Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Grade Skipping --I'm Nervous

Last week we had another WISC done on our DS7. The first was done a few weeks before he turned six. The WJ III was also done.

Looking at his abilities now that I've had them "officially" confirmed for a second time, I see things more clearly. I had great difficulty comprehending Ruf's suggestion that a PG kid could cover elementary school in one year. Yet, as I look at ds and then look at what's expected at the end of fifth and sixth grades, I think it's possible that I have one of these children on my hands. He just seems to know it all without much effort. The exception is math. I've never pushed him beyond grade level, and I really don't see him as gifted in that area, yet he really doesn't have too much trouble with anything in math.

I would like to know of any potential problems with, or benefits to, skipping two or three grades at once in a homeschool situation. I'm thinking more along the lines of tests (EXPLORE, for instance). How about sports? They usually base that on age, right? I have no problem with saying he's in 2nd grade, but teaching on a fourth or fifth grade level. I just don't want to start down this grade-skipping road and find out that we have somehow messed things up.

I guess that'll do it for now. Thanks so much.

In a homeschool setting I would keep him officially at agegrade but give him material in his readiness level.

Academic Competitions, which can be very useful and inspiring, usually go by grade, so skipping isn't an advantage there.

Talent Searches, such as CTY, qualify by grade, so skips can work against the child - and they don't assign the classes by grade, but by age, so that seems double unfair to me. Sigh.

Skips are great if they let your child attend a public school and keep in their readiness level, but they do have drawbacks.

Totally agree and this is what we do with both our kids. None of the material my "4th grade" son uses is 4th grade, and very little of what my young 1st grader uses is 1st grade (she's still working on spelling and writing).

I agree with this too. The benefit of homeschooling is you can go deep and wide, explore obscure topics, spend more time on extra curricular activities, etc. Unless my kids start asking to go to college early or back to school, we'll keep doing what we're doing. My son did the EXPLORE as a 4th grader this year. The work load he does is 4th grade, 5th at best. The materials he uses are 3-7 grade levels ahead.

Why not bump him now?
Is the recommended someone who is knowledgable about the curiculum?
What curiculum do you use now? Do they have 'end of year tests?'

It seems like you've had a difficult time figuring this kid out - it might be worth it to pay a curriculum specialist to work with you kid a bit and figure out where he needs to be, and then help you plan what to work with. If you are in YSP, you can ask you Family Consultant to see if they will provide this service to you 'no charge.'

I've also heard that the MAP is availible to homeschoolers though a Florida group, and that MAP is specifically designed to help teachers answer the question 'what should I teach next?'

Best Wishes,
Grinity

First, thanks to everyone who responded. I feel better now. He turned 7 in December, so he's officially in first grade. (In our state the cut-off is in Sept.) When we had to choose a grade, we decided to place him where he would be placed, age-wise, in public school.


We intended to move him to 2nd in January just because he's nowhere near the 1st grade in the various curricula that was use. Math is the exception and he's using a 2nd grade curriculum now. So, it makes sense to use to go ahead and at least move him to 2nd grade now.

Would those of you who said that you keep your children in their age-grade go ahead and bump him to 2nd? Or, would you still keep him in 1st for purposes of things like EXPLORE? If we advance him, he would be a very young 2nd grader.


Hmmm... No, not knowledgeable about our curriculum in the sense that he knows what it's all about, but he is very knowledgeable about pg children.


We do follow an online living books curriculum as a skeleton, but in the year that we've been schooling, I've had to adapt constantly. Just to give a bit of an overview, I'll mention a few things.

For first grade science, we are using a curriculum that's recommended for 5th/6th graders. We covered zoology in a few months, he loved it, and it was no trouble at all for him to move through it. He retained almost every detail from this text. We are now working on botany because he is very into seeds and growing things. It's been a little of a challenge for him, but only in that he's actually learning new words and a few new ideas. Still, he's not really having to work hard.

For science, we do more than just the books. We use Supercharged Science, field trips, nature study, and Aha! Science (he's blown through the elementary work without any trouble at all). We read living books about various disciplines of science and biographies about scientists. This is without pushing at all and going at an easy pace. (We school year-round, taking off for trips and holidays, or just when we feel like it.)

His lowest scores in achievement testing were in math. We have been using MEP for math, supplemented with Primary Grade Challenge Math and some living math books. While I don't believe that he's a "mathy" child, I do agree that I've held him back here too. He's capable of more. I've just stuck with the curriculum and not urged him to move forward.

We do more than those things, but I guess my point is that little slows him down much at all. That's what makes it difficult. Where do you draw the line and decide that something is challenging enough? What is "good enough" for these kids? I'm so guilty already of not challenging him and saying "good enough," yet I see that he's already developing issues from me doing that.


We thought about applying last year when he was originally tested, but we didn't have the achievement testing and I was unsure about sending in a portfolio. As we started school with him and he took off, we realized that we could benefit from DYS, but we had trouble finding an appropriate reference. (He hides his abilities with most people, and since he's not in PS, we had trouble finding someone we could use for a reference.)

I'm sorry I've been so wordy here. I will figure it all out, but it's nice to have those who have btdt to offer advice and encouragement. Thanks so much to you all.

Can ask for letter of Rec from your psychologist? Music teacher? Martial Arts?Any tutor? Even someone you've just met for one day, like a private school that you interview at...or a school teacher you call up to come over and play once.
Good luck!

Do you need to change his grade designation to do more difficult work? Singapore math is easy to compact, and can provide extra challenge with the problem solving. My 4th grade son started homeschooling in 2nd grade - did 3 years of math that year, and 2 the following (while taking side trips). Now we're doing 1st level Singapore new elementary (algebra, geometry) which is a also challenging curriculum. I choose to do more open ended science, language arts, and history. No graded level curriculum has worked well for us, even at a high grade level. Never is deep enough.

I think it is about balance. I require my kids to do age appropriate amount of work for 1st and 4th grade. For my 1st grader, that comes to about an hour a day. For my older, maybe 2-3 hours. They read and do projects on their own too. My son likes to play with robotics, computer programming, and just research random topics.

I personally think as long as they're learning to learn in SOME area daily, things will be fine and they're likely much better off than in a poor fitting school setting. Is your son happy and comfortable being challenged? I think having time to think and explore areas of interest can be great for these kids if you're looking for ways not to race through grade levels.

Music lessons have been great for my kids. They need to be accountable to their teacher and the challenge level is constantly going up. We use homeschooling as an opportunity to get more involved in extra curricular activities too.

Good luck making your decisions!

Is that okay? The part of the app. with the letter of recommendation asks how often the person is around the child. If that doesn't matter, then I can definitely pull that off. Do you know for sure? I've considered just submitting and letting them decide if it was acceptable. Hmmm.... thinking...