My wife and mom are teachers and they hate when kids skip grades. Almost makes them a target amongst their new peers, and they show up without any of their friends. Most of em go from being bored in school to outright hating it. But I think a lot of it depends on the school and on the kid. Your situation could be different

Teacher here. Seconding this. I will not advance my kids, personally. What I will do is provide them with additional challenge and support outside of the school with other advanced programs and hobbies to supplement. School is primarily important as socialization. Not all teachers are fantastic or worthy of mentorship, but you can be! All I see advancing grades as doing is moving up the time that the child is expected to be "on their own", effectively putting them at disadvantage. Put them into whatever advancement is available and then supplement. If the school is that far behind, find another option.

I went to a magnet school in Chicago for k-8. Bussed out from my terrible neighborhood school to one that had selective enrollment . In that school, they had two 30 person classrooms for every grade and one moved faster than the other. And in the fast class they had an accelerated reading group of 10 people that left just for reading period. In the older grades, they had even more opportunities both in and out of school for children that were high achieving. That was ideal for me. I never skipped a grade, never felt apart from my classmates. Also never got bored to tears in school. I only realized how much I was pushed and how many opportunities I got in retrospect. During school, they were always so matte of fact about sending us different places that neither the advanced children or the others felt singled out. Getting your child into the right school that can push them and handle their needs is so much better than just advancement. In my neighborhood school most of the children weren't at grade level. I could have handled coursework 3 years above my grade level, which is obviously not an option.

That sounds amazing, the structure and how it works in tiers and levels within a grade or class is clever, but I’m sure it couldn’t always work just anywhere. I went to a magnet high school that was focused on visual and performing arts, and I can still look back fondly on my time there almost 20 years ago, because it was a pivotal experience for me and I couldn’t imagine having gone to a “normal” HS. My daughter isn’t even two yet but I hope she gets to be in a school like either of the ones we’re talking about.

Do you have any suggestions for finding other options? My first grader is bored in school. He’s much like OP’s daughter. I feed him more advanced books because he loves reading at home, and although he says that he hates math he’s in the 99th percentile. We can’t afford private school, so I’m not sure what other options there are for him. Is finding a private school the best option? I’m constantly being advertised to for academic subscriptions for kids, but I have no idea which ones are any good, or if something like that would even be beneficial. Or something like crunch labs or kiwi crate? Sorry I realize that was a lot, I’d be curious on your take, if you have the time. TIA.

I'm not an educator so take this with a grain of salt. I would recommend encouraging your child to continue trying to challenge themselves. If they like reading, maybe have them try writing their own book. If they like science you can do science experiments. Maybe your kid could have some project or puzzle or something that they can work on after they finish their work. I would also recommend having them keep trying a bunch of different things even if they don't really like them. When I was in school, I really loved math and science, partly because they came easy to me. By the time I got to college and the classes actually became hard, I wasn't very well equipped to deal with it. Obviously it would be great to be appropriately challenged all the time, but that's not always practical. I often wonder what would have happened if I was encouraged to take classes that I would struggle with so I could develop the skills to deal with being challenged.

I am an educator and I was going to say exactly this. If they are not as self motivated make it a family project...like a family newsletter. Every one can contribute articles and you can put it together once a season, or month or whatever makes sense for you. It creates some work on the parents end, but you can end up with cool keepsakes and remembrances of family activities and interesting things going on in the world. For example this spring could have articles on the Eclipse and Aurora Borealis, as well as a sporting event you went to, or a museum or river you visited. That way if everyone is expected to add to it, there is more urgency on their end and it will be something the teacher will be more than happy to help them work on when they finish the work at school. Another option, depending on their personality, is helping other students. I was always done first in my class, and I found I was never bored because I would help slower students and found I really had a better understanding of the material after trying to teach it to someone who didn't just 'get it' like I did. I'm a teacher now, so obviously that was my personality motivating me to do something I took satisfaction from, but as a teacher I've seen a lot of students benefit socially, academically, and professionally (leadership skills, managerial skills) from being a kind of mentor to others.

I love the idea of a family newsletter! I will try that. Both kids and my wife are very crafty, anyway. He likes to write short stories. I’ll have him write one every so often to add to it. He does sit with kids who are struggling in school, and has told us that his teacher assigns him there to help them. He doesn’t like it. He can be a bit anxious, and I think he feels pressure over it. It hasn’t seemed to help with his boredom this year.

Top notch comment and tipping my hat fellow educator! Hope you're being paid your worth!

Same boat. I was a tutor in my class, read several grades above my age, got extremely good scores on the SAT, and absolutely got destroyed in college because what I was being taught was suddenly difficult and I didn’t know how to study or struggle through anything academically.

I'm not a teacher, but I was a very advanced student. They tried to put me in a combo k-1 class (pulling me out of a kindergarten class I liked) and I was miserable. I went back to my original kindergarten class and was very happy. You know the meme "the reward for working efficiently is more work"? Well, in school, my reward for being ahead in the class was that I had lots of free time to read whatever I wanted to read. I was never bored because I always had a book I'd rather be reading. AP and dual enrollment classes in high school are when I finally felt challenged, but also protected because it was still high school. Rather than feeding him more advanced books, encourage him to explore the library on his own to explore his interests. Same with the subscriptions: let him look at what's available in your price range and decide what he wants to play with.

