OT - moving daughter up a grade - opinions?

[MomOnBike]

Note the pattern here. Mostly the mothers of girls had positive experiences moving their kids forward, and mothers of boys didn't. This is my observation in meat space as well.

Sadly, I fear that little boys don't mature as quickly as girls.

My experince:

Elder Daughter (still the smartest individual I know) did not have any gifted/talented programs available in the small town we lived in. So she skipped 2nd grade. There were a few social problems later - a more assertive individual wouldn't have noticed probably, but all in all, it was a good choice. When the school tried to advance her again I resisted. That was just too much of an age diff.

Younger Daughter was a late August baby & the cutoff for letting her into school was (I think) May. She was reading at a 3rd grade level and doing division before she went to school. I fought to get her into Kindergarten "early." I won. She just started at Cornell a few weeks ago. Again, there were a few problems in High School, but I think there would have been far more if she'd been held back. She tends to need a challange.

So, my advice? Get your kid in a class that challanges her. I think she's ready.

[Bluetree]

When the school tried to advance her again I resisted. That was just too much of an age diff.

Absolutely agree, MOB. I skipped 2nd, and was up for promotion again in the 5th grade, but my parents said no. I never spoke up against it (I didn't want to sound like a coward) but I really didn't want to leave all my friends again. I was so grateful that they refused.

But that didn't help my academic situation. When I was in school (1970s, early 80s), there weren't many alternatives to skipping grades until high school, where AP classes were offered. I was enrolled in some extracurricular classes prior to that, but they didn't help ease the boredom of my required classes. When I said I was fortunate to have supportive teachers, I mean to say they went above and beyond their normal course of duties.

One teacher in particular skirted some regulations to help me through middle school. When she realized that the history lessons were not up to snuff, she gave me three months to learn the entire textbook and pass the final. The remainder of the year was spent under her tutelage in independent study (I wrote a paper on a famous artist who concealed secret messages in his abstract art to get nazi info to the Allies).
When this teacher caught me teasing a classmate for not catching on to something, she made me tutor that same student for the entire semester. I'll never forget her words when she caught me teasing that other girl, "You were given great gifts. That means you have a great responsibility. Don't make me wrong about you." Imagine a very large and angry black woman saying this through clenched teeth, getting right into the face of a cocky adololescent. I miss her.

Sorry to go so Off-Topic, but this thread really digs up some memories...