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

[Losty]

I joined at 5 and was the eldest, everyone else was 4.

I was also the shortest and smallest kid despite being the eldest... I got bullied a lot.

I'm average height now.

Lelibug is currently the oldest kid in her class and she's also the smallest. She doesn't get bullied thankfully. She's small but she has a big personality.

[Edwardo Piet]

Yeah my school was quite nasty. The teachers didn't really do anything about the bullying either.

I'm so glad it's not the same for Lelibug

I was very socially anxious in school.

[SteelCurtain]

I was in the gifted program when ideas in elementary and middle school.

You should absolutely put your child in the Gifted program, IMO, Losty.

I went in in the fifth grade, and let me tell you, the teachers are all the difference. You will virtually guarantee that you get teachers that give a shit, but are uniquely qualified to teach talented children, and nurture their skills and intellect.

In my case (might be different where you are), I had nearly the same teachers all through middle school. There was a gifted "pod" where all your core classes were, but all of the other classes were with all of my friends outside of the pod. But the "Questers" pod had the same English teacher for two years, the same math teacher all three years, the same science and history teacher all three years, so we not only had excellent teachers, but there was continuity in the relationships.

I credit the gifted program with a lot of the development of my intellect and logic, and keeping me challenged and ready for high school AP courses and college.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I think the advantage would be that my daughter graduated to a 5th grade reading level yesterday and she is slowly growing to hate school because "it's sooo boring". The academic disadvantage to being in a grade well under your level is that you get frustrated and discouraged. I want her to be somewhere where she can actually learn new things.

You could buy her better books, or send her to the library.  There are academic costs far greater and more tangible than frustration... to skipping (things you cant fix with a new book or a trip to the library).  Skipping grades or starting early is basically locking your child out of high school and collegiate sports, and the advantages that flow from both.  It's also socially alienating, as mentioned by others.

OTOH, keeping her in grade and supplementing at home to reduce her frustration puts her at the top of her class academically, and preserves her potential as an athlete.   It makes her valuable to a college.  How rich do you plan to be when she needs tuition?  I know it probably seems like a weird way to look at the decision at hand....but you're not sending your daughter to school to be fulfilled..really, are you?  You're sending her to school for the education that will afford her a better life.  Why sacrifice that, or reduce that opportunity to satisfy a child's sense of fulfillment?  Particularly when you can provide those challenges yourself...and so can she.

The odds of grabbing a sports scholarship are a lot smaller than the odds of a bored kid turning to drugs. University of Texas has 50,000 students ... and perhaps 400 athletes. This is not a very convincing line of reasoning.

[The Grand Nudger]

The odds of Lostys girl turning to drugs because her books bore her are, I'd wager, even smaller than the odds of her getting a sports scholarship someday, lol.

[The Grand Nudger]

I can't help it..."Fuck Clifford the Big Red Dog..fuck him right up his Big Red Asshole.....hand me the needle and the pipe!"

[Thumpalumpacus]

The odds of Lostys girl turning to drugs because her books bore her are, I'd wager, even smaller than the odds of her getting a sports scholarship someday, lol.

You don't think boredom contributes to drug abuse?

I mean, it makes for a good punchline, clearly, but that's simply your way of not addressing my point.

It's all good, Losty's going to do what she's going to do, I was just offering my two cents.

[Excited Penguin]

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.

Ask her what she wants.

[The Grand Nudger]

You don't think boredom contributes to drug abuse?

I mean, it makes for a good punchline, clearly, but that's simply your way of not addressing my point.

It's all good, Losty's going to do what she's going to do, I was just offering my two cents.

In her 1st grader.........lol?  No, no I don't.  I think that boredom leads to doodling.

[Thumpalumpacus]

You don't think boredom contributes to drug abuse?

I mean, it makes for a good punchline, clearly, but that's simply your way of not addressing my point.

It's all good, Losty's going to do what she's going to do, I was just offering my two cents.

In her 1st grader.........lol?  No, no I don't.  I think that boredom leads to doodling.

I wasn't saying that she would take up meth tomorrow. But mental habits develop early in people, and that should be kept in mind when raising a child. That is my point.

If you're only interested in strawmen, though, I'll move on ... Losty's too nice a gal to shit up her thread with this crap.

Have a nice day.