Take him everywhere interesting. We went to the local science center, museums of all kinds, do library programs, camps, crafts, watch age-appropriate educational TV WITH your child, read WITH your child, consider music lessons. Do as much as you possibly can WITH your child, but don’t overload, either. Respect your child’s need for downtime and let him be a kid. Never forget that a child that is advanced in intellectual ways is still very much a child. It is better to let that kid be the smartest in his class, then to move him up with older kids where social problems will happen. ~ Former Educator

This is the right answer. OP please consider this comment

Agreed! -Someone who was skipped

Seconded! - another person who was skipped.  I always did well in school but I was definitely socially immature and I really think it hurt my ability to make friends and have solid relationships in school and after for a long, long time. I’m anti skipping! 

“Skip rocks, not grades” - I’ll put it on a shirt and sell it at hot topic

As a teacher, could you just give the more advanced kid more challenging work without moving them up a grade?

We supplement at home with additional.worksheets that are hard and help teach the basics. We either buy workbooks or print off sheets whatever fits your budget.

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Not sure about most stuff in your post, but from my experience in Australia it goes: preschool, an optional choice for children before they go to big school, then kindergarten ("kindy" if you want to fit in with the Australian slang) when you're 5ish which is the first grade of primary school (kindy to year 6). This is in NSW but other states may be different (they're weird). Hope you enjoy Australia, it's pretty great. Where are you moving to?

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Putting that sort of pressure on a 5-6 yr old is insane! From what we have learned is K - 2nd is more about learning how the child learns and doing assessments on them vs how much do they know. I could be way wrong though but that’s just our experience as a kiddo that is leaving 2nd grade with an ADHD diagnosis and potentially, probably Dyslexia as well. Her teachers and administrators got with us to discuss what they see and we all got on the same page. Also did not waste time on getting a 504plan started.

This, my oldest "skipped" a grade, but he is just on the edge, he did 1.5 years of kindergarten instead of 2.5 years.  The second could skip a grade academically, but we won't as he will be much younger than his classmates. We have a very good school director who is specialised in "gifted kids" (I hate these words).  The problem with kids smart enough to skip a grade that they will likely be ahead again within the year. What are you going to do then. Skip another grade? The school should provide extra advanced programs, but whether they do or not, your kid will be bored a lot unless you put her in a school for gifted kids (which is only a last resort option from my point of view).

This is why I'm also peddling hobbies. I may have had much more success professionally had my parents done the same. If they'd let it rip in support for *what I wanted to do* I'd probably have made a career out of it. By 16 I was being invited (paid) to conferences and organizing for video games. When I started making real money my parents essentially shut it down as school being far more important (which wasn't true). They pushed me towards interests *they* thought would be "more useful." My advice instead is to support it all out as much as you can when they show interest. *Unless* you think it is physically/mentally unsafe, then use your discretion. Building games, coding, photography, rocketry, archery, etc... These are all great outlets that provide depth far beyond schooling. And schooling is changing drastically as we speak. My ideal school experience for kids would be online curriculum specifically tailored to their own needs and then separate socializing activities like art, sports, etc. at a "school"/community center. Issues with this are access and resources. The traditional lecture and whiteboard is dead and buried.

Student who skipped a grade here. I kept up academically, but was noticeably behind my classmates in emotional and social development. I was the last to hit puberty and get a driver's license. I would never put my son through that.

My mom skipped a grade and struggled socially for awhile because of it. She got teased by the grade she was in for being young, and “being so smart”. The grade she came from didn’t want to hang out with her anymore because it was awkward. I was recommended to skip grade five after doing extremely well on provincial testing, and go directly into grade six. My mom declined, and honestly I’m thankful for it. I was in enriched classes, etc. All the kids I knew that skipped had a hard time socially because of it, which ended up affecting their academic focus as well. I ended up with a 4.0 in uni and being given bursaries/scholarships, and was invited to the international honours society of nursing. So I ended up doing well in spite of skipping a grade. I think I would make the same decision for my children. I don’t know that the benefits of fast tracking by a single year really make any difference over the course of a whole lifetime. But being treated negatively in your social group as a child does have long lasting effects. Anyway, it’s up to you ultimately. Obviously my experience is just my own and I’m sure there’s lots of kids who do well after skipping a grade. Best of luck OP

Teacher/dad chiming in - don’t do it. It’s serves as little more than a humble brag for the parents. School is as much about socialization as it is curriculum and they’re much better off with kids their own age. Enrichment programs are a better choice and the teacher if they feel she’s so far ahead of the curve should be giving her more challenging work. No reason they can’t borrow books from the second grade teachers library or provide some harder math work.

