Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments later acceleration

I was thinking of pushing for a grade skip of 4th, when we move in a 1.5 years.

And I was looking at top gifted school 7-12, but it costs 20+K per year.

Then I was thinking, since DD is younger with a late birthday and is small, why not continue with her path with grade level, with the online math acceleration, she could be 4 grade levels ahead in math by then. She has to add another language, which would make for 3 other languages by then.

And then when she gets to the paying high school, she could probably skip and I could save myself some money and the skip would be at a time she would find peers her age skipping also.

Since Hunter only skips grade when you get to 7th, I figure others might have experience with this. I remember a story some father wrote about his child and the son didn't seem so far ahead until well into elementary school and then he was just accelerating a quick clip.

Appreciate some stories on experience with later skips.

Ren

Hi Wren,

The privates around here accelerate by subject rather than skip. Ie, start algebra in 5th and finish calc in 9th then do independent study. Or kids will work through certain subjects during the summer. The faculty have MS and PHD in the actual subject and access to resources at the local university to help supplement. Same with languages or sciences.

The few skips I know about were done very early. Ie, started 1st a year early or 5th following 3rd. In general, the workload gets very heavy by the 8th grade (along with clubs) and there is enough rigor in the class to differentiate to very brightest from the rest. So they want the kids to be settled in before getting loaded up.

In addition, there are clubs, ie math clubs and robotics and contests (Ie AMC and math contests) they enter for this. And many kids go overseas for summer classes to immerse themselves in a language and culture, ie 10-week professor led history trips in Japan, etc.

So, what this looks like, is a kid gets a skip from 6th to 7th, who started algebra in the 6th. Finishes calc in 10th. Takes vector calc, abstract algebra, and diff-eq independent study, along with college physics and chemistry, grads at 17. Spends summer at 15 and 16 in a foreign country. Has full fluency in that language. College credit granted. Finishes college at 19 at local U with an EE degree.

Thanks Austin.

I am looking at privates, at 35K (now price), that have those options.

You mention the maths, but what about core subjects like geography, history, english lit?

There isn't any issue for her to be way advanced in math but I would like her to have an appreciation for all kinds of literature and know world and political history. It is easy to take applied calculus in a 3 week cram course but you can do the reading in 3 weeks for non-science course, I think. Never tried so I don't know.

I think about that.

Ren

I have a fourth grader that I regret not skipping... 1st and 2nd grade were really a waste of her time. She was reading well by the end of K, and 1-2 were very heavy on reading skills. Her teachers did a good job keeping her occupied and happy, but she learned very few new skills.

Now that she's in fourth, the skip wouldn't be so easy, since it would involve moving buildings, and to another developmental level (middle school), which scares the daylights out of me.

Like you, I'm hoping that as she moves through middle school and into high school, she can subject accelerate at her pace. I think she certainly should be able to graduate early, since she's already a year ahead in math.

I guess we take it year-by-year and hope for the best.

Oh, and I also have a late birthday, little bitty girl

This isn't as late as you're considering, but my dd13 skipped the last year of elementary (5th) to start middle school a year early. She, too, has a late bd so she was still 9 when she started 6th (although she turned 10 in the early fall). My younger dd is very, very small (like maybe 5th percentile), but my one who skipped is more typical in height.

There was a big step up in terms of the quantity of work going into middle school but I also think that some of that was due to her having gotten into poor study habits due to too much time spend tutoring other students and writing papers the morning they were due and still getting A+s.

The jump in work quantity wasn't too much, though, and she still got straight As throughout middle school and was still in the GT/accelerated classes. I generally think that kids for whom a skip is obvious are so far ahead that they are still top students post-skip. My dd isn't a fast worker either.

It seemed to me that math was the one area where there were the some gaps from skipping that year of math. Again, she still had As in math classes throughout middle school, but she skipped 5th grade math not Algebra. If the skip had occured later and she had tried to skip a higher level math course, I expect that she would have had more catch up there. Math is also my dd's weakest subject.

If your dd is that far ahead in math, I suspect that it wouldn't be a big issue for her unless she isn't a strong writer. Good writing skills are very beneficial to have in place in middle and high school and I think that teachers expect to teach less of how to write a research paper, narrative essay, etc. at that point. If she feels strong in reading, writing, and math, I wouldn't be overly concerned about skipping.

FWIW, introducing my dd to middle schoolers at an early age didn't create a social problem. She wasn't influenced by the kids who were doing things I don't want her involved with. She mostly hung out with other high achieving kids who toed the line.

The upper level courses usually combine stuff. I.e, AP Humanities combines lit, geo, and history together rather than split them out. Or, they offer electives that cover other areas, ie Chinese History, etc, that add stuff in.

Some schools are now pushing to reduce class loads, ie making students take just five classes rather than six so that some stuff can be added in to the core classes.

And don't forget the AMC 8, 10, and 12 tests. Some schools still don't know what these are.

My dd13's high school has gone the opposite way. She has eight classes/semester not counting her "foundations" class that meets once/week and is essentially a life skills class. They accomplish this by having each class meet every other day. Even classes like history, math, english, and science meet every other day not daily.

Thanks Cricket for the social angle. That part worries me as I was in an accelerated small group when puberty and dating started, so we were all in the same place.

I'm in my 30's, but I skipped several times and I can give my story.

In 3rd grade, I went to half day 4th grade and never felt like I fit in socially. I got straight A's in 4th grade subjects but only ever played with my 3rd grade friends.

In 7th grade, I went to 9th grade for science and math at a local high school down the street. I felt very intimidated being in a high school and it affected my grades. I passed with B's and C's but had a very difficult time adjust socially.

I went to 9th grade, but skipped 10th grade. Junior year was the first time I felt comfortable with my classmates. Did well academically, but then felt that my classmates were too immature. This was probably the best social fit for me of all the accelerations.

From my experience, academically I did fine with all accelerations but the social aspect was difficult for me.

Hope this helps!