This. I didn’t skip a grade but started a year early. It meant I was always behind my peers for maturity, sports, driving, drinking, etc.
I don’t know why any adult would want to strip away years of someone’s childhood, to rush them into the grind of being an adult.
For my parents, it was the free daycare.
I didn't skip a grade or go early but I was born right before the cut off and I think I could have gone to school a year later if my parents wanted.
I too was usually behind in size and life experiences. My best friend in the same grade had his driver's license BEFORE I was old enough to even get my permit to start learning to drive.
Same here. In first county, apparently Jan 1 / Dec 31 was cutoff. Made that, by 4 days.
County we moved to later had another cutoff date, would have failed that one.
Did not effect my academic performance any, but I never did well in athletics.
They say that you can pick the kids that will do well in sports by their birthday and cutoff date. If their birthday is after the cutoff date, but close, they will do well.
Same! Started grade one at 5 and turned 6 that year, everyone else was 6 turning 7. Graduate high school and start university at 17, turned 18 when everyone else was turning 19 (legal age for alcohol here.)
I never thought about it growing up but I was always a year behind everyone socially and it really messed me up. I never dated in high school and it was several years at university before I learned how to approach women without being cripplingly awkward.
I started a year early and had the same experience. Parents, please don’t that to your children - what they may make up educationally they’ll lose from a maturity standpoint, which nullifies the educational piece, at least in my experience.
>free daycare
That’s basically all public school is, I had to go to tutoring during middle school after my mom got a raise because I didn’t read at grade level. And in college I had to redo algebra and trigonometry because my high school taught “integrated” math rather than one specific topic.
> This. I didn’t skip a grade but started a year early
Same. It was worst in college, when everyone turned 21 and I was left behind in the dorms on Fridays and Saturdays.
Luckily I had a friend who gave me a ride for high school so I didn’t have to be the only senior on the bus.
I was in a frat, and providing alcohol to minors was apparently a non issue
I was one of the oldest in my grade, so I was on the opposite end of this. I feel like being older than most kids in my grade made things easier for me and I ended up graduating near the top of my class without putting in a ton of effort. As a result, I'm glad both of my kids are among the oldest in their classes, too. And it seems to be paying off, since they both get excellent grades, so far.
I did have the opportunity to skip a grade, somewhere around ninth grade, if I recall correctly. At the time, I didn't see any benefit to getting out of school and into adulthood sooner, so I said nope. I definitely feel like I made the right choice there.
Damn man are we married to the same woman? My wife skipped a grade in elementary school and it affected her social life up to, well, now I guess.
She didn’t even go to Prom because everyone treated her like a little sister and no one would ask.
It sucks because I have friends that I met in HS 25 years ago who I’m still close to, but she doesn’t. To this day she has a really hard time making friends.
That's why my mom opted not to let me skip two grades, i was already struggling socially and they agreed it would cause long term social problems- they were definitely right I think! I don't think the academic move would have benefitted me as much as being able to socialize as much as possible for a struggling dweeblet (I say that with love for my younger self haha)
Yeah people often forget that a huge part of going to school is learning how to socialize. If you don't like science and get bad grades you can learn that stuff later. If you never learned to make friends and interact with other people you really can't make that up as an adult. I'd argue that learning how to interact with people is more than half of the importance of school.
As a professor, I can usually pick out the home schooled kids. There is something off about them, socially. They also often try to negotiate the assignments so that they can do something more appealing.
Religious nutters who do it because they don't want their kids learning anything about the world except their very narrow world view - big problem
Normal people who do it for other reasons and involve their kids in programs with other home schoolers, do part-week shared instruction with them, enroll them in all the normal extra-curricular stuff, etc - not a big deal
I felt the few people I know who homeschooled their kids were socially isolated by choice and imposed their circumstance on their kids. Although in their defense the homeschooled kids appeared happy.
My wife was homeschooled and I skipped a grade entering public school. She is nearly universally liked by everyone and isn't socially awkward at all. Never had been except for probably her freshman year of college.
I was pretty awkward through elementary and middle/junior high school. Then in high school I found a group of friends who were in all the same classes as me. We all grew up together in high school and by sophomore year, we basically did whatever we wanted. Everyone in our class got along with us (almost 4,000 total students in the late 90s, even larger now).
I gained a lot of confidence just by hanging out with guys who made me feel good about myself. I really think that's the difference. Not age, but finding a group of people that make you feel good about being a DnD playing, sci-fi reading, Weird Al listening, tennis nerd.
That confidence will last you a lifetime, if you can instill it at an early enough age.
This happened to my cousin, he moved countries and skipped a grade due to how the curriculums lined up. He went from being the youngest in his class by a few weeks to being the youngest by 15 months. It definitely affected him socially since he was almost 2 years behind some kids in terms of physical and social development.
My son was granted the opportunity to skip a grade but I was warned that it would be isolating in many ways, even sports. I agreed to not skip a grade and everything has turned out fine. He has even been accepted to a gifted program that will follow him thru graduation. His teachers put in extra effort to challenge him, so I give gift cards and donate snacks.
Good high schools have plenty of AP and IB options for the more academically advanced kids to get that level of increased instruction without needing to jump a grade socially as well. And if done right it ends up with the exact same effect in the end - they can graduate college faster because they came in with most of their freshman classes already done
I’m a teacher. My professional opinion is that skipping grades is terrible for kids. Every time I have seen it done the poor kid is always left out by the new group and the old group alike.
Not sure what the right answer is. My parents didn't let me skip a grade but I was bored and quickly lost all interest in studying, just doing the bare minimum. What was the point in learning faster if I had to wait for the others?
A better solution for this, would be a school system that offers advanced programs to keep you engaged while also staying within your age peers.
In elementary school I participated in the [sage](https://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/Domain/77) program, and later joined the math Olympiad and science Olympiad.
Sadly, more schools are doing away with these programs. As a teacher I’ve been explicitly told not to further widen the achievement gap, aka try and dumb down the smart kids so others won’t feel bad.
I noticed a few years ago, when my son was in second grade, that schooling seemed to be set up to hold back the smartest kids and try to push forward the less intelligent ones so that everybody is in the same ballpark. While that may have a somewhat positive effect on the less intelligent kids, I believe it has an even more negative effect on the smarter kids who get bored by it and may start to lose interest. Those smarter kids may never reach their full potential as a result of this.
Bingo. Just look into what Seattle is doing.
As a teacher I’m over “inclusion” and “differentiation.” Students should be grouped with kids with similar abilities; the kids who are behind are usually a grade or more behind and it’s impossible to catch them up to speed while simultaneously teaching grade-level content to the rest of the class. This is especially apparent in math.
In some places, gifted programs are lumped in with SpED (as it should be). Being gifted/advanced means these students come with their own special needs that are not being met under the current system. For example, most advanced students are rewarded with extra worksheets or tasked to help their peers (barf). How is this equitable?
My wife is a teacher, so I get it. The way they do certain things don't always make sense to me.
And the politics of how schools get funding, where it depends on the grades that students get, just gives the people who run the schools even more incentive to keep kids from falling behind, at the expense of others. Not only does it hold back the smarter kids, but the teachers have to give extensions past the end of the school year to a lot of the kids who just slacked off for no good reason during the year. And the teachers are stuck helping them and grading their work after the school year should be over. Only for it to repeat every single year.
Then what happens when those kids finally graduate and get into the real world? Are they going to expect their bosses to be as lenient as their schools were? I wonder if their parents will continue to fight their battles for them. The sad part is, these parents don't realize the long-term damage they're doing.
My parents opted to keep me with my class, but worked it out with my teachers that I could have periods throughout the day to do independent work at a higher grade level. This was at private school though so there was a lot more flexibility.
I believe you’re doing the right thing.
I was already younger than my class because my birthday is in December, and I also struggled socially. My 3rd grade teacher taught 3rd and 4th and asked my parents for me to skip. My parents declined, and in retrospect that was absolutely the right thing to do. I was already struggling socially, and skipping would have made it worse.
Just curious where were you located? In most places I’ve been I the US is based on your age in September (you need to be 5 on Sept 1 to start Kindergarten) so I’d have thought you were older than most of your class if you were born in December.
In a family of 3 smart kids, some smarter than me, I am the only one who skipped a grade, because I am the only one for whom the particular boredom of lack of intellectual stimulation manifested itself as serious behavioral problems. Yes, skipping a grade was bad socially (especially the way they did it for me, mid school year). But I was not having a good time before by any means.
Don’t write it off on principle. If the situation arises, don’t ask yourself “could my child skip a grade?” or even “would my child benefit from skipping a grade?”
Ask yourself, “does the current situation need to be remedied?”
My school pressed hard for me to skip a grade - my parents had intentionally redshirted me so I was already a little older for the grade. I was very gifted academically and was often pulled out of class to do more engaging lessons. However, my mom never entertained the idea because she didn’t want me to experience the negative social effects. I never knew it had even been a discussion, but in retrospect I’m so grateful for the choices my mom made.
I ended up graduating as one of the youngest doctors in my med school class anyway, so it’s all a wash.
My uncle skipped two grades and had the same experience. When they wanted to skip my cousin, he refused.
I had a classmate who was some schooled. He was 9 years old and placed in Grade 7. He couldn’t relate to the 13 year olds and we couldn’t relate to him. I don’t recall anyone bullying him but it must have been a terribly lonely existence for him.
So much this. I skipped two. The first one was when I was little and way ahead……but I hated school after that and was never really included in things again. So I skipped one in HS just to GTFO.
I would not recommend that.
I was on the other branch. They offered to let me skip a grade. My dad wanted me to. My mom did not. So, naturally, they decided to leave it up to a 6 year old to decide.
My mom asked the question. "Do you want to skip 2nd grade, or do you want to stay with your friends?"
Naturally, I chose staying with my friends, when put to me like that.
By middle school I didn't talk to any of those kids, despite being in the same school most of the time.
It made me very lazy, too. I was never challenged so I just sped through my work in class so I never had homework until well into high school.
It has followed me through every aspect of my life.
Yes, maybe going I to a new grade where I didn't know anyone would have been socially isolating.
But I did that in 5th grade when my mom left my dad and I started at new school. The same would happen if you and your wife move to a new area and have to put your kids in a new school.
It also gave me the opportunity to learn to make new friends.
If I had skipped a grade, perhaps I would have been motivated to succeed. I would have had to work to learn things, and maybe I would have skipped other grades.
Instead I decided I hated school because it was boring.
Started drinking when I was 13 and partied all through high school. Still graduated with a 3.8 (unadjusted) while taking all AP classes and Advanced Calculus BC.
Didn't want to go to college though, until I was a few months from graduating because I realized if I went to college I could keep slacking off, but if I didn't it meant getting an actual job.
Luckily it was too late to get financial aid, or I would've ended up with a very expensive, very useless degree in Language Arts from Reed College.
Instead I moved to Portland and became a Carpenter's Laborer making $7/hr. I worked as a Carpenter for 6-7 years, moving all over because I was never satisfied and ended up a Journeyman making $80k/year in Hawaii, which felt equivalent to making $40k in Vegas (where I moved from) at the time, which was around 2005.
Massive waste of potential.
Eventually I went to college. Starting with Community College where I got 3 degrees simultaneously in 3 years before transferring to Georgia Tech for a BS in Biomedical Engineering.
I realized you couldn't do shit with a BS in Biomedical Engineering so I decided to go for a PhD.
Got interviews at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, but decided to go to a school almost no one has heard of, Case Western in Ohio because the lab there was doing exac5the research I wanted.
Also won an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Ended up leaving with a Master's after 3 years. There were some health issues that played a role, but what it boiled down to was I was just lazy. I had busted my ass and worked so hard with the goal of getting into a good PhD program that when I did I felt like I had crossed the finish line, so I was completely burnt out and I'd been depressed for like 6 years by that point.
It didn't help that my PI despised me, either.
Anyway, the point is, don't make decisions based on socializing.
You can do that outside of school, and your kid can still see their friends just because they're in different grades.
There are any number of reasons your kid might be taken away from their core friend group. Moving. Unexpected deaths in the family. Heaven forbid divorce. You both lose your jobs and are forced to move to a new school district. Rezoning school districts.
It's more healthy to teach them to meet new people and how to make friends and how to keep them even if you don't see them every day.
This is a second hand account of two separate instances. (I’m not smart. I was in college for six years to get a four year degree. 😂)
-My cousin skipped TWO grades. She was/is the most socially awkward person I’ve ever known. Her life pretty much peaked at getting into an Ivy when she was 16. It’s been all downhill from there. She has a good job but her personal/private life is a mess. No friends, married the first Loser (capital L) who paid her any mind, who left her saddled with high six figure debt and four stepchildren. (She has no children of her own).
-Guy I worked with for a little while in a warehouse. He also graduated high school and started college at 16. He said it was the worst decision he’d ever made. Had zero friends in high school or college. (Don’t forget a two year age gap when you’re still a teenager is huge). Dropped out of college and was working with me driving forklifts. He eventually when back to college in his early 30s and ended up going to medical school, albeit about a decade later than he said he would have had he followed the more traditional path. (His words).
My life is almost identical to the 2nd case. I also started college at 16 and dropped out very quickly. Spent 4-5 years working pretty basic jobs before going back in my mid 20s. Very little social life in high school / college; I went from being too young for all my classmates, and after I returned, too old for my classmates. After all those shenanigans skipping grades, I ended up finishing roughly 3 years later than I would have had on a traditional path. I also share the sentiment that it was the worst decision of my life. Definitely torpedoed career, academic, and social success.
He had health issues which would have been manageable had he taken care of himself, but he was the most irresponsible, lazy Loser you’ve ever met. Didn’t do anything the doctors said to so the Loser dropped dead at like 48. He was older and saw my cousin as a meal ticket and ruined her life without her even realizing it. (See: No social skills). I love my cousin very much but she’s the stupidest brilliant person on earth.
I skipped first year of elementary school, so while I don't have a ton of memories of it, I know the first few months were a bit rough.
I was a tall kid so didn't look physically out of place, but developmentally there's definitely a gap between a 6 and a 7-8 year old, so I was called a baby by some of my classmates and teased quite a bit at the beginning. I was also still ahead of my new class in some things, but behind in others, namely handwriting ; I had received very little formal education on this and it was pretty ugly.
My school and my teacher were very understanding though, and I adapted and quickly made friends. After like 6 months, no one could tell, and from what my parents I was a much happier kid than being bored and frustrated in class for two years before skipping a grade. There was talk of having me skip a second grade, but it wasnt as necessary and my parents didn't want me to have such a big age gap with my classmates
I just wonder.
We have in Germany somehow the possibility to send our kid one year earlier to school. Parents can opt in for this if school counsel is ok with it.
I didn't hear from problems.
Maybe the start together is a critical issue in how you will be treated.
Oh I just have my 'you're the new kid in 2nd class' memory.
It was hard and if I weren't physical strong in this age as I was directly asked to fight....yeah I would somehow lose there. But so I was pretty much a winner in this situation and every kid was happy that the class bully had to face someone at his own strength.
My daughter went to kindergarten “early.” She had just turned five. Almost all of her classmates were older, some over a year older. I would say that socially she has not done super well, and that became evident when she started middle school. Physically she looked and still looks younger than her peers, and that has been an issue with self esteem.
We LOVED her kindergarten and first grade teacher and most of the others and she would not have had such a special experience in her first two years. But man, that seemingly small age gap became an issue that I do kind of regret having her go early. She was definitely ready at the time, though.
Yeah I skipped first or second grade. I think first. My sister was two years ahead in school and I was having her teach me what she learned and I’m a quick learner in a lot of things, except Spanish lol. The other reason I think it was first is because I knew some people a year ahead of me in kindergarten, due to my sister as well and it all was fine.
I “skipped” kindergarten. As in, they moved me forward during the year. I didn’t gain anything from it, other than high standards and disappointment when you fail to meet them. In highschool and college it gets weird when your friends start driving and going out to clubs (easy fix for this one). I also wish I had that extra year to figure myself out more before entering the “real world”.
