Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Grade skipping thoughts

Yes! This is what I'm trying to find out. Sometimes I get better information on a list like this than I can locally.

Okay- I was trying to reply on a mobile device before and wasn't explaining adequately.

Thanks for the varied input.

I see where you think I'm trying to win here. It's really not like that. She's never gotten "first prize" in her life.

Unfortunately, opportunities for bright kids are very thin around here, and I don't want to do something stupid so she doesn't have a chance to even compete later.

There are some concrete examples of where it matters. If I have her take the Explore test, that is by grade. I know of grade-skipped kids who were ineligible for opportunities that would have been available to them if they had taken the test as their age-grade and not their grade-skipped grade. To a lonely kid in rural area, that opportunity could be a life-line.

After she was grade skipped, we discovered among local homeschoolers, at least, there is a lot of "better late than early" people. So the one area where she can compete (4H), she's competing against much older kids who claim to be the same grade. (No math club, science fair, etc available around here.)

When an acquaintance lost some scholarship money, we decided the on paper grade skip was not helpful, when as homeschoolers, were able to challenge her at the appropriate level. It's easier to graduate early than undo a misguided grade skip.

Anyhow, homeschooling, for us, is the gift of time.

She would maybe need to enroll as a part-time student. I know at the High School level she would, but I'm unclear about the rules at the Junior High level. If she enters school, she has a transcript.

I am collecting information at this point.

So, that is why I asked for your experience. Would anyone like to share their experience with a similar situation?

Thanks!

The PROs and CONs of acceleration are a frequently revisited topic. These threads may be of interest:

Effects of Early Grade Acceleration

Grade skipping trade offs

Did you double grade-skip a young child

I read your comments to mean she is being taught at her level at home and that she is 2-3 years above what her age peers are taught in school. As long as she isn't being held back at home, I don't think it matters what number grade you really give her. It sounds like in 4H, club sports, and other things, you feel the appropriate challenge for her is with her age peers. A lot of kids here are advanced in some academic areas but may not be advanced (or may even be behind) in other areas, such as sports.

You probably aren't getting a lot of personal feedback because the answers often are highly location specific. Whether she can just take the extracurricular likely depends on local law in addition to the personalities of the specific teacher and principal involved. Where we live, if a homeschooler is involved in a extracurricular in one school, he or she cannot do a club sport at another. Coaches and teachers are also given wide latitude as to who they want on their teams, so long as the student meets the eligibility requirements of whatever organization runs the competitions.

I think what others are trying to warn you that if you minimize challenges in the short term in order to work toward a long term goal of scholarship funds, prestigious awards, or college admissions, there is a strong possibility that the act of minimizing those challenges may have consequences that could adversely impact those long term goals...

I think most on here would encourage you to focus on the kid you have now and ensuring that he or she is as happy and challenged as possible. (Keep in mind the phrase, "don't borrow worries/trouble" that may never come to pass.). As you are homeschooling, you can meet your child's academic needs. That is great! Whether she needs a higher grade number to compete in a music competition is something you have to answer locally. It does sound like she may have to choose between the club sport and this particular musical opportunity.

The potential awards related to a test such as the Explore are tricky if scholarship funding is essential to attend college or you see it as the only way to reach peers or other resources... For what it is worth, timing is worth considering too. For example, some gifted kids might actually score higher on the SAT as a 7th grader then they would as a 12th grader because intellectually they are more in tune with the math on the SAT (or other sections) at the earlier age, so putting it off doesn't help them. Another example, a friend of mine took the MCAT his first year as an undergraduate and did really well. He was happy to use those scores applying to medical school as a senior and said openly he may not have done as well putting it off until others traditionally take it, because he was closer to the material. (Or at least he may have had to study taking it later...)

For what it's worth, here are my two cents... She has been playing this instrument for 2 months. I would not change the academic and club sport situation that seems to be working well for what might just be a passing fancy. I would encourage her to continue with the instrument and revisit next year. If she loves the instrument enough to compete next year, then she will only be more competitive due to the practice time and you will know she is doing it because she wants to and not because it is new or she wants to please an authority figure. The coach should be just as happy to have her the next year. Also, highly competitive extracurricular activities require major time commitments from both the student and family, I am hesitant to commit to that time load without a clear passion from the student...

We did a grade skip while my daughter was in school and then undid it as we started homeschooling even though she is 2-3 years ahead in actual work. She won't go back to a regular school until high school and high school has a lot more flexibility when it comes to the classes where she can test out, AP classes, and dual enrollment. We intend for her to start dual enrollment with a local university in 10th grade.

Club sport competes by age, so that is unaffected. When she hits high school that changes.

She's extremely proud of a second place she got last year in one event, on one day, though.

I really am only concerned about her missing a cut off with say, a 7th grade SAT for xyz opportunity because she's actually a 6th grader by age.

I'm not worried about her winning ANYTHING, but we are running out of academic challenge and peer stuff locally, and I don't want opportunities, such as camps with entrance requirements to be off the table because of a paper placement.

Thanks!

I totally understand where you are coming from. DS10 is a young 5th grader who will be homeschooling next year. The school he is in now has recommended that we grade skip him and make him a homeschooled 7th grader next year. Like you, I knew that no matter his grade on paper, I could meet him with appropriate challenge. And like you, I wanted to make sure that he didn't lose valuable resources like camps, etc... because of the grade-skip. I reached out to the programs we were interested in and just asked. Since these are programs that cater to gifted kids, it was not an unusual question for them. Some have not responded yet but our most valuable resource (a program through Vanderbilt that we travel for since there is so little here) has assured us that he could participate at his grade-skipped level or he could participate at his age-grade level. Sometimes it's just worth asking.

One pitfalls I consider is that a lot of talent searches score by grade not age.

This is probably done because the enrichment activities are also grouped by grade. This favors red shirted kids but means that skipped kids will potentially competing with kids at least 2 years older. For competitive enrichment classes one needs to be sure that skipping will not hurt their performance relative to their grade peers thereby denying them access to activities that they would have more than amply qualified for if scored by age alone - that is, just left in their 'age grade'.

For a child on the cusp of that level of acheivement/LOG I probably would not skip.

Thank-you Gina and madeinuk. We haven't done the talent searches yet, and she is just getting old enough for some of the camps and programs that might meet her needs. We will not move forward with anything at this point that could potentially jeopardize putting those in place, because I really don't know how close to the cusp she is.