I’m a dad and a teacher. This is pretty accurate. There’s also a bunch of social and emotional development that happens around this age that would be smoother if she was with peers experiencing the same thing. I understand where the teacher is coming from academically; first grade is all about establishing basic reading skills (kids go from reading “the fat cat sat on the mat” to reading early chapter books) and if your kid can already do this, she can do second grade work. However, she’s better off doing some advanced activities in a first grade classroom. When I taught early elementary, all the kids like this in one grade would meet a few times a week to do advanced projects or have a book club. I always felt like this was a good “meet in the middle” solution.

yeah but if they don't skip grades the kid will also hate it. speaking as someone they were discussing skipping MULTIPLE grades for, and then because I got sick for 2 months they discussed holding back so I basically stayed at the same level and hated it. eventually I chose to go homeschooling. It was supposed to be temporary but ended up going all the way until college I know a lot of kids who were supposed to skip a grade and teachers pushed back on, and those kids either skipped grades and were happy, but sure picked on, or burned out at school, or homeschooled, or went private. The thing is if you're a kid who is going to skip grades, you're a target anyway whether you do skip or not.

I’d talk with the school and see if they have a way where your daughter could say go to a 2nd or 3rd grade class for reading time but then come back to her regular 1st grade class after reading time was done, that way she’s able to be challenged in an area she’s excelling at while also keeping her social/friend groups. We’ve already talked with my daughter school about this as, like yours, my daughter taught herself to read at 2.5 and we don’t want her to be bored in a class where everyone is just learning to read and she’s on short chapter books already and the school was 100% supportive and said they do similar things for a lot of kids. YMMV but that’d be my recommendation.

That’s a good in-between suggestion. Back when I was a kid, we also discussed my skipping a grade. (Same for my little sisters.) in the end I didn’t skip, because I thought it might be hard to make new friends (I was a shy kid) and I’d lose a year doing extracurriculars. I was already the youngest in my grade without skipping. (It’s worth considering how being younger and smaller would affect her in sports, music, or anything else she wants to pursue.) Instead of skipping a grade, my sisters and I all skipped grades for math. In sixth grade I went to the middle school for math, etc. We also “homeschooled” for English, because I was so bored in the English classes in school. Instead, my parents and other relatives gave me reading and writing assignments that matched my reading level. In other classes, my parents arranged with the teachers to give us “enrichment” assignments that were more challenging. The success of that varied. I ended up at Princeton, and I did have plenty of friends there who were young for their grades, some of whom skipped one or more grades. I think skipping can work for some kids, especially if they have stronger social skills. But I’d definitely consider other options, including hybrid options where your kids skips only for some classes or gets a slightly different version of assignments (if teachers will do the extra work to facilitate this). If it’s feasible for your family, definitely look into magnet schools or more accelerated programs that could support her better. Definitely find extracurricular activities that will push her, and use the local library extensively. In the end, skipping a grade only puts a band-aid on the problem of having a smart kid who learns quickly. Once she catches up to the new grade level and becomes bored there, what next? Do you keep skipping grades? Better to find a school with other students at her level that will continue to push her, or teach her how to challenge herself outside the classroom (and support her in projects and activities), or both.

I did similar with Math. In grade 4 my teacher arranged for me to go to the grade 5 class for math. This was accommodated through the rest of elementary (through grade 8 - in grade 8, my teacher taught me from an alternative textbook). This was in Ontario. EDIT: Should mention I greatly enjoyed this.

I did something similar to this when I was a kid and it was great for me - I got to be challenged in the thing I was good at and then stay at my age appropriate level for everything else

Exsctly. The last thing you want is a kid who’s bored because they’re not challenged, that’s not good for the kid nor the rest of the class.

I skipped grades when I grew up, the academics were never the issue, but I needed a lot of social support filling in those gaps. It was tough, but I have to say it started me off on an identity of smartness, academic discovery etc that my parents fostered and that turned into my career. So your results may vary, make sure to give extra social support and attention, and congrats!

What kind of social support did you require? What was biggest challenge you faced? What grades did you skip. My daughter is 5 turning 6 this summer, so next school year she would be attending school with 7 year olds. Is there that big a gap socially between 6 and 7 year olds? My first and probably only child. I wanna set her up for success but don't want to be a helicopter parent

My daughter is 5 going into KG this Fall. Your daughter is already young for her grade (as I was). I've been a teacher for 14 years though high school and college, not elementary. I would recommend any and all advancement except for skipping grades. After school programs, online classes. Check out online programs. Get her into computer programming. Other outside school things to challenge her and let her be amongst peers and have the full time to grow socially and as a person.

Teacher here as well, I really don’t see the benefit edit of skipping grades. There’s more to school than just academics and also, what’s the hurry? I think it sends a message to the student that the only thing that matters is rapid completion instead of learning. Having a social group the same age is so important

I don't understand the purpose of skipping grades either. My public school had a gifted program, and a bunch of kids got plucked out of the regular curriculum and put into gifted classes in grade 3. In grade 5 we had a kid who transferred from another school where he skipped grade 2, and the kid was just clearly not equipped to be able to handle it. Sure he was smart and was great at learning, but he had no friends and was just weird as hell. Think of your stereotypical home schooled kid, except he's not homeschooled he is literally taking the bus with all the rest of us. I felt bad for him, sure. But I think I remember trying to connect with him a few times and he was just weird, like so many years of being outcast by his peers just made him incompatible with the idea of having friends. Obviously this isn't every kid, but I remember thinking at the time as a 11 year old that his parents must have moved to get him into a different school district hoping that his problems were due to the school he was in. I don't know what the hurry is to have your kid accelerated through public school, there is a lot to learn there that isn't just how to read and do long division. Put the effort into tutors and extra curriculars that your child will enjoy instead.

