geofizz - OT to the original post, but re your question about boys, middle school, and social media etc. Our experience has been that some of the girls at our ds' middle school are all into this - they have cell phones, they text, they're on FB etc. Cell phones aren't allowed to be on during the school day and are confiscated if the kids are found using them, so there's a flurry of texting etc right before school starts and after the last class gets out. The girls that are in families that don't allow cell phones and electronics don't seem to really care about any of that, or be concerned about not having it.
The boys - some have the electronics, some don't. Our ds has had an email account for some time so that he can email homework and also as a totally worthless attempt on our part to encourage him to practice typing and writing. None of ds or his male friends have the slightest interest in texting/FB/etc, much less sending an email. DS just asked me a few weeks ago what on earth it is that girls find to text about lol!
So - that's our limited experience so far with a ds in middle school. To be honest, overall, I find the social issues that I would be concerned about with respect to accelerating one of my dds in school ahead of same-age peers not to be as concerning with my ds. Part of it is personality, part of it is being male. And I can't believe I said that! But fwiw, the things that middle school kids talk about, are interested in etc... the girls in general just seem to be more obsessed with boys, vampires, social media, friends/cliques, etc.
polarbear