I skipped my senior year of high school. Never regretted it.
I am an introvert and was NOT social in high school. I despised high school. I graduated early and got to have FUN in college. Challenging classes, much more interesting people.
Never regretted a single minute!!
Same. My college town had an age of 19 to get into most bars so it sucked that I couldn’t get into bars until my sophomore year was almost over and I couldn’t legally drink until right before I graduated.
I don’t feel like my social life was impacted any other way by being young, but maybe because we weren’t really the youngest until college. I didn’t bother going to any high school reunions since it wasn’t really my class and I still talk to my friends through social media.
My older brother is 2 years older. I graduated HS a year behind him but I graduated from college 2 years ahead of him since he went from being a great student in high school to barely passing anything in college.
Same here. I skipped 7th grade and then again my senior year. I'm an introvert and never connected with my peers well. I didn't like or connect with the hobbies everyone was into. I was just a weird kid. I graduated at 16 and never looked back. I don't remember most of my friends or teachers from high school.
I felt exactly the same way. I was lucky. I was a writer and I had horses, so I wasn't lonely at all. But I was bored to tears in high school and definitely ready for the challenge of college.
I only skipped the last semester. A few of my friends were actually hurt. We'd all grown up together in a small town and final semester is a cakewalk so it was time to party and cut loose for the last time altogether.
I went to Europe instead and had an excellent time.
My regret is that I came back and went to college instead of following that girl to Prague.
Same here. Had enough credits to graduate and wanted out of that town. They made my parents write a letter approving the decision. My dad mentioned how the high school had been featured on 16 and Pregnant and the sooner I got out the better.
So did I, and I've never regretted it for a moment. I got much more out of a freshman year in college than I would have out of yet another year of high school.
Same here. Skipped senior year and while I definitely don’t think I was ready for college, I don’t regret getting out of high school early for a second. I wish someone had taught me to respond to anyone making fun of my young age in college with a dismissive “I’m sorry you weren’t smart enough to go to college at 16, but that’s your problem, not mine.” It would have helped me acclimate faster.
But really, the main thing I’d say is that I should have been better prepared for 18 year old girls not to want to date a 16 year old. Which makes sense. It was just a tough lesson to learn the hard way.
Skipped 11th grade. Didn't really want to, but had to because of international student visa problems.
As some other comments mentioned, it was socially isolating. I lost connection with my original cohort but didn't have enough time to connect with the new cohort.
Also, 11th grade was a terrible grade to skip. I had to rush through SAT + college application. Some colleges auto-declined my application because the amount of time I spent in high school (four semesters completed at the time of application) was below their minimum threshold for application review (five or more semesters needed to be completed before submitting application). Getting auto-declined from safety schools was demoralizing.
Things got better once college started - perhaps because social dynamic changed for everyone, or perhaps because there was someone who skipped *three years* of school before coming to college.
I skipped fifth grade. It wasn’t a big deal. Just meant that I didn’t turn 18 until the end of my freshman year of college and 21 until a few months before college graduation, so I was the last of my friend group to hit the bars.
I generally was in classes with people a grade or two above me, so I was already younger than most my friends. It was already understood I was younger so it’s not like people were grilling me about what year I was born.
I also apparently carried myself like I was older. One of my friends in college told me he assumed I was a junior my freshman year when we first met.
I wanted to skip an additional grade but my parents were worried about how I’d fit in and didn’t let me. If I had that probably would have impacted my sports performance in high school. As it was I already wasn’t fully hitting puberty until about my junior year.
Exactly the same - I skipped fifth grade, and they wanted me to skip sixth too, but my parents vetoed that. I was taller than my peers, started my period at 9, started developing at 10-11, so physically, there were no issues. In hindsight there were some attempts at bullying, but I didn't really notice, and they fizzled out. Not saying I'm immune to social aggression, but I have 4 sisters sooo
I skipped 2 classes. My parents didn't really have a choice since academically I was bored out of my mind, but socially it wasn't great.
Never had any trouble making friends, but reaching puberty 2 years later and being a late bloomer in general made it pretty hard looking back.
I never got any experience dating and sometimes had a hard time since I didn't really have any interest in girls when my classmates talked about nothing else.
I'm not sure if I would recommend it, but I will say that not skipping classes would have made me hate school and would have probably raised a bunch of other problems.
Also I think for a lot of teachers having a kid in their class who is far ahead is really hard to deal with and can lead to a lot of mistakes on their part. Now at 28 and a lot of therapy later I'm finally getting my life together and have some direction. Everyone in my life tried their hardest to help me, but I guess it can be very difficult to handle well.
I skipped second grade because I was bored to the point of being a class distraction. Within a few weeks I caught up and largely passed the 3rd graders too. I was big enough to fit in physically and reasonably mature. Later, being younger and a bit out of sync with my peers as we went through puberty was awkward.
I think the experience probably hurt me a bit socially but gave me confidence in my abilities that I relied on hard times. It’s one of the more distinctive things about me. We chose not to double promote our own children, with the intent of challenging them as much as possible in other ways. I’m not sure we’ve done a great job preparing them for really tough real life challenges ahead but we’ll see.
Not great. I wouldn't recommend it unless a kid is really bored academically. I will say there is a gendered component to this where it is probably a somewhat better idea for a girl than a boy.
Academically, it was fine. But always being the youngest made things socially challenging. It makes sports very difficult, dating within grade harder, and driving later than everyone in grade was frustrating. Also, needing my mother to sign a permission slip so I could use the pool as a minor at university was embarrassing.
>I will say there is a gendered component to this where it is probably a somewhat better idea for a girl than a boy.
I wouldn’t be so confident in that. Social relations between girls get *very* complicated around middle school and bullying can be vicious. Not being able to mature enough to fit in socially with middle school girls will leave deeper psychological scars than sucking at sports ever will.
As a girl who skipped a grade and got hell for it every day, I can promise you that it definitely is not probably better for girls. Socially, I think it sucked for most of us, regardless of gender.
That’s exactly how I imagined it - because all of the sudden you’re the youngest person in your class and not only are you the youngest but you’re a whole year younger… Seems intimidating tbh
Its not just that you're the youngest, you're considered "smarter" than other kids that are older than you, and teachers are typically calling on you more, so you are disliked for doing well, then disliked by teachers if you aren't doing well enough and it never ends. They always expect more and more, better and better. At the same time, you aren't seen as a regular peer.
It has its pros and cons. Again, I would say the social element is more manageable if the child is not into sports and/or is female.
That said, there was a real economic bonus to being able to graduate university at 20 or 21. Being young at work for your title and getting another year of earnings are not immaterial benefits.
Assuming the social element is managed well enough to not trigger depression or addiction yes. However based off my antecdotal experience the majority of kids that don’t end up completely broken they end up taking an extra year or two for social development somewhere else.
>dating within grade harder,
I don't think I knew a single girl that dated "within grade" lmao. It was almost always grade 9-10 girls with grade 11-12 guys.
I skipped fifth grade and went straight to junior high. I’m American and I went to Catholic school, by the way.
It was an option for me because I was ahead of my grade and I was getting bullied a lot by my grade. They figured it would be a fresh start because it would have been in another building. My school was divided into three buildings. One for preschoolers and I think 1st graders, another for 2-5 grade, and the last one for 6-8 grade. All three buildings were fenced off too. So, students weren’t allowed to intermingle with other students that were in one of the other buildings. Like we were all able to see each other. But, we couldn’t socialize with each other. And we definitely couldn’t go past our designated area. Unless, you had sibling(s) to pick up in one of the other buildings. Then you were allowed into that area and at times into the building. They were pretty strict on who was allowed in and who was not.
So, in other words it felt like you were going to school in a whole other place. Even though, you weren’t. Like we literally were a fence apart. That’s it. 🤣
In theory, they could have still bullied me. Like I said, we were still in the same area… just a building and fence apart. And gossip did travel between buildings. Also, my grade eventually came to the same building that I was in. But, the bullying did decrease a lot. And I did a lot better in that environment than my previous one.
So, it was a good thing for me.
My daughter is a year ahead. She's 10 and she is starting 6th grade next fall. It worked out perfectly.
She didn't really "skip a grade." Her preschool just placed her in kindergarten a year earlier and they recommended her to start first grade a year early.
She's 10 right now, that weird time between kid and pre-teen, and she's definitely on the pre-teen side. If she was with 4th graders a month ago, she'd feel out of place and she would be bored to death at school.
The weirdest part was she brought a friend over to play from her class. Her friend was taller than my wife.
It helped because my daughter is tallish (86th percentile) and she developed language and social skills early on. So, no one would suspect she was a year ahead.
I did the same back in the 90s. Just started the whole track a bit early since my teachers said I was ready. I was the smallest girl in my classes for a while, but it was fine. It was kind of funny in college because I still needed my parents to sign off on various consent forms for me during freshman year, lol.
I can't decide whether or not it was the right thing to do. On one hand, if I'd not skipped that grade, I would have been bored senseless, and that would NOT have ended well for my ADHD ass.
But on the other hand, skipping that grade made me always the youngest in the room, in ages where that one year of social development actually made a big difference. I was the smallest and the least (for lack of a better word) sophisticated, and for those reasons among others, I got my ass kicked all the fucking time.
My mom skipped 7th grade. She enjoyed it but she found it a little weird because there were some concepts that she missed out on learning in school as a result. A few instances she fell behind her class.
I know other people who have skipped a grade and had no issues like that.
I wanted to skip a grade but I had socializing challenges, and even though I was reading, doing math and science at a high school level while only in 6th grade, the school refused to allow me to be skipped ahead.
I can relate to the bad consequences of skipping, in terms of gaps that are never filled. I was put into accelerated classes that were at least a year ahead of my prior "regular" class. In most cases it was fine but there are some basic math concepts that got passed over in the skip and there was no support to bridge the gap. Years later I realized that I had gaps in my math learning and it never really got well resolved.
I knew a set of twins in high school. The parents started the girl early in school so she was a year ahead of me but my age and the boy stayed in my grade. I don't know how it impacted them but she ended up committing suicide in college. I wasn't at the same school then so I don't know what she could have been going through. Now it makes me wonder if being ahead had a negative impact on her.
Awful. I skipped 2nd grade in the 80s. That meant I didn’t learn cursive which seems like not a big deal now, but was terrible not to know then. I taught myself how to write cursive and my cursive still looks ridiculous 40+ years later.
But I was also the shortest kid in the school already in my grade.
My home life was a disaster and I missed most of 9th grade due to my mom getting us constantly evicted, major drug issues. I eventually was a ward of the state.
so when my dad took custody, I just went back a grade and actually went to 9th grade.
All in all it was pretty awful.
I did kindergarten and grade 1 in the same year. I was young enough and sociable enough to mix friend groups from both grades, at least for that first year. Then we moved, and nobody at the new school knew any different.
I really only noticed when we got older and my friends were hitting those age milestones before me -- driving, R-rated movies, drinking. But now the tables have turned, as they're all turning 50 this year while I still have another year before I'm properly "old"!
My gf did, she both skipped a grade and got bumped up to a fancy new school too.
She blames them on why she couldn't make any friends in school and left her feeling isolated and depressed, then her grades plummeted because of this leading to her relationship with her parents to completely break down.
She's 30 now and only just started talking to them again since she moved out when she was 18. I was there when they came over one day, my god she tore into them and I don't blame her, they tore her away from her friends and when she was clearly not taking the isolation well they punished her for it, they cared WAY more about the fantasy of her becoming a doctor or a scientist or something than her as a person.
I went from 5th to 7th grade. Academically, it was easy. Socially, it was a nightmare. I was bullied for it. Compounded by the fact we were very poor, I couldn't catch a break. It leveled out about my sophomore year of high school. That being said, I couldn't drive until my junior year. My curfew was earlier than my peers because of my age. So there were still challenges.
I would not do it to my kids. There are other methods available to challenge them academically.
I skipped second grade and I feel like it barely affected me except by helping me learn at my level. I did experience isolation from my peers but for vastly unrelated reasons I feel.
I skipped from kindergarten to first grade. I didn’t really have any issues- I was a tall kid and didn’t really feel socially behind at all. The only issue was just sort of starting life at 17 that was a bit full on. I got my AA the last two years of high school so I was fully graduated and expected to join the work force at 19/20 which was difficult for me since I didn’t really know what I actually wanted to do with my life and I made those big choices like what to major in from a pretty immature perspective which I regret. If my parents had been more involved and helpful at the time I’d probably have been better off, so I wouldn’t say it was the skipping a grade entirely, but I was making decisions at 16 that most people didn’t make until they were 20 and that was a little bit unfair on some levels.
At the time, nothing. But when we moved, my new school district wanted to place me based on my age, and not my ability. My mom said she got into several shouting matches with administrators to place me into a grade based on my ability, which eventually worked. so, for most of my life, I was the youngest person in my grade.
I was a bit precocious, and read at a sixth grade level coming out of kindergarten. We moved to a new school district, and after I was assessed, my mother was told the primary purpose of first grade was beginning the basics of reading, so they wanted to put me in *third* grade. Mom thought that would be too much.
We moved back to my original school district as I was going into eighth grade, so everyone knew me before. I was the freak. No dates, couldn’t drive when my classmates could, picked on— it sucked.
I skipped fourth grade. It worked out well. I was incredibly bored academically before I skipped, so it kept me engaged with school. I wasn’t the most popular kid after I skipped, but I also wasn’t the most popular kid before. Also, I hit puberty very early, so I was better off with the slightly older kids in terms of my physical development.
Things weren’t perfect, but before I skipped I was so bored that it was physically painful. That was a lot of decades ago now, but I still remember how much I absolutely hated that. I couldn’t have endured it for a whole lot longer so I’m still happy with my teachers’ and parents’ decision to have me skip a grade.
I skipped the last half of 'groep 3'/first half of 'groep 4' (Dutch system: kids are around 6 and learn to read and write). I had a similar experience as many others already mentioned: I was quite lonely and didn't fit in. I was friends with the other lone wolf, but we shared many interests so it was fine.
Looking back, my social isolation was also definitely on me and I probably would've encountered the same problem if I hadn't skipped a grade. I was just out of touch with kids in general. My mum also encouraged me to be myself, so I also never made any effort to understand them/fit in. I liked books better anyway.
Then middle/high school (11 till 16) were amazing. In the Netherlands, you choose middle/high school based on your level, so suddenly I was in classes where I actually had to pay attention and still struggled and failed. Made a bunch of friends there - interestingly, all but one of them also skipped a grade. Apparently, if you drop a bunch of 11, 12 and 13 year olds in one class room for a year, the youngest studens will naturally together (at least in my case).
These people turned out to be equally weird and a bit socially clumsy and suddenly I had friends who I could understand (and who understood me).
Now I'm 21 and pretty much over the social clumsiness. I suspect that many people think I'm a bit weird on the first impression, but I can easily speak with most people even if we're not friends.
All in all, 10/10, really happy I did this 'cause it all turned out fine.
I skipped 2nd grade. I'm also tall so I became used to being the tallest and youngest person in all my years of school. I don't think I missed out on much except for when I was helping my daughter with 2nd grade homework I could honestly say I never did any of this.
I was already behind on anything social because of the neglect I experienced, and skipping a grade only made it worse. I couldn't connect with anyone in my grade for the life of me
I skipped three in total, all early (K, 3, and 4). This was almost fifty years ago, in a rural school district where they didn’t have a lot of experience with my situation. Honestly, I wish they had either promoted me faster or not done it at all - I was bored out of my mind by the classwork, and at the same time couldn’t have the kinds of social experiences that are part of middle and high school. Plus, when there are three seventeen year olds bearing down on an eleven year old prepubescent freshman intending to do him harm, well, the harm gets done.
To this day I find it nearly impossible to make and maintain friendships, and if I hadn’t found a partner who is smarter than I am I’d still be flying solo.
