Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Repeating Kindergarten or Skipping to 1st Grade?

Wolfson -
Are you planning to move to public school if you send your son for 1st grade in the fall? (I can't call the move to 1st a 'skip' because he's just following along naturally what he did last year in K, I guess I'd call keeping him in K an 'age-based retention' and sending him to 1st 'normal for him.'

Either way, I think that the drawbacks of being younger are usually far less than the drawbacks of being in a classroom that is a poor fit. It's true that it's easier to be flexible in kindy than other grades, but those inflexible grades will follow, and why not stay with one's friends when possible.

I think your mind will be set at ease if you do some reading -
IRPA - A Nation Deceived
www.nationdeceived.org/
Peace,
Grinity

I would definitely think 1st would be appropriate, especially given that he has completed Montessori K that tended more toward a 1st grade curriculum.

The one thing you might want to look at would be what the general makeup of students in your DS's new school is. For instance, do you live in a highly educated community where there would tend to be more bright to gifted students who might be at a similar level (although, with those scores, your DS isn't likely to have more than one or two intellectual peers), or do you live in a community where there is a lot wider range of kids' abilities and therefore are a lot of kids who are not at level? In classes where there is such a large range of abilities, teachers often have a hard time meeting the needs of the highest students because they have to focus so much on bringing the lower kids up. However, if there tend to be a lot of bright students, it might be easier for the teacher to differentiate in small groups.

FWIW, my DS is young for grade (Thanksgiving birthday with Sept 1 cutoff) and he had absolutely no problems at all (except that it was still too easy academically).

I would not make a HG kid repeat a grade he'd already taken. No way!

Even in 6th grade, I had a kid of average ability who was a year younger because--well, it's complicated, but he came from another country. He wasn't the most mature member of his class, or in the top tier academically, but he had peers both below and near his maturity level, and he did fine.

My son was in a full day K and is going into 1st. A friend of mind asked him the other day if he was excited to go back to school. He said no, I started K and there was so much to learn for everyone, but I only learned a little... My guess is your son will probably feel the same way doing K again.

Thanks for this story - it makes me smile to read how diplomatically you've put this. It's nice to know that there is such a spread of acceptable maturity levels.
Love and More Love,
Grinity

At 5.5 (also with Dec birthday and Sept cut-off) my son did both K and 1st in one year. He was 100% ready for 1st grade but was not allowed a skip of K due to district age policies with a no early entrance policy. There was a strict MUST be 5 by September to attend K and MUST be 6 by September to attend 1st grade. NO exceptions allowed.

He attended half day K in the morning at public school and then he attended 1st grade for the rest of the afternoon at the same school. K was his recorded grade. The following year he skipped directly to 2nd grade at 6.5 years old. Worked perfectly for us.

At 8.5 my DYS is now going into 4th grade at public school and taking Middle School Math and Computer Literacy courses through our states Virtual Learning Program as a part time student.

Repeating a grade I don't think would be a good option for a HG+ child unless the program and curriculum would be very different.

Our district is similar.

How did you get them to allow your son to also go to 1st?

Mr W ( 3.5y) is in an academic PreK at an accredited private school with kids who are 4 & 5. The school said PreK or K, our choice, after meeting him.

He loves being in with older kids and has a good time. He is big for his age, but is still the second smallest in class. Academically, he is way ahead of them, but because they are covering a lot of things he does not get at home, ie vocab, and he is an extrovert, it balances out.

We chose PreK over K because as a 4.5Y its clear no school would let him into 1st or 2d at that age.

We hope that when he reaches 5, he will be reading/doing math at a middle school level and he can "charm" his way into the class he wants at another school that we want for him to graduate from.