I'm so glad for you! What a relief it must be to have it official!
We've done a skip for DD8 into 4th and for DS6 into 1st. Really, IME, if there is any "talking" among parents it's generally not from the kids or the parents in the receiving class but from the kids and the parents in their age-appropriate class. It is something to be aware of and to have an answer for. And, generally, it's the parents and not the kids who care. I've found that some parents from the receiving grade know my kids are younger because they hear it from their kids but they also hear from their kids that DS and DD are some of the top students, so they don't question it. On the other hand, the parents from the grade they left behind don't know at what level my kids are academically and don't know all the data that went in to making the decisions to accelerate. From these parents I get some comments about how advanced their kids are, too, or how their kid could skip a grade but they think it's wrong (in general) socially.
I should make it clear though, IME, any comments we get are totally worth it because we're confident that the accelerations needed to be done. And I should also say that no one, parent or child, has yet to make a negative comment about my kids being young for age to my children or in front of my children. Some kids don't even know there's an age difference. Obviously, it's easier to slip it past the 1st graders than the 4th graders.
I should also say that my kids have totally bloomed in the older social group and have been fully brought into the fold of the other kids. My kids were lucky to have gotten along socially with same-age kids, but now it's like they can actually be themselves and still fit in. It's been exactly what was needed. They have great friends who really couldn't care less how old they are.
BTW: We did what you are thinking by not saying anything until class lists came out in the fall, and then only when we were asked. I tend to try to lay low in general since I'm a fairly private person.
Also, about the school not wanting a lot of requests, we were in the same situation with DD being the first to be accelerated. This year a few other kids had accelerations of their own since DD's was so successful. I've had several parents ask me how we did it and I'm always careful to stress what a long, thorough process it is. I've found that the parents who loudly brag about how advanced their kids are have kids who are bright, but the parents who quietly ask me about our experiences have kids who are more gifted and more likely to actually need acceleration.
Congratulations on all your hard work paying off!
Last edited by mnmom23; 05/24/10 05:15 PM.