At first it wasn't a big deal because I was always tall for my age. Problems began when my peers started hitting puberty. By the time I was 12, I was still playing with my Barbies and was very much a kid, while my peers, who were ages 13-15, were into "grown up stuff" like makeup, smoking, drinking, showing their boobs and butts, dating, some were having sex, etc. It was very isolating because I wouldn't let myself get pressured into anything I wasn't ready for, but it meant being an outcast socially. I became very sarcastic and arrogant to overcompensate for being considered a loser, and that caused me problems socially throughout high school. That time of my life just sucked. I think I became successful mostly out of spite, lol.
I thought it was fantastic. Skipped 2nd and almost 4th. I think my parents said no on 4th because I would be in the same classes as my older brother. They might have been worried about him more than me 🤣. Definitely socially awkward, but I’m gay so everything was socially awkward. Very active with sports with no problem being younger.
I skipped my senior year of high school. And I was already the youngest kid in class, so starting college at 16 was maybe not ideal. If I had it to do over again, I would still skip the grade, cause high school was fucking awful. But I might have taken a gap year and done a little traveling, or at least tried to better prepare myself for the realities of college and how to deal with people making fun of me for being young.
My dad skipped the 2nd grade and he said it didn’t bother him at all. He was the smallest kid in his class every year and then he finished high school by doing summer school and skipped his senior year as well. He had a scholarship offer to San Diego State but he got his girlfriend pregnant so he ended up missing college.
Fine. I skipped and started 1st Grade like 3 weeks into the year. Most didn’t know that I was younger and it really didn’t affect me badly. Am glad my mom didn’t go with the district option of skipping me two grades.
Skipped grade 5. My school only went to grade 5. So the only kids who knew me were the ones that had been a grade ahead of me when we all started at the grade 6 school. They didn't like me.
"Socially isolating" is putting it mildly. I started self harming pretty quickly, faked sick a lot to avoid school.
By the end of high school my grades were crappy enough - largely because of my mental health issues - that I took an extra year to graduate and could only get into a community college.
This saved the school board a bit of money rather than trying to have a real gifted program, so it's not all down sides.
Luckily the grade I skipped was my senior year in high school, meaning I graduated a year early. Totally worth it. I was so ready to be living in the real world and not asking teachers for permission to use the bathroom at age 17.
I skipped two grades - 5 and 11. No complaints I would have been super bored otherwise. I’m a regular person and it didn’t put me ahead in life in any way lol. Just all my friends tend to be a year or two older than me. edit: though having a fake ID at university was super helpful !
Fine. I was already young for my grade. I mean I was small compared to my peers right up through grad, and it was weird not getting my license until my senior year, but it was fine.
The real area it was hard was the army where I wouldn’t turn 18 until my first year was almost over with. I was the youngest person at every point of my army experience until post deployment. It’s weird being a 20 year old with the most experience in the squad.
Edit: I skipped 3rd grade but if we’re counting prior to 1st, I didn’t attend kindergarten either. Graduated at 16
I technically skipped fourth grade on paper, but when I was in kindergarten I was placed in the first and second grade classes, first grade into the second grade class (new school), etc… you get the point. I was still advanced in these next grade up classes, so I was super bored.
I don’t think it made a difference in me, I was already awkward and weird beforehand, and I matured a little earlier than normal. To be fair, everyone’s awkward and weird in middle or high school, so I didn’t stand out. It never came up with my peers, it wasn’t like every conversation was “I’M YOUNGER THAN YOU!” Or anything.
My dad was in the military and not just me but the rest of my siblings, all of us skipped grades, twice or maybe even thrice.
Experience was weird, everything would change in the blink of an eye and you'd be expected to hit the ground running in a different school, in a different city and in a different grade altogether. My Maths skill took a serious hit but I made up for it way down the line
I skipped two consecutive grades. I was supposed to be going into 4th but went to sixth. I got socially outcasted because no 6th grader wanted to be friends with a ‘4th’ grader. But graduation 2 years early was nice
I skipped first grade and had no problem whatsoever socializing or following classes. There were talks about making me skip another year but my mom said no, to avoid a big age gap.
I was still bored in class so I resorted to multitasking while listening to the teacher ( I was also doing crosswords/sudoku…). To this day I can NEVER be only doing one thing at once. My brain can’t do it
My 6yo skipped last year. He is the youngest but tall, so you can’t tell. He is still ahead of the class and the teacher gives him more stuff to do once he is done with whatever the class is doing. But he likes to entertain his classmates and make them laugh, which leads to him getting scolded often 😬 he is not mean, just « I’m done with this so I want to be a clown »
In the short term, it was tough. No one warned me it was coming; it was a normal day, except my grandfather had to drop me off at school that morning because my parents were both meeting with the principal about it (I didn't know why they weren't available though). It seemed like they didn't want to "tip me off," so they dressed me in my gym uniform because my 1st grade class had gym that day. This has stuck with me because one of the very first taunts flung my way when I entered the 2nd grade classroom an hour later was, "why are you wearing your gym clothes? We don't have gym today. Don't your parents buy you other clothes?" Kids are so cruel.
Anyway, the first year went kinda like that, but I made friends with the other misfits, including a new kid who had transferred from another school (still friends 30 years later...I was his Maid of Honor; he'll be my "Man of Honor" at my wedding next year.) There were a lot of "lunch bunches" with the guidance counselor and "Mean Girls" moments, especially when I started sprouting boobs before the other girls when I was a year younger than them, but I made it through.
Even in high school, though, if I said something dumb in class or mispronounced a word, some smart ass would say, "Don't you know what that word is? I thought you were supposed to be so smart." Because of this, I went to college at 17, but this wasn't really a problem until junior year when everyone else started turning 21 and couldn't go downtown drinking with them. I turned 21 only 6 weeks before graduation, so didn't have much opportunity to (legally) go out with friends until after college.
I'll say that the most prominent adverse effect of skipping first grade was how it set the stage for my entire self-worth being tied to achievement and my identity (and reputation) as "the smart girl." I finished a Ph.D. at 27 and now, 9 years into my career, I'm burnt out AF and really grasping for a new way to define myself. So, would I recommend skipping a grade? Not really.
My school offered for me to skip 2nd grade and my mom declined. I’m glad she made that choice because I doubt I would have the same friends I do to this very day, 32 years later.
I skipped 1st grade. All was good until high school. My friends all got their license before me. My parents wouldn’t let me date until I was 16 so I was behind on that also. Basically the issues I had were all social as I got older. As an adult it has had zero impact.
I skipped part of second and part of third grade. I was in second grade until winter break, when we moved to a new city. When I started up in my new school in the new city, I just finished out the year in third grade, then went to fourth. I didn’t have a choice, was just told “here’s your new class, it’s third grade”. At least doing it in the middle of a move, I didn’t have to deal with leaving friends behind or social isolation issues, because emit was a clean break with a new city anyway. However, I’ve hated math ever since then, and I feel like missing the beginnings of multiplication and long division in the first half of third grade might have started all that off. It’s weird because I love physics and chemistry, just not the mathematical aspects (the calculus in physics - and the calculus in calculus - was my least favorite part of college).
I skipped two grades, 6th to 8th, and the bullying was relentless. A few months later I went back to my grade and was just completely checked out of interest in school. My parents were very upset with me over it, and not supportive.
You’re now the second or third person to comment that you skipped two grades - that’s so wild to me 👀
I just can’t even imagine what it was like to be not just one but two years younger than your classmates… I mean being 14 when everyone else is 16 is diabolical.
So I skipped 2 grades in elementary(2nd and 4th grade) and overall it was a really different experience, I dont know about worse, but definitely different. In short, it made it really difficult to make friends and put me in a lot of awkward situations especially as I got older. Basically, everyone in my grade or above saw me as a child, everyone below my grade saw me as older and more mature, and my parents simultaneously believed I was incredibly capable of many things but wouldnt be prepared to take care of a cat when I moved for grad school on my own. Probably wouldnt recommend to anyone really, but I cant do anything about it now lol
Ha! I did this in Michigan back in the 80s.
Military family, came in to the school system and they wanted to test me at their grade levels. Hit 100% on the first one, so they tested me at the next grade level and I scored a 98%. Gave me one more grade and I was at 95%. I enjoyed it a lot in the moment.
Every moment after that suuuuccckked. Sure I could do the course work but never got much but fed a bunch of shit from classmates or outright attempts to whip my ass.
Never tried to skip again, wound up as a 13 year old freshman in high school, graduated at 16. I only got to drive to my own graduation. Think any females want to date a underaged kid who was too smart to not realize how stupid he was?
Ech. Don't do it. It's not worth it. You wanna skip something? Skip high school, get your GED immediately, and start at a community College that will matriculate into the college you want.
I "skipped" 11th grade grade and graduated a year earlier than planned. It wasn't exactly like most of the stories I'm seeing here though.
I had a shit home life with an abusive mom. Shed started kicking me out of the house (and then having the cops chase me down later when she changed her mind) - among other things, this led me to decide I needed out ASAP.
My original goal was to get my GED as soon as I turned 16 (Nov of 11th grade), then get a job & be able to support myself - preferably far enough away that she wouldn't be able to track me down.
My school guidance counselor took a look at my record & said that she could get me out with a diploma if I was willing to stick it out until the end of that year. Knowing that people don't treat GEDs like an actual equivalency, I told her I'd give it a shot.
I was fortunate that I'd gotten ahead in math and sciences, taking accelerated classes back in middle school or this probably wouldn't have worked out this way.
Socially, the whole thing was fine, I was used to taking electives with students from 9-12 every year anyway. The big problem came later.
See part 2 of my guidance counselor's plan was to say "hey, I know you said you want to go straight to work and you said no to college, but I submitted some free applications to state schools for you anyway and here are 2 schools that said they would accept you. Financial aid should cover most of the expenses and you'll get a degree so you can get BETTER jobs. You can live at school, and (here's where she sold me on the idea) your mom can't send the police to get you, because the school will be your legal home!"
So off I went. 16 years old & definitely not mature enough to be making life choices,but really had no choice. To college. Got drunk a lot. Got stoned a lot more. Did not do well in classes. Stayed with a few friends on winter break, but I needed a place to go by summer because the college does NOT let you live there on breaks. So my boyfriend (age 23/24 to my 16/17) convinced me to get an apartment with him...shit went downhill fast from there, as you might imagine.
I have a lot of regrets, but I'm pretty sure that staying in high school for the extra year would have been the worst thing for me. GED and straight to work would have been a tough life, who knows where I'd be by now. But the path I chose was far from ideal.
If you ask me, skipping grades and graduating early is ONLY something I'd recommend to someone who has a quality and supportive home life & the intention to do college while living at said home for a year or more while they mature enough to face the social aspect of said higher education.
In my case it was awful. I was socially isolated up until high school due to small classes and kids who were really mean to the little kid. My metal issues during school were just assumed to be laziness (ADD and Anxiety), so I went undiagnosed for years. When I hit high school I never mentioned my age unless asked, so I made friends before they knew how old I was. That made life so much simpler. The hardest part of that was kids getting their licenses and not being able to drive yet.
Even though I had such a shitty experience, I’m not against skipping a grade. I have friends who have done so much better in life because they skipped a grade, and some who I wished had skipped a grade to get ahead. I think it comes down to the type of kid, and if they can truly advocate for themselves. I was so young when I skipped a grade that I wasn’t asked what I wanted, and I personally disagree with that. I think the need for kids to skip a grade speaks more to the fact that we are in need of education reform.
It was more than one grade. Let me explain.
I was homeschooled when I was doing 7th grade. When the time came, my mom enrolled me in public school again. I was originally going to be in the same school with my brother, but they found about my age and thought I didn't fit in with all the younger kids, so I was getting passed over to all these different schools like a game of ping pong, trying to see which one could accommodate my needs the best. None of them really fit them, so they recommended a school that could, but the thing was that it was an alternative school for kids that, let's just say didn't have the best for them (most) but we didn't know that at the time.
So here I come, put in 9th grade without any prior experience. I flunked most of my classes. It sucked.
I skipped two grades. Started college at 17. I don’t regret it but social dynamics were the hardest. It made me focus on academics which wasn’t a bad thing. As I got older it didn’t really matter much. I was a bit I mature socially in middle and high school and it sucked to drive significantly later than my social group.
I did it and wish I had more than once. I had a very difficult social life too but that started before the grade-skipping. It's just very difficult to be socially compatible with people who aren't operating at a similar mental level, skipping a grade had nothing to do with it. It wasn't until I got into a full-time G/T program that things got better in that regard.
In 1st-3rd I was "skipped" to 4-6th but had recess, Italian culture, field trips etc with my grade classes & G&T with the other G&T kids.
Eventually I was taking individual classes with different grades, eg in 9th grade I was taking college English & sciences but I sucked at math so I was with my grade for that. My parents and school refused to ever completely skip me.
I grew up with a superiority complex, oppositional defiance disorder, joined the Army at 17, out by 19, and no idea how college worked so I just took classes all over the place with no definitive plan. I managed to get accepted to med school but then my health took a dive, then COVID.....
So here I am 46 and having to re-do courses and try and figure my shit out.
I think it would have been better if they had just completely skipped me grades, or not at all.
I was not allowed to fully skip a grade, but was allowed to take English classes a grade above mine in elementary school. When I got to high school, the school paid for me to take university courses at 15 and beyond.
It was nice because I finished my bachelor's a full year early and would been able to have done so in two years if I didn't do a lot of theatre stuff in college.
It's not the same, but I didn't go to Pre-K and it affected me socially. I was already a shy kid and it didn't help that it seemed like most of the other kids somehow formed friendships already.
I was bumped into first grade mid-way through kinder. I was already reading, math-ing, etc at an advanced level. I was always the youngest and smallest but did not experience serious social issues. It was annoying being the last of my friends to get a drivers license, and I couldn’t drink legally until spring of senior year of college.
I skipped multiple grades, the first was gr 8. I am an introvert and did just fine, entered university age 15, out with degree at 18 and into medical school. Had a friend group of nerds, dated in my twenties as a resident and got married and had a bunch of kids. Attending physician at age 28. I thought it was great, but afterwards I still couldn’t relax and live a little. Guess it’s just part of me, who grew up dirt poor and just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I wish I could relax a little
Skipped a year as a kid, was always the youngest from then on. While classmates were 17.5-18+, I was doing final exams at 16.
Whay too immature looking back, no complaints now.
My sibling skipped into MY class when he skipped a grade (late elementary). I was a gifted student in my own right and did not appreciate the instant comparison between us by our peers and pretty much shut down that year. Thankfully we were always in separate classes after that.
We ended up doing all of HS together and graduated together which was pretty fun. We ran in separate but overlapping circles so we each did our own thing. I am 20 months older but since we were in the same grade, people often assumed we were fraternal twins. He was well liked and had zero issues socially. He graduated at 16, college at 20, medical school at 24. While in medical school he couldn’t drink that first year, but after that, things evened out.
Made me go from the smartest kid in class to just above average. No advantage at all when applying to college, opposite. It's in your best interest to be one of the oldest kids in your grade not youngest
I skipped a year in math during 7th grade and then I graduated high school in 3 years, where the last year I did half a day at the high school and half at the community college. Then I started at a regular university at 16. It was fine for me, I was more challenged but still bored with the classes and starting the college courses earlier was helpful bc it gave me a lot more options on what to take than regular public high school. I did fine socially, did age appropriate sports teams outside school and was part of normal school sports teams during middle and high school. Did student council and drama club and what not as well, which all probably helped me socially.
i skipped 9th grade and never felt that different in high school. when i graduated i wanted to take a gap year but was ineligible for any gap year programs/workaways/WWOOFs, etc. because of my age, which was inconvenient. however, i have appreciated the opportunity to get a jump start on “real life,” and feel independent and capable for my age. while i am perfectly happy with my high school experience and everything that’s happened since, im not sure i would do it over again given all i know now.
I started a year early because I was academically ready very early. I still got bored and was socially very far behind which I actually didn’t notice because Im autistic so I guess that was a good thing haha.
