DD did not skip a grade but started 1st grade before turning 6 (November birthday). Academically it was good for her - she is now in 8th grade (AAP since 3rd) and has high A's in all subjects. Socially I would say there is a maturity difference - she has always been very confident and somewhat precocious, yet immature in her interests. She only has one close friend in her grade (who is 11 months older), but it does not seem to bother her.

Anonymous wrote:Our son (Nov birthday) skipped K and went straight to 1st. He is in 8th now and doing very well. DH skipped 3rd when he was a kid so he yad an understanding of some of the social hurdles whiched helped influence our decision. Other than DS growing up too fast for his mom, we are happy with our decision and it gives us the chance to perhaps allow him to have a gap year before starting college.

A K kid isn't in AAP. FCPS will sometimes let a kid skip K. If a kid transfers in from a private, they will let them transfer into the next grade in sequence (thatis, if a kid skips a grade in private, FCPS won't make the kid repeat a grade to stay with their age group). Besides that, it isn't going to happen.

OP-- before you invest too much time deciding whether to do this, talk to the school. They are going to say no.

My sister's kid just skipped from 4th to 6th AAP in Fairfax County. So, there's a way.

Our son (Nov birthday) skipped K and went straight to 1st. He is in 8th now and doing very well. DH skipped 3rd when he was a kid so he yad an understanding of some of the social hurdles whiched helped influence our decision. Other than DS growing up too fast for his mom, we are happy with our decision and it gives us the chance to perhaps allow him to have a gap year before starting college.

The only way I would consider it would be if tye kid was one of those who was held hack a year originally and shoukd be a sixth grader this year if he started on time.

My kid had a classmate like that. He was held back a year by his parents and started kindergarten a year late. In second he was more advanced than most of the kids (due to age) and qualified for AAP. By fourth grade he passed most classmates physically, and by fifth/sixth was definitely not a good fit socially, since his behavior, sice and developmemt were more in line with middle schoolers than elementary kids.

He was definitely not a stand out academically in AAP and I think (from the outside looking in) that he would have probably been better off socially in the correct grade and academically in the correct grade, even if that meant he wasn't in AAP.

Just don't do it. We moved our AAP son who is now at TJ ahead for core classes in ES on the advice of his teacher. It was a disaster socially - teasing to the point of bullying. We kept him with his grade. It was still an awkward fit. However, once he started at TJ it's been just great. If your child is advanced, please supplement with extra activities in his favored subject outside of school or challenge him in areas that he doesn't excel (think art, music, sports, chess..........something that makes him work at it) We did both, and I have to say having him work at something that didn't come easily was a great reality check.

BTW we never officially asked FCPS to skip him, bc I was told it wasn't allowed.

The "system" not only frowns on this, OP. The "system" does not allow it, besides some adjustments that happen in K or 1st. You would have to do something like move your kid from 5th to 7th at a private school, and then back into FCPS for high school. FCPS deals with advanced kids by letting them accelerate material, while keeping them at grade level. You can't just go to the principal and tell them you have decide to have your kid skip a grade, especially if you can't show that your kid is unable to learn where they are, backed up by things like a neuropsych eval and a track record of working with the school to make the current grade work.

This is not your call OP.

Doubt FCPS would allow it. That said, we have a Nov son who was in AAP, now in HS, and there is no way I would do that to a kid entering junior high no matter how "mature" they seem. Jr high through freshman yr of high school are brutal for kids these days.

Supplement at home, join outside science clubs, take classes if you can afford the time to drive him to HS - these are all options used by parents over the years that have worked.

People are saying that kids used to do this, and asking why you want them to.

But would FCPS allow an AAP student to skip a grade? My understanding is that unless there are very, bery special and unusual circumstances at play, they have a hard line against this. AAP is designed to prevent this, and FCPS is already trying to push back at tiger parents accelerating the math sequence, because the kids have downstream problems. I would be shocked if a school would let this happen unless there are really compelling, unusual circumstances. They certainly hold a strong line on starting K early.

Has anyone actually seen FCPS sign off on skipping a grade

In FCPS AAP I would not skip from 5th to 7th, especially. 6th grade in a good AAP Center is a lot about making the transition to middle school. Plus, kids actually learn things in 6th grade and need to take the SOLs. Also, this will not affect math placement at all. They will retrack math going into middle school. Middle school in AAP is a jump up, and high school honors AP/IB is another one. There will be plenty of time down the road for kids to accelerate. Plus, as kids get older, age matters more. Kids who look physically less developed struggle, kids are a year behind getting their license, and are looking at going to college at 17.

If you really feel your kids are so smart that a year of school is a waste, just have them apply to TJ from middle school. That way, in HS, the expection actually is that they will accelerate (by taking summer school, having classes that cover more than a year of high school material, self studying to skip intro classes, etc). FWIW, a kid who has skipped a year would almost certainly be hampered in the TJ admissions process. The extra year of math and reading comp practice you get by not accelerating is key. Very few TJ kids have skipped a grade. Lots have accelerated the math sequence, by taking Algebra in 6th and/or geometry the summer after Algebra. But very few actually have actually skipped a grade.

I had two neighbors do this. Both brilliant. The first flunked out of college because he was always feeling out of place socially.
He needed to be academically ahead but socially the older kids were all wrong.
The second finished college at 16 and still lives in his parents basement. Socially again it was all wrong
Both regretted moving them ahead. You'd be better off supplementing at home even with college classes early but still keeping in the right peer age.
I'm against it because I saw it not work out twice
Neither had pushy parents....

Anonymous wrote:We would be so grateful to hear from any families who have had a AAP child skip a grade. Our child is in 5th grade AAP and for several reasons we are thinking he might benefit (socially, emotionally and intellectually) from skipping 6th grade and going straight into 7th. We understand the "system" understandably frowns upon this in general. To note, we are not super aggressive parents, we are not in a race....we are just trying to find the right fit for our son moving forward. Thanks in advance.

People used to do this all the time. I think it would be fine.

What month is your child's birthday?

Anonymous wrote:We would be so grateful to hear from any families who have had a AAP child skip a grade. Our child is in 5th grade AAP and for several reasons we are thinking he might benefit (socially, emotionally and intellectually) from skipping 6th grade and going straight into 7th. We understand the "system" understandably frowns upon this in general. To note, we are not super aggressive parents, we are not in a race....we are just trying to find the right fit for our son moving forward. Thanks in advance.

Just want to help you think this through.
What are your reasons for skipping?

We would be so grateful to hear from any families who have had a AAP child skip a grade. Our child is in 5th grade AAP and for several reasons we are thinking he might benefit (socially, emotionally and intellectually) from skipping 6th grade and going straight into 7th. We understand the "system" understandably frowns upon this in general. To note, we are not super aggressive parents, we are not in a race....we are just trying to find the right fit for our son moving forward. Thanks in advance.