Skipping a grade

[Anonymous]

Does MCPS do this? DD is on 1st grade and is testing 3-4 grades ahead (per her teacher), socially ahead as well. School doesn't do much differentiation. So what do we do?

[Anonymous]

When is her birthday?
What do mean she is socially ahead of her grade level peers?

[Anonymous]

Can they let her join a reading group with another grade?

[Anonymous]

ask teacher or principal how they can meet your daughter's needs.

Also, be sure to apply to HGC in 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Could you give us some examples of her advanced socialization skills? Because that is the trickiest part of skipping ahead - it's completely fine in elementary, and then in middle and high school, the younger children get left behind in terms of development, maturity, and socialization.
I know it doesn't happen to every skipped child, but it happened to me, so I would be very wary of this.
In terms of academics, it's very frustrating. Enrich at home as much as you can, check in regularly with teachers to make sure they are keeping track of your child's needs and giving her advanced work, and apply for the HGC. It's a long time to wait, I know.

[Anonymous]

I skipped Kindergarten and went directly to 1st grade. It actually always bothered me being the youngest kid in school (even during college). From a sports standpoint, I was at a physical disadvantage. From a practice standpoint, I was the last to drive and the last to be able to legally drink. If I had a say in the matter when I was finishing preschool I would not have skipped.

[Anonymous]

Contact Meredith Casper in AEI. She can help you with this issue.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a sure thing for the HGC. She'll be fine until then. Work with her teacher to supplement--I used to send in advanced workbooks for my DC to do once he blew through the standard work.

[Anonymous]

Talk to your principal. Most probably will not. They gave us grief for putting our child into second after two years of private and a fall birthday. They really pushed for us to hold back saying he could not keep up. Of course, he doing great, but what do I know, I'm only Mom. Some kids like being the youngest. Mine does. We found sports where age/size are not an issue so he does not have to compete with the older kids. I'm glad he'll be the last to drive so he does not feel the pressure of driving his friends around and I'm not worried about legal drinking but rather safe drinking.

[Anonymous]

Nothing good will come out of skipping a grade. Most parents who try this stunt are doing so to show the neighbors and friends that they have a little genius in the house. The kid will suffer socially and there is no need to try.

[Anonymous]

My son was asked to skip 1st 8 years back. It was a good decision and worked great. But from what you say, I would be very skeptical of the comment that she is 3 to 4 grades ahead in her testing. First, testing for what subjects? Second, 1st grade tests will not test up to the 5th grade level, so I would take that comment as being grossly overstated if I were you. If you have any other questions, fire away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was asked to skip 1st 8 years back. It was a good decision and worked great. But from what you say, I would be very skeptical of the comment that she is 3 to 4 grades ahead in her testing. First, testing for what subjects? Second, 1st grade tests will not test up to the 5th grade level, so I would take that comment as being grossly overstated if I were you. If you have any other questions, fire away.

Agreee. If they're talking about MAP tests, lots of kids in MCPS test several grade levels ahead on that.

[Anonymous]

Please don't have your child skip a grade. I skipped third and it really did a number on me socially. I'm almost 50 now and I still think this is one of the worst decisions my parents made on my behalf. There are other ways to meet your child's intellectual needs, and they should not come at the expense of his or her social needs.

[Anonymous]

I skipped 1st grade years and years and years ago and it was totally fine. Just wanted to throw that out there since the other PPs were unhappy about it. The only down side was that I got my license last. Otherwise, it was great to be the youngest! It was nice to be a young professional since I got out of school early and got into professional school early, etc.

FTR, my kid has always been a few grade levels ahead in math and reading but we just stuck it out until the HGC. Have eve heard of someone skipping a grade in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son was asked to skip 1st 8 years back. It was a good decision and worked great. But from what you say, I would be very skeptical of the comment that she is 3 to 4 grades ahead in her testing. First, testing for what subjects? Second, 1st grade tests will not test up to the 5th grade level, so I would take that comment as being grossly overstated if I were you. If you have any other questions, fire away.

Agreee. If they're talking about MAP tests, lots of kids in MCPS test several grade levels ahead on that.

Then OP's child is not that unique. A big step to skip. We only did it because it was presented as him being odd-man-out if he stayed in first. I was scared, but they were really clear and confident that first grade would not work. The thing that made us agree was their certainty.