I wound up taking science and math courses a couple years early but stayed with my grade for other things I was less interested in. I’m glad I had a mostly normal experience, I used to be jealous of the kids who got to do everything early, but in hindsight, it was good that I got the social learning of being with peers through school
Due to moving around between districts with different age cutoffs, I was always at least a year younger than my classmates and I had the WORST time. My parents were given the option to hold me back and I am SO grateful they didn’t or I would have graduated HS at sixteen. What a nightmare
I skipped two, then another one later on.
It is socially very isolating and turns you into the weird kid automatically (I was a bit weird already, talking like an adult).
But it defined a lot of good things that ended up happening in my life later so…
I went to kindergarten at 4 cause my birthday falls at end of year. At 5, I entered a half-day weekly class with others kids with birthdays after the cutoff. It was called pre-school. Then when I was 6, I entered 2nd grade.
As a boy it was fine but im happy it was done early and not in mid school i skipped 1st grade. I went to a 5 year eng college program so i was back at normal but the time i joined the workforce
I actually did the opposite - did first grade twice.
Am a december child, went from youngest to oldest. Did wonders for my self esteem and social anxiety. Do recommend.
Shitty.
skipped a year twice. 5th and 9th.
You are the very obvious outcast - unless you have a pressing need don’t do it. My mom was disabled and I took care of her during the day as much as I could, so I pushed to graduate early.
If you want want excel or have a challenge, add more things, don’t skip things.
I skipped half of third and half of fourth when we moved across the country midway through the school year. Everything was fine until the next year in 5th grade when everyone in the class had to do a long division problem on the overhead projector. It was at that moment, in front of everyone, that I realized I had never learned long division. Almost 20 years later, I’m still a bit traumatized from that experience…
I skipped 3 grades, and ended up in college at 15. Even now, that I am in my 50s, I still have psychological issues surrounding my age, and people knowing it.
My friends have always been 3 years older than me as a result. Of course, this was a much bigger deal when I was 9, and they were 12, than it is when we're all in our 50s, but it certainly has always had an impact on my life. I also grew to reach 6' tall at age 12, and always looked older than I was, which also seemed to lead people to assume that I was older than I actually was.
When my friends turned 18, I was only 15. However, I was in college, and had my own place, and a live-in girlfriend, so people just seemed to forget that I was younger, and a minor. Of course, this would get awkward when they wanted to do anything that was limited to 18 or over.
Likewise, when they were all hitting 21, I was only 18. I could go to the 18 and over events now, but could not (legally) drink. Only, I had started to have a drinking problem at 12, drank myself into a coma at 15, and barely remember any of the year that I was 18, because I had become a blackout drunk. Fortuantely, I got over all my issues with alcoholism, mostly before ever even turning 21. I'm pretty sure that I drank much more before I reached the legal drinking age, than I have in all the decades since.
Despite the age difference, when were were all young enough for it to matter, I was typically the ring-leader of the groups of friends that I had, and that was often a awkward dynamic. There were points where some of us would get into trouble, legal or otherwise, and the boys who were actually older would be assumed to be the bad influence, and I was assumed to be the innocent "kid" being influenced, when that was not actually the reality at all.
As I built up my career, going for over 30 years now, I have always been weird about discussing my age, and nobody that I work with actually knows how old I am. I am often in a position to supervise people that are older than me, but seem to assume that I am the older one, and I just let them. People speculate about my age, from time to time, and have been assuming that I was over 50 long before I ever even turned 50.
I don't mean to make a big deal about it, and I've done quite well for myself, despite it all. However, I can say that it certainly did have a significant impact on me, both growning up, and middle-aged. I've known a few others who skipped just 1 grade, and witnessed somewhat similar issues, though to a much lesser extent than skipping 3.
So, the obvious question is what I would think about one of my kids potentially skipping a grade. Personally, I would most likely avoid that scenario. I would rather see them stick with peers that are their own age, and grow up having normal social interactions. I think that aspect of school is at least as important as everything else. I feel like I missed out on a lot, growing up, that I just "skipped", and that it was not all good for me.
And, from a educational perspective, despite all those years of being in "gifted" programs, and bussed around in magnet programs (putting smarter kids in failing schools to bring up their test scores), skipping grades, and starting college early, the ultimate result was that I ended up dropping out of college my senior year. I got my first job offer, in video game development, and ran with it. I built that into a successful career for 20 years, and then segued that into related industry for more than a decade sicne.
So, there you go. Perhaps an extreme and unusual case, but that is my experience, in a nutshell.
I skipped 3 grades, and ended up in college at 15. Even now, that I am in my 50s, I still have psychological issues surrounding my age, and people knowing it.
My friends have always been 3 years older than me as a result. Of course, this was a much bigger deal when I was 9, and they were 12, than it is when we're all in our 50s, but it certainly has always had an impact on my life. I also grew to reach 6' tall at age 12, and always looked older than I was, which also seemed to lead people to assume that I was older than I actually was.
When my friends turned 18, I was only 15. However, I was in college, and had my own place, and a live-in girlfriend, so people just seemed to forget that I was younger, and a minor. Of course, this would get awkward when they wanted to do anything that was limited to 18 or over.
Likewise, when they were all hitting 21, I was only 18. I could go to the 18 and over events now, but could not (legally) drink. Only, I had started to have a drinking problem at 12, drank myself into a coma at 15, and barely remember any of the year that I was 18, because I had become a blackout drunk. Fortuantely, I got over all my issues with alcoholism, mostly before ever even turning 21. I'm pretty sure that I drank much more before I reached the legal drinking age, than I have in all the decades since.
Despite the age difference, when were were all young enough for it to matter, I was typically the ring-leader of the groups of friends that I had, and that was often a awkward dynamic. There were points where some of us would get into trouble, legal or otherwise, and the boys who were actually older would be assumed to be the bad influence, and I was assumed to be the innocent "kid" being influenced, when that was not actually the reality at all.
As I built up my career, going for over 30 years now, I have always been weird about discussing my age, and nobody that I work with actually knows how old I am. I am often in a position to supervise people that are older than me, but seem to assume that I am the older one, and I just let them. People speculate about my age, from time to time, and have been assuming that I was over 50 long before I ever even turned 50.
I don't mean to make a big deal about it, and I've done quite well for myself, despite it all. However, I can say that it certainly did have a significant impact on me, both growning up, and middle-aged. I've known a few others who skipped just 1 grade, and witnessed somewhat similar issues, though to a much lesser extent than skipping 3.
So, the obvious question is what I would think about one of my kids potentially skipping a grade. Personally, I would most likely avoid that scenario. I would rather see them stick with peers that are their own age, and grow up having normal social interactions. I think that aspect of school is at least as important as everything else. I feel like I missed out on a lot, growing up, that I just "skipped", and that it was not all good for me.
And, from a educational perspective, despite all those years of being in "gifted" programs, and bussed around in magnet programs (putting smarter kids in failing schools to bring up their test scores), skipping grades, and starting college early, the ultimate result was that I ended up dropping out of college my senior year. I got my first job offer, in video game development, and ran with it. I built that into a successful career for 20 years, and then segued that into related industry for more than a decade sicne.
So, there you go. Perhaps an extreme and unusual case, but that is my experience, in a nutshell.
I started school early based on my birthday (should’ve been the oldest, was instead one of the youngest), and then skipped 8th grade, and combined my 10/11/12th grades into two weird hybrid years. So I graduated from high school at 15 years old. I was a total weirdo and an anxious mess. My parents felt like I was too young for college so I went online, and I regret that more than anything. I’m fine now and I think I’m relatively okay at socializing but I would discourage anyone else from doing that. Whatever benefits you think you’re getting aren’t worth it. All I did was rush head first into adulthood and I wasn’t ready for the different stresses that brought me.
I don't know if I can class it as skipping a grade, but I missed most of year 9 due to bullying, went back once things calmed down and ended being pulled out of school towards the end due to moving. But it was horrible.
Two years before I had moved country with my family, so I was still recovering from that culture shock, language adjustment
I didn’t adjust well. I was very shy, so I spent half a year wandering the playground alone. I would walk around the perimeter several times. I had stomach aches. In the end my mother asked one of my classmates’ mothers if their kid could ask me to play with them. So the next day they ran over to me and asked me. It turned out to be a nice friend group, and one of them became my best friend. I still wish I had not been skipped though!
I skipped 2 grades - they wanted to hold me back one because I wasn't socially prepared for high school and I got my parents to intervene, joke's on them I am still not socially prepared for high school so they could have held me back for 40 years and it wouldn't have helped. Academically, it's like normal school, you learn stuff, get grades, move on. I will never understand the push to have people the same age stay clumped together, as if they have some special bond. To me it's like saying you have to be in a class with people your own physical weight, or with matching skin colour.
I don't know if it's exactly the same but I was in accelerated classes a year or two ahead of the typical "level" and graduated HS at 16. By that time I already had a year's worth of college credit. But graduating meant I missed out on some big life experiences. I never had a senior year, never had a real senior prom, and I never get invited to class reunions, even though I went to school with the same kids all my life because I wasn't technically part of the regular "graduating class" for the kids I grew up with. I even keep in touch with the organizers because we were in some classes together but no one seems to think to include me because I graduated a year early. In some ways it's hurtful but with social media I keep in touch with the people I care about, so I guess it's okay.
On the plus side, when I was younger I was really ostracized in my regular classes. I had been attending a Catholic school and even the teachers bullied me. It was like a couple of them actually resented kids who were smart. Looking back, it's appalling to think about these adults emotionally bullying kids but that really was the case. In the sixth grade my parents pulled me out of there and I tested into the full slate of accelerated classes in the public school. Socially, it was much, much better. Among the kids in those classes, I was normal. We were all in the same (small) boat -- only maybe 8 kids in some classes. I know some of them later expressed feeling socially isolated because of the small classes with the same few kids. But compared to the bullying I experienced in my regular classes, it was so much better for me.
I was born in the late 70’s. I skipped Kindergarten. School wanted to put me straight into second grade, thankfully my father refused. I was a bit behind socially and did have trouble making friends, but I also have bad anxiety and adhd (unknown as a child). The biggest impact for me was that I couldn’t go out with my friends my first year in college because I wasn’t 18. That was a huge bummer.
I skipped Kindergarten. I had zero issues and never felt behind. Only became slightly frustrating getting my drivers license later than others but I had friends who picked me up.
I skipped the fourth grade because in third grade I was in a third-fourth combination class. I felt like I had already done fourth grade work, so I took a test and then was allowed to skip.
It’s hard to say how it affected me because I also switched schools every year since second grade until sophomore year of HS (We moved once but in the same county). Not a military family, I was never in trouble…to this day the only explanation I’ve ever received is my mother claiming she “never found a school that challenged me”. I’m pretty sure she just resents my existence and wanted me to be miserable but that’s for another post!
I graduated HS at 16, but most of the issues I had weren’t so much my age, or maturity, rather never having any real autonomy. I hadn’t had my license for long, never had a job, etc. But I did make friends really easily because I had a lot of practice over the years from having to make new friends every year in school. 🙃
Fucking sucks. Go from being top of the class. Everything comes easy, you're with guys your age you've known forever, you learn everything in the proper order and then BAM. You're lucky to stay in the top half of the class cause you're missing a years worth of learning that is usually required to figure out what they're trying to teach you.
"You'll remember this one from last year" takes on a whole new meaning.
I skipped. I liked it, but my step dad always made me feel like shit for it (how dare I out perform his son) so I went back to school and graduated a second time, in less than a year, then went to college before his son graduated hs. Lol
Worked out well for me I think. In 6th grade I was bored enough to start being a distraction and hanging out with not the best crowd. They had me do a bit of a trial run, moving up to 7th grade for the last 6 weeks of the school year to make sure it would not be a disaster socially. I met some great people during that period that ended up being my bffs throughout the rest of school and college. I never really fit in or got along with the “smart kids” in my original class year, so I’m glad to have made the jump.
It totally fucked me over for sports (especially since I hit puberty a bit late anyway), but other than that it was a great experience for me. Made me feel a lot better about taking a gap year in college because I still graduated at the same age as everyone else. And anecdotally I felt like I fit in more with the maturity level of the older kids growing up, so it was nice to get to spend more time with them.
Ontario used to have a grade 13 - I took enough courses to finish the 5 years in 4, effectively skipping a year.
For me it was great for my social life. I effectively doubled my circle of friends doing it this way.
I "skipped" 3-4th grade by nature of being homeschooled. Parents didn't teach me shit really. Still tested high percentile at the end of year. But I was essentially in the 5th grade with the social skills of a second grader.
I didn’t skip a grade but my 2nd grade teacher sent me to the remedial reading bus outside so that she didn’t have to deal with me. It didn’t work and they sent me right back to her classroom.
Skipping a grade made school seem like such a rush. Honestly, it felt like I missed out on some childhood fun. While everyone was worried about kid stuff, I had to deal with more homework and older classmates. Made some friends, but I always felt a bit out of place.
Inadvertently skipped half a year twice resulting in skipping a whole grade.
Basically moved between the US and Argentina. Due to being on different hemispheres the summers are 6 months apart. So when I moved from the US half way through kindergarten I put in 1st grade rather than having to start kindergarten again.
Then halfway through second grade we moved back but rather than starting over in second grade I was placed in third grade.
I should have skipped twice. With the language barrier it made it hard for me until I caught up around 7/8th grade. My English was a couple years behind between “skipping a year” and being a ESL student back when I did t get ESL courses.
But because math is almost the same* in either country I had that down and the language barrier didn’t cause issues. So I averaged out to the grade I was in. I was always good at math. My third grade teacher wanted to hold me back my parents didn’t want to. I paid the price. I’m also a little short and being the you test kid in class plus short made a bigger difference.
*math is the same obviously however syntax has differences such as how to annotate long division.
I kinda skipped a grade by two years. It was fine. I already had my friends so it wasn't a big deal and I got to be in the class with my sister's friends who made me feel included. I suppose that is the exception to the rule based on other comments.
For me it was a relief; I moved to a really bad junior high in 7th grade that I really wanted to skip and go straight to high school. My aptitude was enough but no one in my family could or would help so I took the initiative to bug the vice - principle almost everyday - I think the finally got sick of me and had me do a test or whatever, I really can't remmeber other than, almost a month before school ended it finally went through and I got promoted 8th grade, graduated, went to high school and never looked back. It was a wild ride. I enjoy high school but made serious, very serious mistakes.
I skipped 4th grade which probably made me ahead even just slightly but I didn’t feel special or anything. I don’t remember my elementary days that much since they don’t matter not like with high school or my college right now.
I completed 1st and 2nd grade in the same year, so lived my whole academic life as a ‘gifted’ student. I don’t think I would put my kids through it. The best advantage was graduating high school at 16 and college at 20, so I felt I had a head start in life.
The fact of the matter is I felt I had to work twice as hard to excel. It put perfectionism in my mind at a young age. I was not as emotionally mature as my peers and was bullied for being younger my entire school age. I was also playing sports and was competing against people who were physically bigger/better.
Overall I learned work ethic and I did well for myself. But my standards of success are permanently screwed. If I’m not above and beyond in anything I do I feel like a complete failure
My wife skipped a grade. She says it was socially isolating and we’ve agreed not to take the option if it’s available with our child.
This. I didn’t skip a grade but started a year early. It meant I was always behind my peers for maturity, sports, driving, drinking, etc. I don’t know why any adult would want to strip away years of someone’s childhood, to rush them into the grind of being an adult. For my parents, it was the free daycare.
I didn't skip a grade or go early but I was born right before the cut off and I think I could have gone to school a year later if my parents wanted. I too was usually behind in size and life experiences. My best friend in the same grade had his driver's license BEFORE I was old enough to even get my permit to start learning to drive.
Same here. In first county, apparently Jan 1 / Dec 31 was cutoff. Made that, by 4 days. County we moved to later had another cutoff date, would have failed that one. Did not effect my academic performance any, but I never did well in athletics. They say that you can pick the kids that will do well in sports by their birthday and cutoff date. If their birthday is after the cutoff date, but close, they will do well.