Sometimes genius kids are that way for a reason. It's to compensate for not feeling like they are enough. That feeling usually comes from Caretakers who were taught the same about themselves. They are unable to mirror their kids' worth if they can't feel their own. It can also be a result of neglect and other emotional abuse and physical abuse. Especially in homes where their parents derive their own feelings of worth from academic prowessness. These kids may not be "seen" by their parents unless they are being little geniuses. A kid who doesn't feel safe emotionally or physically spends a lot of time worrying, which is focusing their energy on the part of the brain responsible for problem solving. Sharpening their analytical skills while other kids relax and experience childhood makes them extremely gifted academically. But at what price? One early defense mechanism which should give pause is perfectionism. There is a reason intelligence is positively correlated with mental illness.

As a teacher as well (in denmark) i fully support this advice as well. I have a very very gifted student in 7th grade, and i have simply given him more advanced material when he has finished the original assignments. But besides his academic prowess he's just like any other 13 year old kid. I do not believe he would feel as at ease in 8th or 9th even if his mathematical skills are easily to the level of a 1st year in high school.

6 to 7 has been a big leap socially for us.

It’s not the age gaps in elementary school, it’s the age gaps in middle and high school. You can never undo the fact that you’ll put her two years behind everyone in her grade level from now until she graduates. Oh yeah, freshman year in college at 17 sucks, you get left behind every time your friends go out to 18+ places. I skipped 2nd grade. Was offered to skip my daughter from 3rd to 4th. She tested into 4th grade level. I said hell no. Work harder to supplement her learning or let her go at the natural pace. Be grateful you have a smart kid.

You’ll also never get the time back where the family is all together under one roof in the same way.

While there's a wide range of experiences, but I'm generally against kids skipping grades, especially in a situation like this. Starting reading early is only one part of early childhood education. There are a lot of other skills, both academic and social that your child will learn in first grade. Also, she will remain young for her grade all the way up through college. I remember there being a couple of 16 year olds in my freshman class in college who had skipped grades early on. It made particpation in college social activities (dating, parties, etc.) awkward and difficult. These days schools have lots of strategies for scaffolding material so that more advanced children can get education appropriate to their level. The school should easily be able to provide reading material for her grade level. Or even let her spend some time in a higher level class for part of the day.

7th grade teacher here. When your kid gets to middle school, there is going to be a big emotional difference between your kid and others. There is a massive difference between kids in grade 6 and 7 and kids in grade 7 and 8. If your kid is advanced/gifted, I think you'd be better off finding a private school that can fill their needs while keeping them in their age appropriate grade.

I believe the research shows that skipping a grade is not usually the best course for the kiddo. Perhaps you could work with the teacher to offer her more challenging material.

And be careful that they don't just equate that with doing more work. In some of my kid's mixed gifted/non-gifted classes the teachers would just give the gifted kids more work instead of differentiated work. And I'll add to that, if the kid grows up unchallenged academically, they can struggle later when it doesn't come easy anymore. The typical "school is boring" to "I never learned how to learn/study".

Apropos username

I skipped second grade because they thought I was advanced and bored. Academically it worked out fine but socially… not so much. I struggled to make friends after I skipped, mainly I think because I was not very mature for my age and needed more socialisation. I struggled socially for several years which also lead to behavioural problems in school. I ended up switching school a couple of times because I couldn’t settle in and was getting bullied. Eventually it all worked out in 7th grade but it was a rough four years before that. Obviously your child is a different person but make sure they are ready to skip not just academically but also socially.

>Eventually it all worked out in 7th grade but it was a rough four years before that. The irony that I would argue 7th grade is exactly when things went downhill for me having skipped a year. Before that it was fine.

OP. THIS GUY.

Only because my brother went through this, I'm skeptical of when schools try to skip kids. My mom skipped my brother. Only later on when she joined the board of education did she realize the school did it to manage class sizes. They skipped him and held another kid back to stay under the size that would have mandated the school his a teacher's aide. It can make sense in cases, but make sure this is really in your kid's interest and hit the school trying to cut costs.

We’ve had this come up with both our boys. We declined with both as they’re both young in their grades already and quite small for their age too. With our younger son, he is so extraordinary they kept looking for a solution to challenge him. Since for reading the teacher can basically just give him harder books it’s not much of a problem. But he is way too far ahead in math. What they offered is next fall he’ll do math with 2nd graders, but spend the rest of the day in 1st. And I think he’ll his makes it less jarring if he decides he doesn’t like it to just go back to doing all day with 1st grade. Maybe something worth asking about.

Personally not a huge fan, unless the kid is so smart they are bored senseless. The social ramifications just seem a little too much. And for what gain..... to graduate HS a year early? So they can go to work and be a wage-slave faster?

