Some parental advice from all the lovely parentals? Non parentals also welcome :D

[Jenny A]

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Ok so my daughter is 7. She is in the first grade. Her birthday is in the end of August so she missed the cut off for starting kindergarten at 5. She is currently reading at a fourth grade level (sorry to non-muricans, you may have to do some kind of conversion). She does math at a third grade level. She is just generally ahead for her age. Yesterday I had a discussion with her teacher, an academic advisor, and the assistant principal at her school. She has apparently tested in to the gifted program that is at the same school but in a separate part from other students. (I didn't even know they were going to test her). The test, they tell me, even has a written exam that she did very well on. They want me to sign for her to be in the gifted program next school year.

My issue is that the program is only for 3rd grade and up. So if she goes into this program next year, she will have to skip the second grade. I know this is a really great opportunity for her to be able to use her mind in a more stimulating way, right now she frequently complains that school is so boring and she doesn't get to learn new stuff. I also know that she's 7. She's just a baby. I can't decide if it's a good idea to skip her ahead a grade instead of letting her have this time while she's very young to be...very young. I want her to be able to play and be silly with kids her own age and not go to school everyday feeling weighed down by the pressures of measuring up to kids that are older than her. I can't decide what to do.

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I'm glad you said she was seven, because that makes a difference.  She really wouldn't be much younger than her peers in the third grade.  If it were me, I'd move her up now.  It's easier now than later.  I know of at least four high school age girls who were moved up a year (in one case three years) while they were in early elementary school.  It worked well in all four cases.  I also know of one very socially awkward boy for whom it didn't work out so well.

We should have moved our youngest up a couple grades.  The result of not doing it is that in high school all her freshman and sophomore classes were mostly full of upperclassmen.  Now in her junior year it's as if she changed high schools in terms of finding friends and several of her classes have become independent study because she's topped out the department.  Senior year's going to be interesting.