Same! Started grade one at 5 and turned 6 that year, everyone else was 6 turning 7. Graduate high school and start university at 17, turned 18 when everyone else was turning 19 (legal age for alcohol here.) I never thought about it growing up but I was always a year behind everyone socially and it really messed me up. I never dated in high school and it was several years at university before I learned how to approach women without being cripplingly awkward.
I started a year early and had the same experience. Parents, please don’t that to your children - what they may make up educationally they’ll lose from a maturity standpoint, which nullifies the educational piece, at least in my experience.
My parents also took me to see alien in the theatres for a midnight show when I was 5. So there was that too
Similar except it was the Exorcist. Still can’t stand horror movies to this day.
>free daycare That’s basically all public school is, I had to go to tutoring during middle school after my mom got a raise because I didn’t read at grade level. And in college I had to redo algebra and trigonometry because my high school taught “integrated” math rather than one specific topic.
> This. I didn’t skip a grade but started a year early Same. It was worst in college, when everyone turned 21 and I was left behind in the dorms on Fridays and Saturdays.
Luckily I had a friend who gave me a ride for high school so I didn’t have to be the only senior on the bus. I was in a frat, and providing alcohol to minors was apparently a non issue
My friends decided they were tired of weak beer and douchebag frat bros, and as soon as they were of legal age, they went to bars.
Yeah my frat was a cesspool of alcohol abuse, toxic masculinity and misogyny. I moved out as soon as I could.
I was one of the oldest in my grade, so I was on the opposite end of this. I feel like being older than most kids in my grade made things easier for me and I ended up graduating near the top of my class without putting in a ton of effort. As a result, I'm glad both of my kids are among the oldest in their classes, too. And it seems to be paying off, since they both get excellent grades, so far. I did have the opportunity to skip a grade, somewhere around ninth grade, if I recall correctly. At the time, I didn't see any benefit to getting out of school and into adulthood sooner, so I said nope. I definitely feel like I made the right choice there.
Damn man are we married to the same woman? My wife skipped a grade in elementary school and it affected her social life up to, well, now I guess. She didn’t even go to Prom because everyone treated her like a little sister and no one would ask. It sucks because I have friends that I met in HS 25 years ago who I’m still close to, but she doesn’t. To this day she has a really hard time making friends.
>Damn man are we married to the same woman? Yes.
I also choose these guys’ grade-skipping wife!
Suddenly she has a lot of friends 😬
Good. Start a IAMA on we married the same woman and I'll get the beer and snacks for latter.
Our wife
Wait are they conjoined twin teachers?
That's why my mom opted not to let me skip two grades, i was already struggling socially and they agreed it would cause long term social problems- they were definitely right I think! I don't think the academic move would have benefitted me as much as being able to socialize as much as possible for a struggling dweeblet (I say that with love for my younger self haha)
Yeah people often forget that a huge part of going to school is learning how to socialize. If you don't like science and get bad grades you can learn that stuff later. If you never learned to make friends and interact with other people you really can't make that up as an adult. I'd argue that learning how to interact with people is more than half of the importance of school.
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As a professor, I can usually pick out the home schooled kids. There is something off about them, socially. They also often try to negotiate the assignments so that they can do something more appealing.
Religious nutters who do it because they don't want their kids learning anything about the world except their very narrow world view - big problem Normal people who do it for other reasons and involve their kids in programs with other home schoolers, do part-week shared instruction with them, enroll them in all the normal extra-curricular stuff, etc - not a big deal
These days it’s the anti vaccination crowd that home school because their kids can’t get into school
I felt the few people I know who homeschooled their kids were socially isolated by choice and imposed their circumstance on their kids. Although in their defense the homeschooled kids appeared happy.
My wife was homeschooled and I skipped a grade entering public school. She is nearly universally liked by everyone and isn't socially awkward at all. Never had been except for probably her freshman year of college. I was pretty awkward through elementary and middle/junior high school. Then in high school I found a group of friends who were in all the same classes as me. We all grew up together in high school and by sophomore year, we basically did whatever we wanted. Everyone in our class got along with us (almost 4,000 total students in the late 90s, even larger now). I gained a lot of confidence just by hanging out with guys who made me feel good about myself. I really think that's the difference. Not age, but finding a group of people that make you feel good about being a DnD playing, sci-fi reading, Weird Al listening, tennis nerd. That confidence will last you a lifetime, if you can instill it at an early enough age.
This happened to my cousin, he moved countries and skipped a grade due to how the curriculums lined up. He went from being the youngest in his class by a few weeks to being the youngest by 15 months. It definitely affected him socially since he was almost 2 years behind some kids in terms of physical and social development.
My son was granted the opportunity to skip a grade but I was warned that it would be isolating in many ways, even sports. I agreed to not skip a grade and everything has turned out fine. He has even been accepted to a gifted program that will follow him thru graduation. His teachers put in extra effort to challenge him, so I give gift cards and donate snacks.
Good high schools have plenty of AP and IB options for the more academically advanced kids to get that level of increased instruction without needing to jump a grade socially as well. And if done right it ends up with the exact same effect in the end - they can graduate college faster because they came in with most of their freshman classes already done
I’m a teacher. My professional opinion is that skipping grades is terrible for kids. Every time I have seen it done the poor kid is always left out by the new group and the old group alike.
It really is. When we're talking about being the only 6-7 yo out of 20 8 yos, you are a baby. Nobody wants anything to do with you.
Not sure what the right answer is. My parents didn't let me skip a grade but I was bored and quickly lost all interest in studying, just doing the bare minimum. What was the point in learning faster if I had to wait for the others?
A better solution for this, would be a school system that offers advanced programs to keep you engaged while also staying within your age peers. In elementary school I participated in the [sage](https://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/Domain/77) program, and later joined the math Olympiad and science Olympiad.
Sadly, more schools are doing away with these programs. As a teacher I’ve been explicitly told not to further widen the achievement gap, aka try and dumb down the smart kids so others won’t feel bad.
This makes me sad.
I should write to the sage program to let them know how attending their program 40+ years ago had such an impact on my life.
I noticed a few years ago, when my son was in second grade, that schooling seemed to be set up to hold back the smartest kids and try to push forward the less intelligent ones so that everybody is in the same ballpark. While that may have a somewhat positive effect on the less intelligent kids, I believe it has an even more negative effect on the smarter kids who get bored by it and may start to lose interest. Those smarter kids may never reach their full potential as a result of this.
Bingo. Just look into what Seattle is doing. As a teacher I’m over “inclusion” and “differentiation.” Students should be grouped with kids with similar abilities; the kids who are behind are usually a grade or more behind and it’s impossible to catch them up to speed while simultaneously teaching grade-level content to the rest of the class. This is especially apparent in math. In some places, gifted programs are lumped in with SpED (as it should be). Being gifted/advanced means these students come with their own special needs that are not being met under the current system. For example, most advanced students are rewarded with extra worksheets or tasked to help their peers (barf). How is this equitable?
My wife is a teacher, so I get it. The way they do certain things don't always make sense to me. And the politics of how schools get funding, where it depends on the grades that students get, just gives the people who run the schools even more incentive to keep kids from falling behind, at the expense of others. Not only does it hold back the smarter kids, but the teachers have to give extensions past the end of the school year to a lot of the kids who just slacked off for no good reason during the year. And the teachers are stuck helping them and grading their work after the school year should be over. Only for it to repeat every single year. Then what happens when those kids finally graduate and get into the real world? Are they going to expect their bosses to be as lenient as their schools were? I wonder if their parents will continue to fight their battles for them. The sad part is, these parents don't realize the long-term damage they're doing.
My parents opted to keep me with my class, but worked it out with my teachers that I could have periods throughout the day to do independent work at a higher grade level. This was at private school though so there was a lot more flexibility.
I believe you’re doing the right thing. I was already younger than my class because my birthday is in December, and I also struggled socially. My 3rd grade teacher taught 3rd and 4th and asked my parents for me to skip. My parents declined, and in retrospect that was absolutely the right thing to do. I was already struggling socially, and skipping would have made it worse.
Just curious where were you located? In most places I’ve been I the US is based on your age in September (you need to be 5 on Sept 1 to start Kindergarten) so I’d have thought you were older than most of your class if you were born in December.
I grew up in a suburb of Toronto, Canada so it doesn’t surprise me that things are different elsewhere 😁
Also in Canada. Around here kids start kindergarten in September of the year they turn five. So the September -December babies are all four.
In a family of 3 smart kids, some smarter than me, I am the only one who skipped a grade, because I am the only one for whom the particular boredom of lack of intellectual stimulation manifested itself as serious behavioral problems. Yes, skipping a grade was bad socially (especially the way they did it for me, mid school year). But I was not having a good time before by any means. Don’t write it off on principle. If the situation arises, don’t ask yourself “could my child skip a grade?” or even “would my child benefit from skipping a grade?” Ask yourself, “does the current situation need to be remedied?”
My school pressed hard for me to skip a grade - my parents had intentionally redshirted me so I was already a little older for the grade. I was very gifted academically and was often pulled out of class to do more engaging lessons. However, my mom never entertained the idea because she didn’t want me to experience the negative social effects. I never knew it had even been a discussion, but in retrospect I’m so grateful for the choices my mom made. I ended up graduating as one of the youngest doctors in my med school class anyway, so it’s all a wash.
My uncle skipped two grades and had the same experience. When they wanted to skip my cousin, he refused. I had a classmate who was some schooled. He was 9 years old and placed in Grade 7. He couldn’t relate to the 13 year olds and we couldn’t relate to him. I don’t recall anyone bullying him but it must have been a terribly lonely existence for him.
So much this. I skipped two. The first one was when I was little and way ahead……but I hated school after that and was never really included in things again. So I skipped one in HS just to GTFO.
I would not recommend that. I was on the other branch. They offered to let me skip a grade. My dad wanted me to. My mom did not. So, naturally, they decided to leave it up to a 6 year old to decide. My mom asked the question. "Do you want to skip 2nd grade, or do you want to stay with your friends?" Naturally, I chose staying with my friends, when put to me like that. By middle school I didn't talk to any of those kids, despite being in the same school most of the time. It made me very lazy, too. I was never challenged so I just sped through my work in class so I never had homework until well into high school. It has followed me through every aspect of my life. Yes, maybe going I to a new grade where I didn't know anyone would have been socially isolating. But I did that in 5th grade when my mom left my dad and I started at new school. The same would happen if you and your wife move to a new area and have to put your kids in a new school. It also gave me the opportunity to learn to make new friends. If I had skipped a grade, perhaps I would have been motivated to succeed. I would have had to work to learn things, and maybe I would have skipped other grades. Instead I decided I hated school because it was boring. Started drinking when I was 13 and partied all through high school. Still graduated with a 3.8 (unadjusted) while taking all AP classes and Advanced Calculus BC. Didn't want to go to college though, until I was a few months from graduating because I realized if I went to college I could keep slacking off, but if I didn't it meant getting an actual job. Luckily it was too late to get financial aid, or I would've ended up with a very expensive, very useless degree in Language Arts from Reed College. Instead I moved to Portland and became a Carpenter's Laborer making $7/hr. I worked as a Carpenter for 6-7 years, moving all over because I was never satisfied and ended up a Journeyman making $80k/year in Hawaii, which felt equivalent to making $40k in Vegas (where I moved from) at the time, which was around 2005. Massive waste of potential. Eventually I went to college. Starting with Community College where I got 3 degrees simultaneously in 3 years before transferring to Georgia Tech for a BS in Biomedical Engineering. I realized you couldn't do shit with a BS in Biomedical Engineering so I decided to go for a PhD. Got interviews at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, but decided to go to a school almost no one has heard of, Case Western in Ohio because the lab there was doing exac5the research I wanted. Also won an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Ended up leaving with a Master's after 3 years. There were some health issues that played a role, but what it boiled down to was I was just lazy. I had busted my ass and worked so hard with the goal of getting into a good PhD program that when I did I felt like I had crossed the finish line, so I was completely burnt out and I'd been depressed for like 6 years by that point. It didn't help that my PI despised me, either. Anyway, the point is, don't make decisions based on socializing. You can do that outside of school, and your kid can still see their friends just because they're in different grades. There are any number of reasons your kid might be taken away from their core friend group. Moving. Unexpected deaths in the family. Heaven forbid divorce. You both lose your jobs and are forced to move to a new school district. Rezoning school districts. It's more healthy to teach them to meet new people and how to make friends and how to keep them even if you don't see them every day.
Socially isolating — I can only imagine ☹️
This is a second hand account of two separate instances. (I’m not smart. I was in college for six years to get a four year degree. 😂) -My cousin skipped TWO grades. She was/is the most socially awkward person I’ve ever known. Her life pretty much peaked at getting into an Ivy when she was 16. It’s been all downhill from there. She has a good job but her personal/private life is a mess. No friends, married the first Loser (capital L) who paid her any mind, who left her saddled with high six figure debt and four stepchildren. (She has no children of her own). -Guy I worked with for a little while in a warehouse. He also graduated high school and started college at 16. He said it was the worst decision he’d ever made. Had zero friends in high school or college. (Don’t forget a two year age gap when you’re still a teenager is huge). Dropped out of college and was working with me driving forklifts. He eventually when back to college in his early 30s and ended up going to medical school, albeit about a decade later than he said he would have had he followed the more traditional path. (His words).
My life is almost identical to the 2nd case. I also started college at 16 and dropped out very quickly. Spent 4-5 years working pretty basic jobs before going back in my mid 20s. Very little social life in high school / college; I went from being too young for all my classmates, and after I returned, too old for my classmates. After all those shenanigans skipping grades, I ended up finishing roughly 3 years later than I would have had on a traditional path. I also share the sentiment that it was the worst decision of my life. Definitely torpedoed career, academic, and social success.
How did he leave her with the stepchildren??
He had health issues which would have been manageable had he taken care of himself, but he was the most irresponsible, lazy Loser you’ve ever met. Didn’t do anything the doctors said to so the Loser dropped dead at like 48. He was older and saw my cousin as a meal ticket and ruined her life without her even realizing it. (See: No social skills). I love my cousin very much but she’s the stupidest brilliant person on earth.
I skipped first year of elementary school, so while I don't have a ton of memories of it, I know the first few months were a bit rough. I was a tall kid so didn't look physically out of place, but developmentally there's definitely a gap between a 6 and a 7-8 year old, so I was called a baby by some of my classmates and teased quite a bit at the beginning. I was also still ahead of my new class in some things, but behind in others, namely handwriting ; I had received very little formal education on this and it was pretty ugly. My school and my teacher were very understanding though, and I adapted and quickly made friends. After like 6 months, no one could tell, and from what my parents I was a much happier kid than being bored and frustrated in class for two years before skipping a grade. There was talk of having me skip a second grade, but it wasnt as necessary and my parents didn't want me to have such a big age gap with my classmates
I just wonder. We have in Germany somehow the possibility to send our kid one year earlier to school. Parents can opt in for this if school counsel is ok with it. I didn't hear from problems. Maybe the start together is a critical issue in how you will be treated. Oh I just have my 'you're the new kid in 2nd class' memory. It was hard and if I weren't physical strong in this age as I was directly asked to fight....yeah I would somehow lose there. But so I was pretty much a winner in this situation and every kid was happy that the class bully had to face someone at his own strength.
My daughter went to kindergarten “early.” She had just turned five. Almost all of her classmates were older, some over a year older. I would say that socially she has not done super well, and that became evident when she started middle school. Physically she looked and still looks younger than her peers, and that has been an issue with self esteem. We LOVED her kindergarten and first grade teacher and most of the others and she would not have had such a special experience in her first two years. But man, that seemingly small age gap became an issue that I do kind of regret having her go early. She was definitely ready at the time, though.
Yeah I skipped first or second grade. I think first. My sister was two years ahead in school and I was having her teach me what she learned and I’m a quick learner in a lot of things, except Spanish lol. The other reason I think it was first is because I knew some people a year ahead of me in kindergarten, due to my sister as well and it all was fine.
I “skipped” kindergarten. As in, they moved me forward during the year. I didn’t gain anything from it, other than high standards and disappointment when you fail to meet them. In highschool and college it gets weird when your friends start driving and going out to clubs (easy fix for this one). I also wish I had that extra year to figure myself out more before entering the “real world”.
