Grade Skip

[Anonymous]

My child is a 1st grader. He is working 3+ years ahead in Math, and more than a year ahead in Reading. The school is recommending a grade skip for him. We are torn on the decision, as he is already a very young 1st grader. Skipping him to 2nd grade would widen the age gap even more. We would like to get firsthand information about the long term ramifications of a grade skip from someone who has experienced it with their child. We are having difficulty getting this information, however, as the school has informed us that this hasn’t been done in the past 8 years under the current administration. Does anyone have experience with a situation like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is a 1st grader. He is working 3+ years ahead in Math, and more than a year ahead in Reading. The school is recommending a grade skip for him. We are torn on the decision, as he is already a very young 1st grader. Skipping him to 2nd grade would widen the age gap even more. We would like to get firsthand information about the long term ramifications of a grade skip from someone who has experienced it with their child. We are having difficulty getting this information, however, as the school has informed us that this hasn’t been done in the past 8 years under the current administration. Does anyone have experience with a situation like this?

My kid skipped two years in elementary school and entered high school at age twelve and went to college at sixteen and graduated one year early from college at nineteen. Adjusted well and didn't have issues.

[Anonymous]

I skipped 3rd grade and academically it was fine, but socially, my peers were ahead of me and the difference was apparent in middle/HS.

I have a young 2nd grader who's working a grade ahead, but I probably would not make the same choice for him.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbor skipped first - ended up being a mistake socially for a shy child. In her case, though, parents pushed and school agreed - sounds like your situation is different.

I really think it is dependent on child's personality/social situation and how bored they really are at the current grade level - for our neighbor, she ended up not really being more advanced once she got to high school. If you can solve boredom through enrichment, maybe see if that is an option. Can they accelerate her for math class without skipping? It is not that uncommon to have a kid going to math in the grade above.

[Anonymous]

This is FCPS? Your child must really be special, it's very rare they suggest skipping these days. That would make me take it more seriously.

I'd question whether I wanted the skipping recommendation to be from a virtual evaluation. Presumably the teacher recommending has not met him in person and does not know his ability to socialize with his peers. From a purely academic point, my 6 year old is also 3 years ahead in math and 2 in reading, but he still cries in frustration when he encounters a challenge--he'd get swallowed alive among older kids.

I second the suggestion to see if your child can just join the grade or two up for math, but stay with his peers for most of the day. Once AAP starts in 3rd grade, he will have likeminded peers.

[Anonymous]

OP, we were in the same boat several years ago in FCPS. DS was far ahead in math, 2 years ahead in reading, and reasonably responsible, but also young for grade and a bit of a crybaby. I thought DS would have been fine skipped ahead throughout elementary school, but was worried that he would be set up to be bullied in middle and high school. So, we didn't skip. Instead, the school had him take math class with kids 2 grades higher. Most FCPS schools should allow this for kids who are far outside the norm.

[Anonymous]

OP here. He is already going into the 3rd grade AAP class for Math each day. The question is if he needs more than just this. And yes, we are in Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is FCPS? Your child must really be special, it's very rare they suggest skipping these days. That would make me take it more seriously.

I'd question whether I wanted the skipping recommendation to be from a virtual evaluation. Presumably the teacher recommending has not met him in person and does not know his ability to socialize with his peers. From a purely academic point, my 6 year old is also 3 years ahead in math and 2 in reading, but he still cries in frustration when he encounters a challenge--he'd get swallowed alive among older kids.

I second the suggestion to see if your child can just join the grade or two up for math, but stay with his peers for most of the day. Once AAP starts in 3rd grade, he will have likeminded peers.

We were in FX county. Teacher recommended skipping. Admin discouraged us. We went with admin recommendations. Big regret!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He is already going into the 3rd grade AAP class for Math each day. The question is if he needs more than just this. And yes, we are in Fairfax County.

To be perfectly honest, FCPS elementary school cannot accommodate your child, and you should look elsewhere if at all possible. Your child would need to skip ahead 2 years, and then be placed another year ahead in math to have his needs met in the short term. But, he'll still learn at a faster pace than the other kids, and in another few years, your child will be ahead and bored again. FCPS does a great job with bright or mildly gifted children, but it cannot adequately handle outliers. I'm the PP with the kid who was skipped ahead 2 years in math, and FCPS AAP still wasn't enough. If I knew then what I know now, I would have pulled my kid out in 1st and homeschooled.

If you are stuck with public schools, then you should look into outside enrichment. Russian school and AoPS are great for kids who are highly gifted in math.

[Anonymous]

I had a friend who did this as a child. She was a younger sibling, which I think helped with the social aspect (was already used to hanging with older kids). It worked out for her.

[Anonymous]

Honest question for you did you do any kind of prepping or did your child naturally progress quickly in math

If it's all natural I would skip

[Anonymous]

My daughter went to a private kindergarten at 4, started 1st grade in FCPS at 5, and was selected for AAP. She is now a 13-year-old 9th grader taking all honors classes, including algebra 2. Academically, it has been fine. She is very tall, so she blended in physically and has always been mistaken for being much older than she is. There have been some social hiccups along the way. Many kids redshirt, so a good third of her class is nearly two years older. She was not ready emotionally for the FLE curriculum and asked to be opted out of a few topics for a few years, so I advise being ready for situations like that. She was a "kid" a year less and has no friends her actual age/cohort. Some of them are already driving. On balance, I still think it was the right thing to do for her.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the girls are fine with skipping, but what about young for grade boys?

[Anonymous]

All four of my kids have skipped either kinder, 1st or 2nd. The key is that when they skip into the next grade, they need to be near the top of that grade too. Otherwise eventually it will catch up to them and they will struggle. My kids are all born late August to late November. One was just turning 17 when starting college, and the other 3 are 16 when starting and turn 17 a couple of months in.

My son was a little bummed about not being able to drive in HS, and other than that was relieved to not be bored in school. Once he got to college, he wasn't the only super smart kid anymore. My oldest DD recalls a moment in 6th grade when everyone found out she was a bit younger and a kid said, "Quick what's 3 times 30?" and after she gave an answer he was like "Yep, you belong here." I think there was some surprise when one of my girls had her 13th birthday party and people were surprised to find out she was only turning 13 but most everyone showed up and celebrated.

[Anonymous]

OP here. He has had an interest in numbers from a very early age, and his talent/ability was very evident. We didn’t “prep” him. But we have supported his interest and talent. He entered into Kindergarten fluidly multiplying, dividing, and working with fractions. It seems to come very effortlessly.