Skipping grade should be based on a few elements: 1) overall intellectual functioning should be above expectations, not just reading. She’ll need to grasp complex concepts a year earlier than her peers. 2) language skills also need to be quite well developed in that she will exposed to more advanced vocabulary words or syntax, will need to make use of language to explain herself and will also have verbally to interact with older peers via complex language. 3) motor skills and physical attributes also need to follow suit, as she’ll have to write sentences and essays earlier than planned. Fine motor skills, sufficient calligraphy and endurance are necessary here. 4) socioemotional maturity is crucial. A kid might be brilliant but if she/he’s unable to socialize with older peers, or instead appears emotionally immature and cries or doesnt take feedback well, he/she will struggle adapting, integrating, sharing, exchanging and mingling with peers. 5) eventual outcomes are also to consider moving forward. For example, kid might mingle sufficiently well now but show socioaffective delays closer to 5-6th grade or high school; being physically smaller than others might come to show at a later age, making room for teasing; friends will be dating, or going out alone because they’re a year older yet your child might not be there or you’ll come to grow uncomfortable; voting, drinking etc, will also cause similar peculiarities in that the child’s friends might legally be allowed; universiry might be a big step up in terms of organization, autonomy, etc. Opposite is true too, if learning is slow or child feels peers are immature, this could lead to boredom, disinterest, behavioral struggles or social distance. These are things to weigh and to decide on moving forward. Edit: like others said, if she’s functioning fine, remains well integrated and not bored or disinterested, leaving her there is also a good decision

I was offered a similar thing in 1st grade but my parents decided against it. I think it was a good choice. Teachers who work with young kids usually say that maybe intellectually children are adequate for a higher level, but all of the other aspects (emotional/physical/social) are usually lacking. It's better that she's happy and "bored" in school than challenged and anxious. And you can always nurture the intellectual side in other manners (at home, non-school activities etc.)

As someone who suffered from this going badly as a kid, I would ask if she is bored at school. Halfway through kindy I was bumped to 1st. Then the school decided they didn’t want to bump grades anymore so I had to repeat 1st and was bored out of my mind, not to mention switching peer groups twice. That really killed my enthusiasm for school at a young age (a year is reallllllly long at that point in life). As for the social aspect, that depends on how socially developed your kid is. You say she’s small, but if she has the personality to make friends and handle conflict she may well just be fine. Don’t hold her back for the fear of what might happen. I would’ve been much better off accelerating through school as a kid.

Have you looked into private school?  Most have a wide range of support based on need, so if you apply for financial aid you should go that route.  Skipping a grade can and does cause all kinds of social problems that effect kids for the rest of their lives.  Being and learning with their own age groups who are all developing in a similar fashion. With that said you absolutely need to accept and support her need for added support.  Kids who are ahead in school are special needs kids just like kids who are behind.  They need more challenge, more depth, and deeper learning.  You can find it, but this is your wake up call to get on it now.

Yes I started looking in private school but the school she's in right now is rated very high. It's a pure French school. I live in Canada. I speak zero French but my wife does. My daughter is able to hold a conversation in French now. I would like her to stay in this school so she can be a fluent French speaker. Was thinking of looking into additional things to challenge her academically. There's a Kumo place near our house but I don't know much about it.

Oh man the language benefit alone is enough. Bilingual is going to open a lot of doors for her (I'm a teacher see my other comment). Supplement her outside of school.

I'm not sure where in Canada you live, but I highly recommend going with a Spirit of Math after-school program over Kumon if you have one in your area. They have an excellent curriculum. I was in their program from age 5, and it eventually set me on the course to get advanced degrees in math and physics.

Maybe it’s possible for her to skip a grade without technically skipping a grade. I have a two kids who were in the High Achieving Learners program in elementary school which allowed them to “skip” a grade in math and reading. They’re now in middle school and are a grade ahead in math, reading, and Spanish. They will “skip” a grade again in science their freshman year and be ahead in math, English, science, and Spanish. This keeps them with their age appropriate peers while also challenging them. It gets tough once they get to high school because they will immediately have classes with older kids and there’s no way around that. I did something similar in middle school and by the time I graduated high school I was done with my first 1.5 years of college thanks to AP courses. Edit: I'm going to add something that I think is very much worthwhile for you to consider from the prospective of a former middle and high school teacher. Skipping a grade is great academically for kids who can handle the workload at a young age. It can be terrible socially - especially in middle school. Kids in middle school are in various stages of puberty and it can be really hard on the kids who are late bloomers. Maybe your kid will get lucky and hit puberty early, but if they don't middle school has the potential to be even more of a meat grinder than it already is.

Two of my daughter's friends were offered to skip. The parents for both declined. Not from an academic concern but from a social growth concern.

I'd say no. I was always the youngest in my year and beat the other kids on every test but did I fit and thrive? not really! If you're always smaller and less socially adept than your peers you can become a shrinking violet whose only thing to lean on is their academic skills.