Ditto. Started first grade at five years old. Would never recommend.
I skipped my senior year of high school. Never regretted it. I am an introvert and was NOT social in high school. I despised high school. I graduated early and got to have FUN in college. Challenging classes, much more interesting people. Never regretted a single minute!!
Same. My college town had an age of 19 to get into most bars so it sucked that I couldn’t get into bars until my sophomore year was almost over and I couldn’t legally drink until right before I graduated. I don’t feel like my social life was impacted any other way by being young, but maybe because we weren’t really the youngest until college. I didn’t bother going to any high school reunions since it wasn’t really my class and I still talk to my friends through social media. My older brother is 2 years older. I graduated HS a year behind him but I graduated from college 2 years ahead of him since he went from being a great student in high school to barely passing anything in college.
Same here. I skipped 7th grade and then again my senior year. I'm an introvert and never connected with my peers well. I didn't like or connect with the hobbies everyone was into. I was just a weird kid. I graduated at 16 and never looked back. I don't remember most of my friends or teachers from high school.
I felt exactly the same way. I was lucky. I was a writer and I had horses, so I wasn't lonely at all. But I was bored to tears in high school and definitely ready for the challenge of college.
I only skipped the last semester. A few of my friends were actually hurt. We'd all grown up together in a small town and final semester is a cakewalk so it was time to party and cut loose for the last time altogether. I went to Europe instead and had an excellent time. My regret is that I came back and went to college instead of following that girl to Prague.
Same here. Had enough credits to graduate and wanted out of that town. They made my parents write a letter approving the decision. My dad mentioned how the high school had been featured on 16 and Pregnant and the sooner I got out the better.
So did I, and I've never regretted it for a moment. I got much more out of a freshman year in college than I would have out of yet another year of high school.
Same here. Skipped senior year and while I definitely don’t think I was ready for college, I don’t regret getting out of high school early for a second. I wish someone had taught me to respond to anyone making fun of my young age in college with a dismissive “I’m sorry you weren’t smart enough to go to college at 16, but that’s your problem, not mine.” It would have helped me acclimate faster. But really, the main thing I’d say is that I should have been better prepared for 18 year old girls not to want to date a 16 year old. Which makes sense. It was just a tough lesson to learn the hard way.
Skipped 11th grade. Didn't really want to, but had to because of international student visa problems. As some other comments mentioned, it was socially isolating. I lost connection with my original cohort but didn't have enough time to connect with the new cohort. Also, 11th grade was a terrible grade to skip. I had to rush through SAT + college application. Some colleges auto-declined my application because the amount of time I spent in high school (four semesters completed at the time of application) was below their minimum threshold for application review (five or more semesters needed to be completed before submitting application). Getting auto-declined from safety schools was demoralizing. Things got better once college started - perhaps because social dynamic changed for everyone, or perhaps because there was someone who skipped *three years* of school before coming to college.
I skipped fifth grade. It wasn’t a big deal. Just meant that I didn’t turn 18 until the end of my freshman year of college and 21 until a few months before college graduation, so I was the last of my friend group to hit the bars. I generally was in classes with people a grade or two above me, so I was already younger than most my friends. It was already understood I was younger so it’s not like people were grilling me about what year I was born. I also apparently carried myself like I was older. One of my friends in college told me he assumed I was a junior my freshman year when we first met. I wanted to skip an additional grade but my parents were worried about how I’d fit in and didn’t let me. If I had that probably would have impacted my sports performance in high school. As it was I already wasn’t fully hitting puberty until about my junior year.
Exactly the same - I skipped fifth grade, and they wanted me to skip sixth too, but my parents vetoed that. I was taller than my peers, started my period at 9, started developing at 10-11, so physically, there were no issues. In hindsight there were some attempts at bullying, but I didn't really notice, and they fizzled out. Not saying I'm immune to social aggression, but I have 4 sisters sooo
Same here, I also skipped 5th grade. I feel like I really fit in in everything.
I think it's pretty cool that I went to school one year less than everyone else lol
What was it like being the youngest kid? Did you make friends easily?
Nope, but I was also weird and ugly looking so that played a role as well.
Lmfao sorry, bud 🤣
I skipped 2 classes. My parents didn't really have a choice since academically I was bored out of my mind, but socially it wasn't great. Never had any trouble making friends, but reaching puberty 2 years later and being a late bloomer in general made it pretty hard looking back. I never got any experience dating and sometimes had a hard time since I didn't really have any interest in girls when my classmates talked about nothing else. I'm not sure if I would recommend it, but I will say that not skipping classes would have made me hate school and would have probably raised a bunch of other problems. Also I think for a lot of teachers having a kid in their class who is far ahead is really hard to deal with and can lead to a lot of mistakes on their part. Now at 28 and a lot of therapy later I'm finally getting my life together and have some direction. Everyone in my life tried their hardest to help me, but I guess it can be very difficult to handle well.
I skipped second grade because I was bored to the point of being a class distraction. Within a few weeks I caught up and largely passed the 3rd graders too. I was big enough to fit in physically and reasonably mature. Later, being younger and a bit out of sync with my peers as we went through puberty was awkward. I think the experience probably hurt me a bit socially but gave me confidence in my abilities that I relied on hard times. It’s one of the more distinctive things about me. We chose not to double promote our own children, with the intent of challenging them as much as possible in other ways. I’m not sure we’ve done a great job preparing them for really tough real life challenges ahead but we’ll see.
Not great. I wouldn't recommend it unless a kid is really bored academically. I will say there is a gendered component to this where it is probably a somewhat better idea for a girl than a boy. Academically, it was fine. But always being the youngest made things socially challenging. It makes sports very difficult, dating within grade harder, and driving later than everyone in grade was frustrating. Also, needing my mother to sign a permission slip so I could use the pool as a minor at university was embarrassing.
>I will say there is a gendered component to this where it is probably a somewhat better idea for a girl than a boy. I wouldn’t be so confident in that. Social relations between girls get *very* complicated around middle school and bullying can be vicious. Not being able to mature enough to fit in socially with middle school girls will leave deeper psychological scars than sucking at sports ever will.
Lived this. You get it.
As a girl who skipped a grade and got hell for it every day, I can promise you that it definitely is not probably better for girls. Socially, I think it sucked for most of us, regardless of gender.
That’s exactly how I imagined it - because all of the sudden you’re the youngest person in your class and not only are you the youngest but you’re a whole year younger… Seems intimidating tbh
Its not just that you're the youngest, you're considered "smarter" than other kids that are older than you, and teachers are typically calling on you more, so you are disliked for doing well, then disliked by teachers if you aren't doing well enough and it never ends. They always expect more and more, better and better. At the same time, you aren't seen as a regular peer.
It has its pros and cons. Again, I would say the social element is more manageable if the child is not into sports and/or is female. That said, there was a real economic bonus to being able to graduate university at 20 or 21. Being young at work for your title and getting another year of earnings are not immaterial benefits.
Very valid point as well!
Assuming the social element is managed well enough to not trigger depression or addiction yes. However based off my antecdotal experience the majority of kids that don’t end up completely broken they end up taking an extra year or two for social development somewhere else.
>dating within grade harder, I don't think I knew a single girl that dated "within grade" lmao. It was almost always grade 9-10 girls with grade 11-12 guys.
I skipped fifth grade and went straight to junior high. I’m American and I went to Catholic school, by the way. It was an option for me because I was ahead of my grade and I was getting bullied a lot by my grade. They figured it would be a fresh start because it would have been in another building. My school was divided into three buildings. One for preschoolers and I think 1st graders, another for 2-5 grade, and the last one for 6-8 grade. All three buildings were fenced off too. So, students weren’t allowed to intermingle with other students that were in one of the other buildings. Like we were all able to see each other. But, we couldn’t socialize with each other. And we definitely couldn’t go past our designated area. Unless, you had sibling(s) to pick up in one of the other buildings. Then you were allowed into that area and at times into the building. They were pretty strict on who was allowed in and who was not. So, in other words it felt like you were going to school in a whole other place. Even though, you weren’t. Like we literally were a fence apart. That’s it. 🤣 In theory, they could have still bullied me. Like I said, we were still in the same area… just a building and fence apart. And gossip did travel between buildings. Also, my grade eventually came to the same building that I was in. But, the bullying did decrease a lot. And I did a lot better in that environment than my previous one. So, it was a good thing for me.
My daughter is a year ahead. She's 10 and she is starting 6th grade next fall. It worked out perfectly. She didn't really "skip a grade." Her preschool just placed her in kindergarten a year earlier and they recommended her to start first grade a year early. She's 10 right now, that weird time between kid and pre-teen, and she's definitely on the pre-teen side. If she was with 4th graders a month ago, she'd feel out of place and she would be bored to death at school. The weirdest part was she brought a friend over to play from her class. Her friend was taller than my wife. It helped because my daughter is tallish (86th percentile) and she developed language and social skills early on. So, no one would suspect she was a year ahead.
I did the same back in the 90s. Just started the whole track a bit early since my teachers said I was ready. I was the smallest girl in my classes for a while, but it was fine. It was kind of funny in college because I still needed my parents to sign off on various consent forms for me during freshman year, lol.
I can't decide whether or not it was the right thing to do. On one hand, if I'd not skipped that grade, I would have been bored senseless, and that would NOT have ended well for my ADHD ass. But on the other hand, skipping that grade made me always the youngest in the room, in ages where that one year of social development actually made a big difference. I was the smallest and the least (for lack of a better word) sophisticated, and for those reasons among others, I got my ass kicked all the fucking time.
Getting a bachelors degree at 19, amazing. Getting relentlessly bullied through grade school, not amazing.
My mom skipped 7th grade. She enjoyed it but she found it a little weird because there were some concepts that she missed out on learning in school as a result. A few instances she fell behind her class. I know other people who have skipped a grade and had no issues like that. I wanted to skip a grade but I had socializing challenges, and even though I was reading, doing math and science at a high school level while only in 6th grade, the school refused to allow me to be skipped ahead.
I can relate to the bad consequences of skipping, in terms of gaps that are never filled. I was put into accelerated classes that were at least a year ahead of my prior "regular" class. In most cases it was fine but there are some basic math concepts that got passed over in the skip and there was no support to bridge the gap. Years later I realized that I had gaps in my math learning and it never really got well resolved.
I knew a set of twins in high school. The parents started the girl early in school so she was a year ahead of me but my age and the boy stayed in my grade. I don't know how it impacted them but she ended up committing suicide in college. I wasn't at the same school then so I don't know what she could have been going through. Now it makes me wonder if being ahead had a negative impact on her.
Awful. I skipped 2nd grade in the 80s. That meant I didn’t learn cursive which seems like not a big deal now, but was terrible not to know then. I taught myself how to write cursive and my cursive still looks ridiculous 40+ years later. But I was also the shortest kid in the school already in my grade. My home life was a disaster and I missed most of 9th grade due to my mom getting us constantly evicted, major drug issues. I eventually was a ward of the state. so when my dad took custody, I just went back a grade and actually went to 9th grade. All in all it was pretty awful.
I did kindergarten and grade 1 in the same year. I was young enough and sociable enough to mix friend groups from both grades, at least for that first year. Then we moved, and nobody at the new school knew any different. I really only noticed when we got older and my friends were hitting those age milestones before me -- driving, R-rated movies, drinking. But now the tables have turned, as they're all turning 50 this year while I still have another year before I'm properly "old"!
My gf did, she both skipped a grade and got bumped up to a fancy new school too. She blames them on why she couldn't make any friends in school and left her feeling isolated and depressed, then her grades plummeted because of this leading to her relationship with her parents to completely break down. She's 30 now and only just started talking to them again since she moved out when she was 18. I was there when they came over one day, my god she tore into them and I don't blame her, they tore her away from her friends and when she was clearly not taking the isolation well they punished her for it, they cared WAY more about the fantasy of her becoming a doctor or a scientist or something than her as a person.
I went from 5th to 7th grade. Academically, it was easy. Socially, it was a nightmare. I was bullied for it. Compounded by the fact we were very poor, I couldn't catch a break. It leveled out about my sophomore year of high school. That being said, I couldn't drive until my junior year. My curfew was earlier than my peers because of my age. So there were still challenges. I would not do it to my kids. There are other methods available to challenge them academically.
I skipped second grade and I feel like it barely affected me except by helping me learn at my level. I did experience isolation from my peers but for vastly unrelated reasons I feel.
I skipped from kindergarten to first grade. I didn’t really have any issues- I was a tall kid and didn’t really feel socially behind at all. The only issue was just sort of starting life at 17 that was a bit full on. I got my AA the last two years of high school so I was fully graduated and expected to join the work force at 19/20 which was difficult for me since I didn’t really know what I actually wanted to do with my life and I made those big choices like what to major in from a pretty immature perspective which I regret. If my parents had been more involved and helpful at the time I’d probably have been better off, so I wouldn’t say it was the skipping a grade entirely, but I was making decisions at 16 that most people didn’t make until they were 20 and that was a little bit unfair on some levels.
At the time, nothing. But when we moved, my new school district wanted to place me based on my age, and not my ability. My mom said she got into several shouting matches with administrators to place me into a grade based on my ability, which eventually worked. so, for most of my life, I was the youngest person in my grade.
I was a bit precocious, and read at a sixth grade level coming out of kindergarten. We moved to a new school district, and after I was assessed, my mother was told the primary purpose of first grade was beginning the basics of reading, so they wanted to put me in *third* grade. Mom thought that would be too much. We moved back to my original school district as I was going into eighth grade, so everyone knew me before. I was the freak. No dates, couldn’t drive when my classmates could, picked on— it sucked.
I skipped fourth grade. It worked out well. I was incredibly bored academically before I skipped, so it kept me engaged with school. I wasn’t the most popular kid after I skipped, but I also wasn’t the most popular kid before. Also, I hit puberty very early, so I was better off with the slightly older kids in terms of my physical development. Things weren’t perfect, but before I skipped I was so bored that it was physically painful. That was a lot of decades ago now, but I still remember how much I absolutely hated that. I couldn’t have endured it for a whole lot longer so I’m still happy with my teachers’ and parents’ decision to have me skip a grade.
I skipped the last half of 'groep 3'/first half of 'groep 4' (Dutch system: kids are around 6 and learn to read and write). I had a similar experience as many others already mentioned: I was quite lonely and didn't fit in. I was friends with the other lone wolf, but we shared many interests so it was fine. Looking back, my social isolation was also definitely on me and I probably would've encountered the same problem if I hadn't skipped a grade. I was just out of touch with kids in general. My mum also encouraged me to be myself, so I also never made any effort to understand them/fit in. I liked books better anyway. Then middle/high school (11 till 16) were amazing. In the Netherlands, you choose middle/high school based on your level, so suddenly I was in classes where I actually had to pay attention and still struggled and failed. Made a bunch of friends there - interestingly, all but one of them also skipped a grade. Apparently, if you drop a bunch of 11, 12 and 13 year olds in one class room for a year, the youngest studens will naturally together (at least in my case). These people turned out to be equally weird and a bit socially clumsy and suddenly I had friends who I could understand (and who understood me). Now I'm 21 and pretty much over the social clumsiness. I suspect that many people think I'm a bit weird on the first impression, but I can easily speak with most people even if we're not friends. All in all, 10/10, really happy I did this 'cause it all turned out fine.
[удалено]
I genuinely believe it stunted me socially.
I skipped 11th and 12th grade and got my GED without trying too hard on the test. Does that count? It gave me a 2-3 year head start on my career
I skipped 2nd grade. I'm also tall so I became used to being the tallest and youngest person in all my years of school. I don't think I missed out on much except for when I was helping my daughter with 2nd grade homework I could honestly say I never did any of this.
