It would help to clarify the skip. Is the plan to skip him immediately (+2), or to finish this year in 4th and promote to 6th for next year (+1)?
My DD9 did a +1 skip by unenrolling from public school in 2nd grade, immediately beginning homeschooling as a 3rd grader, and re-entering public school as a 4th grader the following year. It has been a big success.
The best way to identify how your child measures in maturity versus age norms is to observe them interacting with age peers, and with older children. Getting your child's feedback is also a big help.
Some areas we found worth considering for measuring maturity:
- Thoughts - Does your child get frustrated that they often have to explain themselves to age peers?
- Behavior - Does your child exhibit superior impulse control, and become outraged at the impulse control of normal age peers?
- Physical - How does your child stack up in size/mass compared to age peers? Can your child contribute in a team sport with older children, or would your child be the last pick?
All good thoughts from Dude...but sometimes maturity can be measured the opposite way:
We early-entered, and later grade-skipped (+1, so net +2), one who has:
1. always gotten along exceptionally well with people of all ages, older and younger.
2. is active and impulsive, even compared to age peers.
3. and was, at the time, well below the average height among age peers, let alone +1 or +2 year classmates.
Our decision-making process with regard to these areas was:
1. this is a strength, when moving into a new group with classmates +1 to (ultimately) +4 years older.
2&3. grade-skipping is not going to make the activity and impulsivity level go up, nor will the difference in size be that much worse when one is already tiny. Actually, we made the argument to the school, on the early-entry, that behavior would probably be worse if not early-entered, because boredom would become even more of a factor.
Both skips were eminently successful, from what we can tell. It helps that team sports were not a particular interest. We have another one who is a year young for grade, but plays competitive sports with age-mates.
I would absolutely agree that getting the child's feedback is vital. Even if (as in our house) the final decision will still be made by parents, you need to know what expectations and apprehensions the child has about a potential skip, and give due consideration to their concerns.