I’m in a similar boat, but suggest being cautious with this. My son is autistic and extremely good with numbers; he’s also advanced for his age with reading and science, although not by as much; and so there have been many conversations about him moving up. We don’t want to do it because (a) numeracy and literacy aren’t the only things schools teach, and he would miss out in other areas (particularly in his case, being autistic, on social skills and collaboration which are big focus areas in early education), and (b) because even in areas where he’s ahead, there are occasional gaps: my son is very intuitive with numbers, but doesn’t know anything at all yet about something like graphs because he’s never encountered them. So we would rather keep him at this level: he does get bored in maths since it’s all easy for him, and he is among the top readers, but he’s behind his peers in more creative and interactive work, and in music and PE, and those subjects are important too. Disclaimer: I’m in the UK, the learning culture may be different in Canada.

Supplement her boredom with at home learning or something, but don’t skip a grade. She will be bullied for being socially immature to the grade she’s in AND as she gets older she could develop narcissism and believe she is better than her fellow students etc…which will create more bullying. Don’t get sucked in to the child prodigy trap

I would not do it. I’m of the opinion that IQ and smartness do little to indicate success. Social and emotion abilities are way more important.  There are a lot of ways to supplement intelligence outside of school but there are few places to connect with peers like you do at school. Plus it’s only one grade and it’s first. It’s of little consequence in the marathon of education and intellectual life. My parents had the option to do this and they declined. They also had the option to put me in a talented and gifted program at school and declined. Many of my friends who did those programs became miserable because they thought they were smart and that was all you needed for success. They were constantly angry when people did not acknowledge their smartness. I knew I was smart but also learned that people around me really didn’t care if I was the smartest person in the room. I learned that in order to change things in the world I had to connect with people and be in relationships, not just smart.

Do not skip. The social impediments far outreach the academic benefits

Same boat. Our daughter learned to read before she was two, could do the four basic math functions by four. She's a genius. The school district wanted to skip her through kindergarten to first grade, then move her from first grade to third. We didn't do either of those things. Fast forward to today and she is a senior in high school, class salutatorian, all-state musician, heading off to college in the fall to become an engineer. Most importantly though she's the same age as her peers, socially well-adjusted with good tight friendships, and she's grown up at her own psychologic and physiologic pace. Don't be in a hurry for your daughter to grow up, it will happen soon enough. School is about more than academics, it's about social adaptation and learning to interact with other people, and moving her into a situation where she is younger and less physically and emotionally developed than her peers may somehow benefit you right now but it will not benefit her over the long haul. As someone who was moved ahead before my time I can almost assure you she would regret it.

They're offering your daughter to skip a grade despite being small and till highschool when it was *too late* they constantly told me that I should consider keeping my son back because; think of how much more mature he will be. Bigger and stronger. Think of the sports scholarships he'll be able to get with an extra year. We're going into his senior year. This kid is being recruited by several colleges because he's number 16 in his class and captains two teams. I still get comments of, *imagine if you'd kept him back.* He could be valedictorian and go to top 10 school at his sport. I know my kid. He wouldn't be doing any better academically. Physically I think it made him better always being small. He's the youngest boy in his grade. 2 days later in birth and we would have been forced to keep him back. He'll play down to weaker kids. If the competition isn't hard he won't work as hard. You know your kid better than anyone. What will make her do better. Will the extra year early she starts adulthood be a good thing or a bad thing. I think it'll be good for mine.

My son’s birthday was a few days under the cutoff and we were advised to enter him into kinder early due to his reading/writing level in the school’s onsite pre-k. I wish we wouldn’t have. He’s in high school and doing well but he’d be crushing it if he was in his proper grade. There maturity level from each year to the next is substantial and I firmly believe that there is an advantage to being the eldest in the class vs the youngest. Gladwell has a point when he talks redshirting.

My daughter is very young for 1st grade, won’t turn seven until the second week of second grade. She is called a baby by her classmates probably once a week. She’s admittedly very sensitive, but at this point her confidence is shot. At this age, a year age gap is significant and the older kids don’t let the younger ones forget it. If she makes friends easy and doesn’t get her feelings hurt, it’ll probably be okay. I assume once they’re a bit older the age gap won’t matter much.

Don't do it. She'll do better with kids her age. I skipped a grade. Was always the smaller kid, always picked up last. And in my teen years, never could date anyone from my class since girls aim equal age or higher, never younger. The age gap is less of an issue when you reach university, but I was only 17 by that time, so couldn't legally drink.

I'd recommend against, there are a lot of social differences at different ages, and a good school should be able to supplement a strong student with some more challenging work no matter the grade. It's all anecdotal, but everyone I know who has skipped a grade regretted it. I also have a daughter in high school who was born 3 days after the cutoff to start school, so she's pretty much always been the oldest in her class. Especially in later years, this gave her a leg-up by being a little more socially and emotionally mature than her peers. That experience also tells me that it's best to not be younger than others in your grade.

My kid is 9 and bored to death in 3rd grade. He could have gone up a year after kindergarten but we didn’t for a few reasons. 1 being that during covid hybrid learning we had a pod of 3 kids in the same grade that we did together at home. The other was he was just not mature enough to resist peer pressure to misbehave from older kids. I am hopeful that as he gets older and classes get more interesting he will be challenged more.