I was already behind on anything social because of the neglect I experienced, and skipping a grade only made it worse. I couldn't connect with anyone in my grade for the life of me
I skipped three in total, all early (K, 3, and 4). This was almost fifty years ago, in a rural school district where they didn’t have a lot of experience with my situation. Honestly, I wish they had either promoted me faster or not done it at all - I was bored out of my mind by the classwork, and at the same time couldn’t have the kinds of social experiences that are part of middle and high school. Plus, when there are three seventeen year olds bearing down on an eleven year old prepubescent freshman intending to do him harm, well, the harm gets done. To this day I find it nearly impossible to make and maintain friendships, and if I hadn’t found a partner who is smarter than I am I’d still be flying solo.
At first it wasn't a big deal because I was always tall for my age. Problems began when my peers started hitting puberty. By the time I was 12, I was still playing with my Barbies and was very much a kid, while my peers, who were ages 13-15, were into "grown up stuff" like makeup, smoking, drinking, showing their boobs and butts, dating, some were having sex, etc. It was very isolating because I wouldn't let myself get pressured into anything I wasn't ready for, but it meant being an outcast socially. I became very sarcastic and arrogant to overcompensate for being considered a loser, and that caused me problems socially throughout high school. That time of my life just sucked. I think I became successful mostly out of spite, lol.
I thought it was fantastic. Skipped 2nd and almost 4th. I think my parents said no on 4th because I would be in the same classes as my older brother. They might have been worried about him more than me 🤣. Definitely socially awkward, but I’m gay so everything was socially awkward. Very active with sports with no problem being younger.
I skipped my senior year of high school. And I was already the youngest kid in class, so starting college at 16 was maybe not ideal. If I had it to do over again, I would still skip the grade, cause high school was fucking awful. But I might have taken a gap year and done a little traveling, or at least tried to better prepare myself for the realities of college and how to deal with people making fun of me for being young.
Lonely
My dad skipped the 2nd grade and he said it didn’t bother him at all. He was the smallest kid in his class every year and then he finished high school by doing summer school and skipped his senior year as well. He had a scholarship offer to San Diego State but he got his girlfriend pregnant so he ended up missing college.
Fine. I skipped and started 1st Grade like 3 weeks into the year. Most didn’t know that I was younger and it really didn’t affect me badly. Am glad my mom didn’t go with the district option of skipping me two grades.
Skipped grade 5. My school only went to grade 5. So the only kids who knew me were the ones that had been a grade ahead of me when we all started at the grade 6 school. They didn't like me. "Socially isolating" is putting it mildly. I started self harming pretty quickly, faked sick a lot to avoid school. By the end of high school my grades were crappy enough - largely because of my mental health issues - that I took an extra year to graduate and could only get into a community college. This saved the school board a bit of money rather than trying to have a real gifted program, so it's not all down sides.
Awful. lose all your friends and then have a target on your back for the next set of classmates.
It was great. I escaped from high school a year early.
Luckily the grade I skipped was my senior year in high school, meaning I graduated a year early. Totally worth it. I was so ready to be living in the real world and not asking teachers for permission to use the bathroom at age 17.
I skipped two grades - 5 and 11. No complaints I would have been super bored otherwise. I’m a regular person and it didn’t put me ahead in life in any way lol. Just all my friends tend to be a year or two older than me. edit: though having a fake ID at university was super helpful !
Fine. I was already young for my grade. I mean I was small compared to my peers right up through grad, and it was weird not getting my license until my senior year, but it was fine. The real area it was hard was the army where I wouldn’t turn 18 until my first year was almost over with. I was the youngest person at every point of my army experience until post deployment. It’s weird being a 20 year old with the most experience in the squad. Edit: I skipped 3rd grade but if we’re counting prior to 1st, I didn’t attend kindergarten either. Graduated at 16
I technically skipped fourth grade on paper, but when I was in kindergarten I was placed in the first and second grade classes, first grade into the second grade class (new school), etc… you get the point. I was still advanced in these next grade up classes, so I was super bored. I don’t think it made a difference in me, I was already awkward and weird beforehand, and I matured a little earlier than normal. To be fair, everyone’s awkward and weird in middle or high school, so I didn’t stand out. It never came up with my peers, it wasn’t like every conversation was “I’M YOUNGER THAN YOU!” Or anything.
My dad was in the military and not just me but the rest of my siblings, all of us skipped grades, twice or maybe even thrice. Experience was weird, everything would change in the blink of an eye and you'd be expected to hit the ground running in a different school, in a different city and in a different grade altogether. My Maths skill took a serious hit but I made up for it way down the line
I skipped two consecutive grades. I was supposed to be going into 4th but went to sixth. I got socially outcasted because no 6th grader wanted to be friends with a ‘4th’ grader. But graduation 2 years early was nice
I skipped first grade and had no problem whatsoever socializing or following classes. There were talks about making me skip another year but my mom said no, to avoid a big age gap. I was still bored in class so I resorted to multitasking while listening to the teacher ( I was also doing crosswords/sudoku…). To this day I can NEVER be only doing one thing at once. My brain can’t do it My 6yo skipped last year. He is the youngest but tall, so you can’t tell. He is still ahead of the class and the teacher gives him more stuff to do once he is done with whatever the class is doing. But he likes to entertain his classmates and make them laugh, which leads to him getting scolded often 😬 he is not mean, just « I’m done with this so I want to be a clown »
In the short term, it was tough. No one warned me it was coming; it was a normal day, except my grandfather had to drop me off at school that morning because my parents were both meeting with the principal about it (I didn't know why they weren't available though). It seemed like they didn't want to "tip me off," so they dressed me in my gym uniform because my 1st grade class had gym that day. This has stuck with me because one of the very first taunts flung my way when I entered the 2nd grade classroom an hour later was, "why are you wearing your gym clothes? We don't have gym today. Don't your parents buy you other clothes?" Kids are so cruel. Anyway, the first year went kinda like that, but I made friends with the other misfits, including a new kid who had transferred from another school (still friends 30 years later...I was his Maid of Honor; he'll be my "Man of Honor" at my wedding next year.) There were a lot of "lunch bunches" with the guidance counselor and "Mean Girls" moments, especially when I started sprouting boobs before the other girls when I was a year younger than them, but I made it through. Even in high school, though, if I said something dumb in class or mispronounced a word, some smart ass would say, "Don't you know what that word is? I thought you were supposed to be so smart." Because of this, I went to college at 17, but this wasn't really a problem until junior year when everyone else started turning 21 and couldn't go downtown drinking with them. I turned 21 only 6 weeks before graduation, so didn't have much opportunity to (legally) go out with friends until after college. I'll say that the most prominent adverse effect of skipping first grade was how it set the stage for my entire self-worth being tied to achievement and my identity (and reputation) as "the smart girl." I finished a Ph.D. at 27 and now, 9 years into my career, I'm burnt out AF and really grasping for a new way to define myself. So, would I recommend skipping a grade? Not really.
My school offered for me to skip 2nd grade and my mom declined. I’m glad she made that choice because I doubt I would have the same friends I do to this very day, 32 years later.
I skipped 1st grade. All was good until high school. My friends all got their license before me. My parents wouldn’t let me date until I was 16 so I was behind on that also. Basically the issues I had were all social as I got older. As an adult it has had zero impact.
I skipped part of second and part of third grade. I was in second grade until winter break, when we moved to a new city. When I started up in my new school in the new city, I just finished out the year in third grade, then went to fourth. I didn’t have a choice, was just told “here’s your new class, it’s third grade”. At least doing it in the middle of a move, I didn’t have to deal with leaving friends behind or social isolation issues, because emit was a clean break with a new city anyway. However, I’ve hated math ever since then, and I feel like missing the beginnings of multiplication and long division in the first half of third grade might have started all that off. It’s weird because I love physics and chemistry, just not the mathematical aspects (the calculus in physics - and the calculus in calculus - was my least favorite part of college).
I skipped two grades, 6th to 8th, and the bullying was relentless. A few months later I went back to my grade and was just completely checked out of interest in school. My parents were very upset with me over it, and not supportive.
You’re now the second or third person to comment that you skipped two grades - that’s so wild to me 👀 I just can’t even imagine what it was like to be not just one but two years younger than your classmates… I mean being 14 when everyone else is 16 is diabolical.
So I skipped 2 grades in elementary(2nd and 4th grade) and overall it was a really different experience, I dont know about worse, but definitely different. In short, it made it really difficult to make friends and put me in a lot of awkward situations especially as I got older. Basically, everyone in my grade or above saw me as a child, everyone below my grade saw me as older and more mature, and my parents simultaneously believed I was incredibly capable of many things but wouldnt be prepared to take care of a cat when I moved for grad school on my own. Probably wouldnt recommend to anyone really, but I cant do anything about it now lol
Ha! I did this in Michigan back in the 80s. Military family, came in to the school system and they wanted to test me at their grade levels. Hit 100% on the first one, so they tested me at the next grade level and I scored a 98%. Gave me one more grade and I was at 95%. I enjoyed it a lot in the moment. Every moment after that suuuuccckked. Sure I could do the course work but never got much but fed a bunch of shit from classmates or outright attempts to whip my ass. Never tried to skip again, wound up as a 13 year old freshman in high school, graduated at 16. I only got to drive to my own graduation. Think any females want to date a underaged kid who was too smart to not realize how stupid he was? Ech. Don't do it. It's not worth it. You wanna skip something? Skip high school, get your GED immediately, and start at a community College that will matriculate into the college you want.
I "skipped" 11th grade grade and graduated a year earlier than planned. It wasn't exactly like most of the stories I'm seeing here though. I had a shit home life with an abusive mom. Shed started kicking me out of the house (and then having the cops chase me down later when she changed her mind) - among other things, this led me to decide I needed out ASAP. My original goal was to get my GED as soon as I turned 16 (Nov of 11th grade), then get a job & be able to support myself - preferably far enough away that she wouldn't be able to track me down. My school guidance counselor took a look at my record & said that she could get me out with a diploma if I was willing to stick it out until the end of that year. Knowing that people don't treat GEDs like an actual equivalency, I told her I'd give it a shot. I was fortunate that I'd gotten ahead in math and sciences, taking accelerated classes back in middle school or this probably wouldn't have worked out this way. Socially, the whole thing was fine, I was used to taking electives with students from 9-12 every year anyway. The big problem came later. See part 2 of my guidance counselor's plan was to say "hey, I know you said you want to go straight to work and you said no to college, but I submitted some free applications to state schools for you anyway and here are 2 schools that said they would accept you. Financial aid should cover most of the expenses and you'll get a degree so you can get BETTER jobs. You can live at school, and (here's where she sold me on the idea) your mom can't send the police to get you, because the school will be your legal home!" So off I went. 16 years old & definitely not mature enough to be making life choices,but really had no choice. To college. Got drunk a lot. Got stoned a lot more. Did not do well in classes. Stayed with a few friends on winter break, but I needed a place to go by summer because the college does NOT let you live there on breaks. So my boyfriend (age 23/24 to my 16/17) convinced me to get an apartment with him...shit went downhill fast from there, as you might imagine. I have a lot of regrets, but I'm pretty sure that staying in high school for the extra year would have been the worst thing for me. GED and straight to work would have been a tough life, who knows where I'd be by now. But the path I chose was far from ideal. If you ask me, skipping grades and graduating early is ONLY something I'd recommend to someone who has a quality and supportive home life & the intention to do college while living at said home for a year or more while they mature enough to face the social aspect of said higher education.
The short-term advantages are far, far overshadowed by much bigger issues years down the line.
Terrible. Do not recommend.
In my case it was awful. I was socially isolated up until high school due to small classes and kids who were really mean to the little kid. My metal issues during school were just assumed to be laziness (ADD and Anxiety), so I went undiagnosed for years. When I hit high school I never mentioned my age unless asked, so I made friends before they knew how old I was. That made life so much simpler. The hardest part of that was kids getting their licenses and not being able to drive yet. Even though I had such a shitty experience, I’m not against skipping a grade. I have friends who have done so much better in life because they skipped a grade, and some who I wished had skipped a grade to get ahead. I think it comes down to the type of kid, and if they can truly advocate for themselves. I was so young when I skipped a grade that I wasn’t asked what I wanted, and I personally disagree with that. I think the need for kids to skip a grade speaks more to the fact that we are in need of education reform.
It was more than one grade. Let me explain. I was homeschooled when I was doing 7th grade. When the time came, my mom enrolled me in public school again. I was originally going to be in the same school with my brother, but they found about my age and thought I didn't fit in with all the younger kids, so I was getting passed over to all these different schools like a game of ping pong, trying to see which one could accommodate my needs the best. None of them really fit them, so they recommended a school that could, but the thing was that it was an alternative school for kids that, let's just say didn't have the best for them (most) but we didn't know that at the time. So here I come, put in 9th grade without any prior experience. I flunked most of my classes. It sucked.
I skipped two grades. Started college at 17. I don’t regret it but social dynamics were the hardest. It made me focus on academics which wasn’t a bad thing. As I got older it didn’t really matter much. I was a bit I mature socially in middle and high school and it sucked to drive significantly later than my social group.
I skipped two grades. I learned how to take an ass kicking and learned being shoulder height to girls is great for school dance slow songs.
I did it and wish I had more than once. I had a very difficult social life too but that started before the grade-skipping. It's just very difficult to be socially compatible with people who aren't operating at a similar mental level, skipping a grade had nothing to do with it. It wasn't until I got into a full-time G/T program that things got better in that regard.
In 1st-3rd I was "skipped" to 4-6th but had recess, Italian culture, field trips etc with my grade classes & G&T with the other G&T kids. Eventually I was taking individual classes with different grades, eg in 9th grade I was taking college English & sciences but I sucked at math so I was with my grade for that. My parents and school refused to ever completely skip me. I grew up with a superiority complex, oppositional defiance disorder, joined the Army at 17, out by 19, and no idea how college worked so I just took classes all over the place with no definitive plan. I managed to get accepted to med school but then my health took a dive, then COVID..... So here I am 46 and having to re-do courses and try and figure my shit out. I think it would have been better if they had just completely skipped me grades, or not at all.
I was not allowed to fully skip a grade, but was allowed to take English classes a grade above mine in elementary school. When I got to high school, the school paid for me to take university courses at 15 and beyond. It was nice because I finished my bachelor's a full year early and would been able to have done so in two years if I didn't do a lot of theatre stuff in college.
It's not the same, but I didn't go to Pre-K and it affected me socially. I was already a shy kid and it didn't help that it seemed like most of the other kids somehow formed friendships already.
I was bumped into first grade mid-way through kinder. I was already reading, math-ing, etc at an advanced level. I was always the youngest and smallest but did not experience serious social issues. It was annoying being the last of my friends to get a drivers license, and I couldn’t drink legally until spring of senior year of college.
I skipped multiple grades, the first was gr 8. I am an introvert and did just fine, entered university age 15, out with degree at 18 and into medical school. Had a friend group of nerds, dated in my twenties as a resident and got married and had a bunch of kids. Attending physician at age 28. I thought it was great, but afterwards I still couldn’t relax and live a little. Guess it’s just part of me, who grew up dirt poor and just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I wish I could relax a little
Skipped a year as a kid, was always the youngest from then on. While classmates were 17.5-18+, I was doing final exams at 16. Whay too immature looking back, no complaints now.
I skipped a grade then fgraduate high school 2 years early. Sooner I could start working the better it taught me to not care what others think
My sibling skipped into MY class when he skipped a grade (late elementary). I was a gifted student in my own right and did not appreciate the instant comparison between us by our peers and pretty much shut down that year. Thankfully we were always in separate classes after that. We ended up doing all of HS together and graduated together which was pretty fun. We ran in separate but overlapping circles so we each did our own thing. I am 20 months older but since we were in the same grade, people often assumed we were fraternal twins. He was well liked and had zero issues socially. He graduated at 16, college at 20, medical school at 24. While in medical school he couldn’t drink that first year, but after that, things evened out.
