my kid and that's a tough question to answer. Ideally, I'd like all the social opportunities with peers and a great sense of belonging and fitting in, educational opportunities at readiness level, and understanding that he wants lots of recess and snack time and might lose his coat repeatedly. The more I thought about it, the more it did seem like the moon and the stars.
I guess I consider the social/emotional issues to be worthwhile thinking about. A one year skip doesn't help the academics much, but doesn't lead to much trouble socially. A six-year skip might come close academically for some kids, but gets a bit difficult socially. So then what? Does skipping twice help enough? One skip now and another later? These are the things that keep me up at night . . . .
I don't think any IQ or AT scores mean a kid can or cannot manage in a regular school because reactions to school seem as much dependent on kid/personality/and school options than on IQ in my experience. But if you have a kid way, way out there (and it sounds like you do!
), how would you like the school to handle it? Would you put your 8 yo in high school? In college? Does your kid care about band/sports/chess/spelling/science fair at grade level? Are you giving up experiences that may matter later in terms of social growth or extracurricular activities that are relevant and important to the kid, but cannot be done from several grades accelerated?
PS: Couldn't agree more that scores made the difference in successful advocating. I was too willing to second guess myself (see above
) to really be clear about what was needed and what I wanted. Scores helped me be more effective for a while, but then even the great solutions don't last long . . . . . and pace continues to be an issue and it's still just
hard 
.