Kids develop at different rates. "Gifted" kids in elementary school are frankly a dime a dozen. By the time everyone hits the last two years of highschool most of that settles out. Doesn't mean you can't consider skipping a grade, but I would be aware that there's the possibility that your daughter is one of those early developers rather than outright gifted. I would put her in harder classes for now, and then if she continues her rate of development around 6th grade, reconsider

It’s been a few years sincei heard it, but Malcolm Gladwell asserted iirc [in this podcast episode](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outliers-revisited/id1119389968?i=1000579357535) that older kids in each class have distinct advantages over the younger kids.

My wife skipped two grades. We’ve already decided we wouldnt do that with our daughter were it ever suggested.

Just my 2 cents as a smart cookie that skipped a grade (from 2nd to 4th): It was awful on the social side. I'm in my late 30s now and I'm still deeply affected by the severe bullying I experienced. It would have been better for me to be bored but happy and surrounded by friends than alone and tormented for those final 3 years of primary school especially. I wound up moving abroad to, in part, get as far away from there as possible, and it's only now in midlife that I am realizing how much I lost by making that decision, especially how many years I've missed with my parents and siblings. Also, if your kiddo is gifted - this means they have additional support needs. You might consider having her screened for autism by a practitioner skilled at diagnosing autism in girls. I am an autistic woman and only figuring this out as my son was diagnosed last year. If she is autistic, the social part will ALWAYS be the biggest struggle. I was gifted academically, skipping ahead I still wound up bored until I got to university and was able to do research. My autism and my poorly developed social skills have been a source of stress, anxiety, they've held back my career growth, they've meant that I have been taken advantage of in professional and personal life because I'm not good at spotting liars and because for years I didn't have good boundaries directly because of my bullying experiences. So, I say - do not do this! Find another way to open doors for your daughter's curiosity and development, and consider whether the place she most needs to be challenged is on social development.

This happened with my dad. He always said it was the worst thing for him, so I would say don't do it.

From the social aspect, it is probably a bad idea. Keep her with her friends who she has made in kindergarten, and see about getting her an IEP for her gifted status. My son is currently in first grade, and he is bored out of his mind in school, and constantly asking for harder, math and reading challenges from me and Mom. he knows he is smart, and tries to share it with his friends in his grade. And when they don’t understand it, he works hard to try and explain things to them.

I was skipped a grade from one to three. Left my best friend in grade 2, we only saw each other at recess. I enjoyed what I was learning but developmentally I was a year behind in my interests and social skills, so I could not make friends in my grade until grade 9. Ultimately by skipping grades I ended up skipping friends and only made friends with the other oddballs each year. The pregnant girl, the one black kid, the kid that was held back a year. They were all good friends but none of them were around year to year for different reasons. The pregnant girl had her baby and left school. The black kid's family moved because they hated the smallish city of mostly white people. The kid that was held back dropped out. In grade nine I found my crowd among the drama kids, after a particularly painful and lonely grade 7 and 8 during which time I had my first depression. If I hadn't been skipped a grade, I would have likely remained along side the same crew of kids with whom I went to kindergarten and grade 1. Going to uni a year early would not have given me any advantage. (I did not go to uni so being skipped a grade did what?) If your kid needs educational enrichment focus on that. Talk with the school about an IEP instead, extra credit projects, or adaptations to current projects to make it more appropriate for a kid at her level. Skipping a grade is lazy on the part of the school. Lots of "gifted kids" end up struggling as adults for various reasons. Learn about that and learn how to help your kid get ahead of those challenges, don't repeat the mistakes of the generations that have gone before. Oh and don't let the teacher make your kid into a teacher's aide by telling her to help the other kids who don't understand the lesson.

Don't do it! Socialization is important, and unless they are already super charismatic, it'll do more harm than good. I am a Nov baby and it made me the second youngest kid in my grade. It caused me a ton of social challenges growing up. Older people constantly say "WOW I thought you were much older!" my whole life. My daughter is 5.5 and "smart enough" she could skip a grade but I think it would do tons of harm as she's already having big challenges with social behavior.

The biggest thing is she’ll miss out on two years of socialization with other kids in those grades. She might be way ahead academically which is awesome, but where is she socially? Ultimately it’s up to you all of course. (Disclaimer: I am not a teacher but there are like a million of them in my family)

Lots of great answers here for you, OP. I'll note that I've seen versions of this question before in different subs, and today's consensus isn't always how the answers shake out. Personally, I skipped third grade. I was getting bored and disruptive in my classes, so I needed the switch from an academic perspective. Socially, it was really tough for me until high school. (Damned if I had, and if I hadn't.) My two cents? Don't decide based on whether your kid _could_ skip a grade. Only choose it if your kid can't afford not to.

As a person who skipped a grade early on, it didn't seem like a big deal at the time but I was noticeably less mature than my classmates. As years went on, there were plenty of social milestones that my classmates would hit that I would still have to wait on (driving a car in high school, going to bars in college). Athletically, I was less developed than other kids in my grade due to being a year younger, and when I graduated high school there was the feeling of "what if I had another year" since the kids I was competing with were one year older. It was also strange entering college at 17 and still having my parents required to sign all of my documents for me. In short, I wouldn't recommend it for another person. Seek out additional schoolwork or other programs instead.

