A long time ago, I came here because I was trying to find a way to NOT have my daughter skip a grade... it had been recommended by everyone around her, and I even moved to a school known for gifted programming in the hopes that they would differentiate enough in the classroom so she wouldn't need to be skipped.

Eventually, the superintendent talked me into letting her skip-- she was too many grade levels ahead for differentiation-- and she skipped from 1st into 2nd grade last year. The result was iffy. Academically, it was right. But by the end of the year, she was begging me to be homeschooled. The kids were rough. A couple of really bad bullies, and just not a great social environment. She cried every day leading up to the start of 3rd grade.

The nice update is this: This year has been AWESOME. The bullies are not in her class; she's very well-liked and has plenty of friends. She's still at the top of her class and they're doing differentiation with her, but there's at least one other kid now who's close in ability to her. She's excited about going to school... huge relief! Next year starts the self-contained gifted class and I'm excited and nervous to see how that works out.

Anyway, just wanted to add an update. Going along with the skip was a very hard decision for me because I didn't want her life to be rushed ahead, but I can see now that not doing the skip would have been really inappropriate.

Now a question: what's Mensa like for kids? Do people feel like it's worth joining?

So glad your daughter is enjoying a good year!

Because Mensa activities are totally run by volunteers, offerings can differ a lot from area to area and also within an area over time, depending upon the number of local families who are active.

To see what's available you may wish to look at Regional Gatherings (RGs). There is also an Annual Gathering (AG) and an annual MindGames event.

There are other ways for youth to participate.

American Mensa has a Youth and Education Ambassador who can field specific questions.

I expect that the answer to that last question changes based on location. Local Mensa groups are made up of whoever in the local area decided to join, and their activities are whatever it is those members have decided to put their energy into doing.

I made friends with some members, who recruited me to join, and I found myself invited as a guest to an Annual Gathering (it just happened to be nearby), a Regional Gathering, and a local event in the process. I was in my mid-20s at the time, and nearly everyone at all of the events was at least twice my age, so it wasn't the kind of success in finding peers as I would have liked. There was nary a child to be seen.

One benefit: at presentations in the gatherings, the quality of questions from the audience was OUTSTANDING.

My DW-to-be attended the local event with me, and she found the experience extremely off-putting, with too many people in the room trying too hard to demonstrate how smart they were. I got the same vibe, at times. So we don't even think about it as an option for our DD... even though we're no longer in that same area.

Thanks, Dude. That's what I suspected it might be like for adults. I'll look into my regional group and ask around about kids. I just remember what a relief it was for me as a kid when I did finally join a gifted class... I felt like I could have real conversations with kids who understood me, and that was very cool.

Wonderful update, mommajay! I've heard people rave about Mensa groups for kids but, like Dude said, it's entirely based on location. There aren't any in New England, where we are, so we rely heavily on DYS and PGRetreat and other online communities such as this one.