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

[Losty]

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.

[ignoramus]

You're a very lucky mum having such a smart girl!
In a couple of years, she'll be smarter than you! hehe

[Losty]

You're a very lucky mum having such a smart girl!
In a couple of years, she'll be smarter than you! hehe

Thank you, I agree.
She is an over all awesome kid. My son is struggling with kindergarten and he also thinks school is boring but it's because he'd rather be playing outside. It takes some mental effort to make sure I don't compare them academically. And to make sure I don't strangle my son for saying "was" for every single sight word even though none of his words are was. Haha

[c172]

I never skipped a whole grade, but did skip into a higher grade of math at one point. Not sure what precipitated that, because school was overall a struggle for me. But I don't think there was any pressure during that point. Some parents are lucky/skilled enough to have prodigies, or at least above average kids. I'd be one to nurture it, at least as long as I saw everything was going OK. Burnout's no good. But neither is overpacing.

[ignoramus]

Losty, time for a pic of your "Babies" please...

[robvalue]

Have you talked to her about the possibility? How does she feel about it?

[Losty]

Have you talked to her about the possibility? How does she feel about it?

She wants to be able to go to classes where she can learn new things, but she doesn't want to leave her friends behind.

[Losty]

Losty, time for a pic of your "Babies" please...

I've been thinking it over a lot. I've posted pictures of them in the past on the members photos thread. With certain circumstances going on in my personal life and past incidents online, I'm just not sure if I want to post pictures of them.

[robvalue]

Hmm, that's difficult. Is there any possible kind of compromise? Where she does the more academic subjects with the grade up, but then the more mundane ones and stuff like PE with her own grade? Or other ways to keep in contact with her friends regularly? If not, then it's a very hard choice. I'd lean towards putting her up a grade, but if that's going to make her unhappy then it might not be worth it.

Like c172, I was put up a grade in maths but not other subjects, which worked out as well as could be expected for me.

[TheRealJoeFish]

I can't comment from a parental standpoint, but I can comment from a kid's standpoint, although I'm afraid my answer might just muddy the waters.

When I was in Kindergarten, the school contacted my parents and basically told them "he needs to move up, now." I was explaining how rocket propulsion and insect metamorphosis worked to my teacher, I was skimming through biology textbooks at home, and excelling at mathematics. Three weeks into the year, they slid me up to first grade, put me in the enrichment program, which was one whole day a week, and the next year they added another day a week in the enrichment program of the grade above me. The next part I didn't find out until I was in college: when I got to fourth grade, the school strongly recommended to my parents that I be moved up another grade, and after much discussion they said no. Eventually, I ended up in a lot of classes where I was a high school freshman, there were 3 juniors, and 16 seniors. Had I been moved up again, I would have graduated high school at 16.

Looking back... I don't know what I wish my parents would have done. I just don't know. I was always really bored with school for not being advanced enough and really awkward with my peers for not being emotionally mature (a problem certainly not unique to younger students, but probably exacerbated by my comparative youth). I'm really well adjusted these days, but I don't think that happened until 19 or 20. Had I not been moved up at all, I would've probably rebelled even more because I'd be so fed up with learning stuff I'd figured out years before, and had I been moved up again I would've basically had an even harder time making friends and dating and such, but I would've been more academically fulfilled. And it's impossible to look back and say which positive and negative aspects of my life had something to do with that. Robert Frost and all that. I can't make a recommendation, other than to suggest that, if you think your kid should move up a grade, do it as young as possible.