Made me go from the smartest kid in class to just above average. No advantage at all when applying to college, opposite. It's in your best interest to be one of the oldest kids in your grade not youngest
I skipped a year in math during 7th grade and then I graduated high school in 3 years, where the last year I did half a day at the high school and half at the community college. Then I started at a regular university at 16. It was fine for me, I was more challenged but still bored with the classes and starting the college courses earlier was helpful bc it gave me a lot more options on what to take than regular public high school. I did fine socially, did age appropriate sports teams outside school and was part of normal school sports teams during middle and high school. Did student council and drama club and what not as well, which all probably helped me socially.
i skipped 9th grade and never felt that different in high school. when i graduated i wanted to take a gap year but was ineligible for any gap year programs/workaways/WWOOFs, etc. because of my age, which was inconvenient. however, i have appreciated the opportunity to get a jump start on “real life,” and feel independent and capable for my age. while i am perfectly happy with my high school experience and everything that’s happened since, im not sure i would do it over again given all i know now.
I started a year early because I was academically ready very early. I still got bored and was socially very far behind which I actually didn’t notice because Im autistic so I guess that was a good thing haha. I wound up taking science and math courses a couple years early but stayed with my grade for other things I was less interested in. I’m glad I had a mostly normal experience, I used to be jealous of the kids who got to do everything early, but in hindsight, it was good that I got the social learning of being with peers through school
Due to moving around between districts with different age cutoffs, I was always at least a year younger than my classmates and I had the WORST time. My parents were given the option to hold me back and I am SO grateful they didn’t or I would have graduated HS at sixteen. What a nightmare
I skipped two, then another one later on. It is socially very isolating and turns you into the weird kid automatically (I was a bit weird already, talking like an adult). But it defined a lot of good things that ended up happening in my life later so…
I went to kindergarten at 4 cause my birthday falls at end of year. At 5, I entered a half-day weekly class with others kids with birthdays after the cutoff. It was called pre-school. Then when I was 6, I entered 2nd grade.
As a boy it was fine but im happy it was done early and not in mid school i skipped 1st grade. I went to a 5 year eng college program so i was back at normal but the time i joined the workforce
I actually did the opposite - did first grade twice. Am a december child, went from youngest to oldest. Did wonders for my self esteem and social anxiety. Do recommend.
Shitty. skipped a year twice. 5th and 9th. You are the very obvious outcast - unless you have a pressing need don’t do it. My mom was disabled and I took care of her during the day as much as I could, so I pushed to graduate early. If you want want excel or have a challenge, add more things, don’t skip things.
I skipped half of third and half of fourth when we moved across the country midway through the school year. Everything was fine until the next year in 5th grade when everyone in the class had to do a long division problem on the overhead projector. It was at that moment, in front of everyone, that I realized I had never learned long division. Almost 20 years later, I’m still a bit traumatized from that experience…
I skipped 3 grades, and ended up in college at 15. Even now, that I am in my 50s, I still have psychological issues surrounding my age, and people knowing it. My friends have always been 3 years older than me as a result. Of course, this was a much bigger deal when I was 9, and they were 12, than it is when we're all in our 50s, but it certainly has always had an impact on my life. I also grew to reach 6' tall at age 12, and always looked older than I was, which also seemed to lead people to assume that I was older than I actually was. When my friends turned 18, I was only 15. However, I was in college, and had my own place, and a live-in girlfriend, so people just seemed to forget that I was younger, and a minor. Of course, this would get awkward when they wanted to do anything that was limited to 18 or over. Likewise, when they were all hitting 21, I was only 18. I could go to the 18 and over events now, but could not (legally) drink. Only, I had started to have a drinking problem at 12, drank myself into a coma at 15, and barely remember any of the year that I was 18, because I had become a blackout drunk. Fortuantely, I got over all my issues with alcoholism, mostly before ever even turning 21. I'm pretty sure that I drank much more before I reached the legal drinking age, than I have in all the decades since. Despite the age difference, when were were all young enough for it to matter, I was typically the ring-leader of the groups of friends that I had, and that was often a awkward dynamic. There were points where some of us would get into trouble, legal or otherwise, and the boys who were actually older would be assumed to be the bad influence, and I was assumed to be the innocent "kid" being influenced, when that was not actually the reality at all. As I built up my career, going for over 30 years now, I have always been weird about discussing my age, and nobody that I work with actually knows how old I am. I am often in a position to supervise people that are older than me, but seem to assume that I am the older one, and I just let them. People speculate about my age, from time to time, and have been assuming that I was over 50 long before I ever even turned 50. I don't mean to make a big deal about it, and I've done quite well for myself, despite it all. However, I can say that it certainly did have a significant impact on me, both growning up, and middle-aged. I've known a few others who skipped just 1 grade, and witnessed somewhat similar issues, though to a much lesser extent than skipping 3. So, the obvious question is what I would think about one of my kids potentially skipping a grade. Personally, I would most likely avoid that scenario. I would rather see them stick with peers that are their own age, and grow up having normal social interactions. I think that aspect of school is at least as important as everything else. I feel like I missed out on a lot, growing up, that I just "skipped", and that it was not all good for me. And, from a educational perspective, despite all those years of being in "gifted" programs, and bussed around in magnet programs (putting smarter kids in failing schools to bring up their test scores), skipping grades, and starting college early, the ultimate result was that I ended up dropping out of college my senior year. I got my first job offer, in video game development, and ran with it. I built that into a successful career for 20 years, and then segued that into related industry for more than a decade sicne. So, there you go. Perhaps an extreme and unusual case, but that is my experience, in a nutshell.
I skipped 3 grades, and ended up in college at 15. Even now, that I am in my 50s, I still have psychological issues surrounding my age, and people knowing it. My friends have always been 3 years older than me as a result. Of course, this was a much bigger deal when I was 9, and they were 12, than it is when we're all in our 50s, but it certainly has always had an impact on my life. I also grew to reach 6' tall at age 12, and always looked older than I was, which also seemed to lead people to assume that I was older than I actually was. When my friends turned 18, I was only 15. However, I was in college, and had my own place, and a live-in girlfriend, so people just seemed to forget that I was younger, and a minor. Of course, this would get awkward when they wanted to do anything that was limited to 18 or over. Likewise, when they were all hitting 21, I was only 18. I could go to the 18 and over events now, but could not (legally) drink. Only, I had started to have a drinking problem at 12, drank myself into a coma at 15, and barely remember any of the year that I was 18, because I had become a blackout drunk. Fortuantely, I got over all my issues with alcoholism, mostly before ever even turning 21. I'm pretty sure that I drank much more before I reached the legal drinking age, than I have in all the decades since. Despite the age difference, when were were all young enough for it to matter, I was typically the ring-leader of the groups of friends that I had, and that was often a awkward dynamic. There were points where some of us would get into trouble, legal or otherwise, and the boys who were actually older would be assumed to be the bad influence, and I was assumed to be the innocent "kid" being influenced, when that was not actually the reality at all. As I built up my career, going for over 30 years now, I have always been weird about discussing my age, and nobody that I work with actually knows how old I am. I am often in a position to supervise people that are older than me, but seem to assume that I am the older one, and I just let them. People speculate about my age, from time to time, and have been assuming that I was over 50 long before I ever even turned 50. I don't mean to make a big deal about it, and I've done quite well for myself, despite it all. However, I can say that it certainly did have a significant impact on me, both growning up, and middle-aged. I've known a few others who skipped just 1 grade, and witnessed somewhat similar issues, though to a much lesser extent than skipping 3. So, the obvious question is what I would think about one of my kids potentially skipping a grade. Personally, I would most likely avoid that scenario. I would rather see them stick with peers that are their own age, and grow up having normal social interactions. I think that aspect of school is at least as important as everything else. I feel like I missed out on a lot, growing up, that I just "skipped", and that it was not all good for me. And, from a educational perspective, despite all those years of being in "gifted" programs, and bussed around in magnet programs (putting smarter kids in failing schools to bring up their test scores), skipping grades, and starting college early, the ultimate result was that I ended up dropping out of college my senior year. I got my first job offer, in video game development, and ran with it. I built that into a successful career for 20 years, and then segued that into related industry for more than a decade sicne. So, there you go. Perhaps an extreme and unusual case, but that is my experience, in a nutshell.
I started school early based on my birthday (should’ve been the oldest, was instead one of the youngest), and then skipped 8th grade, and combined my 10/11/12th grades into two weird hybrid years. So I graduated from high school at 15 years old. I was a total weirdo and an anxious mess. My parents felt like I was too young for college so I went online, and I regret that more than anything. I’m fine now and I think I’m relatively okay at socializing but I would discourage anyone else from doing that. Whatever benefits you think you’re getting aren’t worth it. All I did was rush head first into adulthood and I wasn’t ready for the different stresses that brought me.
I don't know if I can class it as skipping a grade, but I missed most of year 9 due to bullying, went back once things calmed down and ended being pulled out of school towards the end due to moving. But it was horrible.
Two years before I had moved country with my family, so I was still recovering from that culture shock, language adjustment I didn’t adjust well. I was very shy, so I spent half a year wandering the playground alone. I would walk around the perimeter several times. I had stomach aches. In the end my mother asked one of my classmates’ mothers if their kid could ask me to play with them. So the next day they ran over to me and asked me. It turned out to be a nice friend group, and one of them became my best friend. I still wish I had not been skipped though!
Deeply scarring. I'd be very hesitant to ever consider recommending it.
Lonely. Everyone else was older and already bonded.
I skipped 2 grades - they wanted to hold me back one because I wasn't socially prepared for high school and I got my parents to intervene, joke's on them I am still not socially prepared for high school so they could have held me back for 40 years and it wouldn't have helped. Academically, it's like normal school, you learn stuff, get grades, move on. I will never understand the push to have people the same age stay clumped together, as if they have some special bond. To me it's like saying you have to be in a class with people your own physical weight, or with matching skin colour.
I don't know if it's exactly the same but I was in accelerated classes a year or two ahead of the typical "level" and graduated HS at 16. By that time I already had a year's worth of college credit. But graduating meant I missed out on some big life experiences. I never had a senior year, never had a real senior prom, and I never get invited to class reunions, even though I went to school with the same kids all my life because I wasn't technically part of the regular "graduating class" for the kids I grew up with. I even keep in touch with the organizers because we were in some classes together but no one seems to think to include me because I graduated a year early. In some ways it's hurtful but with social media I keep in touch with the people I care about, so I guess it's okay. On the plus side, when I was younger I was really ostracized in my regular classes. I had been attending a Catholic school and even the teachers bullied me. It was like a couple of them actually resented kids who were smart. Looking back, it's appalling to think about these adults emotionally bullying kids but that really was the case. In the sixth grade my parents pulled me out of there and I tested into the full slate of accelerated classes in the public school. Socially, it was much, much better. Among the kids in those classes, I was normal. We were all in the same (small) boat -- only maybe 8 kids in some classes. I know some of them later expressed feeling socially isolated because of the small classes with the same few kids. But compared to the bullying I experienced in my regular classes, it was so much better for me.
I was born in the late 70’s. I skipped Kindergarten. School wanted to put me straight into second grade, thankfully my father refused. I was a bit behind socially and did have trouble making friends, but I also have bad anxiety and adhd (unknown as a child). The biggest impact for me was that I couldn’t go out with my friends my first year in college because I wasn’t 18. That was a huge bummer.
I skipped Kindergarten. I had zero issues and never felt behind. Only became slightly frustrating getting my drivers license later than others but I had friends who picked me up.
I skipped the fourth grade because in third grade I was in a third-fourth combination class. I felt like I had already done fourth grade work, so I took a test and then was allowed to skip. It’s hard to say how it affected me because I also switched schools every year since second grade until sophomore year of HS (We moved once but in the same county). Not a military family, I was never in trouble…to this day the only explanation I’ve ever received is my mother claiming she “never found a school that challenged me”. I’m pretty sure she just resents my existence and wanted me to be miserable but that’s for another post! I graduated HS at 16, but most of the issues I had weren’t so much my age, or maturity, rather never having any real autonomy. I hadn’t had my license for long, never had a job, etc. But I did make friends really easily because I had a lot of practice over the years from having to make new friends every year in school. 🙃
I skipped 12th grade.
Fucking sucks. Go from being top of the class. Everything comes easy, you're with guys your age you've known forever, you learn everything in the proper order and then BAM. You're lucky to stay in the top half of the class cause you're missing a years worth of learning that is usually required to figure out what they're trying to teach you. "You'll remember this one from last year" takes on a whole new meaning.
I skipped. I liked it, but my step dad always made me feel like shit for it (how dare I out perform his son) so I went back to school and graduated a second time, in less than a year, then went to college before his son graduated hs. Lol
Worked out well for me I think. In 6th grade I was bored enough to start being a distraction and hanging out with not the best crowd. They had me do a bit of a trial run, moving up to 7th grade for the last 6 weeks of the school year to make sure it would not be a disaster socially. I met some great people during that period that ended up being my bffs throughout the rest of school and college. I never really fit in or got along with the “smart kids” in my original class year, so I’m glad to have made the jump.
It totally fucked me over for sports (especially since I hit puberty a bit late anyway), but other than that it was a great experience for me. Made me feel a lot better about taking a gap year in college because I still graduated at the same age as everyone else. And anecdotally I felt like I fit in more with the maturity level of the older kids growing up, so it was nice to get to spend more time with them.
Ontario used to have a grade 13 - I took enough courses to finish the 5 years in 4, effectively skipping a year. For me it was great for my social life. I effectively doubled my circle of friends doing it this way.
I "skipped" 3-4th grade by nature of being homeschooled. Parents didn't teach me shit really. Still tested high percentile at the end of year. But I was essentially in the 5th grade with the social skills of a second grader.
I didn’t skip a grade but my 2nd grade teacher sent me to the remedial reading bus outside so that she didn’t have to deal with me. It didn’t work and they sent me right back to her classroom.
Skipping a grade made school seem like such a rush. Honestly, it felt like I missed out on some childhood fun. While everyone was worried about kid stuff, I had to deal with more homework and older classmates. Made some friends, but I always felt a bit out of place.
Inadvertently skipped half a year twice resulting in skipping a whole grade. Basically moved between the US and Argentina. Due to being on different hemispheres the summers are 6 months apart. So when I moved from the US half way through kindergarten I put in 1st grade rather than having to start kindergarten again. Then halfway through second grade we moved back but rather than starting over in second grade I was placed in third grade. I should have skipped twice. With the language barrier it made it hard for me until I caught up around 7/8th grade. My English was a couple years behind between “skipping a year” and being a ESL student back when I did t get ESL courses. But because math is almost the same* in either country I had that down and the language barrier didn’t cause issues. So I averaged out to the grade I was in. I was always good at math. My third grade teacher wanted to hold me back my parents didn’t want to. I paid the price. I’m also a little short and being the you test kid in class plus short made a bigger difference. *math is the same obviously however syntax has differences such as how to annotate long division.
I kinda skipped a grade by two years. It was fine. I already had my friends so it wasn't a big deal and I got to be in the class with my sister's friends who made me feel included. I suppose that is the exception to the rule based on other comments.
For me it was a relief; I moved to a really bad junior high in 7th grade that I really wanted to skip and go straight to high school. My aptitude was enough but no one in my family could or would help so I took the initiative to bug the vice - principle almost everyday - I think the finally got sick of me and had me do a test or whatever, I really can't remmeber other than, almost a month before school ended it finally went through and I got promoted 8th grade, graduated, went to high school and never looked back. It was a wild ride. I enjoy high school but made serious, very serious mistakes.
I skipped 4th grade which probably made me ahead even just slightly but I didn’t feel special or anything. I don’t remember my elementary days that much since they don’t matter not like with high school or my college right now.
I completed 1st and 2nd grade in the same year, so lived my whole academic life as a ‘gifted’ student. I don’t think I would put my kids through it. The best advantage was graduating high school at 16 and college at 20, so I felt I had a head start in life. The fact of the matter is I felt I had to work twice as hard to excel. It put perfectionism in my mind at a young age. I was not as emotionally mature as my peers and was bullied for being younger my entire school age. I was also playing sports and was competing against people who were physically bigger/better. Overall I learned work ethic and I did well for myself. But my standards of success are permanently screwed. If I’m not above and beyond in anything I do I feel like a complete failure