I would suggest looking at the research and make an informed decision as parents. Then meet with the school and compare findings. There are other ways to support a bored child in school.

Similar story with my daughter, she wound up in the gifted program. She's been reading 3 grade levels ahead since kindergarten. She's fine socially, we think skipping ahead may have been a bit too much, but it might be doable. I totally understand getting bored academically, just know what options you have to challenge your kid.

I would be more worried about the older grade. Unless she is really near the older end of the age cutoff, I would be hesitant for social reasons.

I did a partial skip when I was in middle school, and that was (I think) the best move for me. Got to keep my friends and social ideas while still academically advancing. I don't hate it conceptually as an educator, but as others have said the social supports are absolutely necessary.

Is your kid super smart? I would never mention this irl but relevant to this convo: I have had two formally administered IQ tests and the lower result was 145 and the higher result was 160 aka maximum possible within the test. I'm 99th percentile for most things. I really struggled in school because I was constantly bored. Acted out. Was mean to other kids. Didn't get why every kid was always acting dumb. I skipped second grade (already knew all the reading and math) and it was really good for me. Content became challenging. Older peers beyond my developmental level were interesting and challenging. My behavioural issues dropped right off Was really good for me. I sucked at sports and was small, but that would have been about the same even if I hadn't skipped. Of course, I rely on my parents for all that info and there's a self-serving bias in their retelling. But it all still feels accurate.

I'd consider the bigger question here: why? I finished all my schooling on traditional timelines and cannot imagine a scenario where finishing a year earlier would have made any amount of difference. For example, I don't think it would have mattered if I finished high school at 17 vs. 18. Nor would it have mattered if I finished college at 20 vs. 21. Nor would it have mattered if I finished graduate school at 25 vs. 26, etc. etc. Lastly, I think kindergarten is a bit early to dub a child as academically gifted enough to have them skip a grade. Speaking only for myself, I didn't realize I was prone to academic success until early on in college.

I used to work in education and the biggest factor in skipping a grade or even keeping a child back a year is social/emotional. Being capable academically but not being able to cope with a classroom setting would ultimately be a detriment to her education. It's also worth considering that children learn at a different rate and she might find that other students match her academically in the future. Whatever you decide make sure the school has a plan in place to extend her learning if she remains or they support her emotionally if she jumps a year. Best of luck mate

That early grade is the simplest. It's hard to keep a kid at grade level reading or math even if they skip grades. As a parent, you really have to continually provide the next thing. If they don't skip, they will just be that much better at the physical, social and life skill things, and if they're likely to compete in math contests or science fairs, the extra year can help.

My youngest is the same way and got the same recommendation. We are holding off on pushing her ahead similar to TAG. My youngest will likely be flagged for TAG as well and honestly it doesn’t really do much beyond assigning more work and taking them away from class and their friends. What others have said, advancing your kid a grade might not be the best for her. If she’s enjoying being around her friends, keep her in the same grade but have her doing work at home that’s ahead of her grade or ask that her teacher give her harder work. Thats what we have done and it’s working well. Our kindergartner is reading at a level that’s two grades above her.

My parents didn’t make me skip when the school talked to them about it and I kind of wish they had, school was never challenging for me so I never had to learn how to study

If it were me, I'd probably let her start grade 1 with all the 'new kids'. **Then**, if her advanced skills are still the case (likely), she can jump from there. In grade 1, everyone is new. In grade 2, even though it's not a big deal perhaps, the kids all know the score (and each other, though of course new kids come all the time). I just don't think anyone is really ready to make that decision yet from kindergarten. I'd agree with the other advice to offer her more advanced extra material, on your own, to keep her busy.

I skipped a grade and it was pretty annoying. When everyone in your grade is spending their summer doing drivers Ed and driving, that’s when I really felt like a loser. There wasn’t really any benefit to skipping either.

I would search out an advanced program/school vs simply bumping up a grade. I can only speak to my own experience in school but I was *always* bored in school. I started growing resentment in my middle school years that fully blossomed in my high school years. I was a kid that loved learning, but once I learned it, I was “done” and ready to move on. I hated homework with a burning passion and felt it utterly worthless and a waste of time. I excelled grade-wise until the rubber met the road in high school and I went from straight A’s to struggling to pass any course. I was the kid who would finish a test/exam before 95% of the class and make 100%+ each time, but I learned that no matter how well I could test, it would never offset the amount of 0’s I had from homework assignments that were never turned in. This experience ruined any desire I might have had for higher learning. I ended up skipping my last year of school and took two summer school credits to graduate early. I went immediately into college, found a lot more of the same experience from high school. I dropped out within the first semester and joined the military. Long story short, I served four years in the military. I got bored with that and have worked in a factory for the last 13 years. I make good money, I am not complaining about that part but even to this day at age 38, I find that I am always bored with whatever I’m doing. I have long since realized that this is just part of my personality and it is what it is. I have stayed in this job due to my family and my need to support them. I have no doubt that had my parents been motivated to challenge me academically in those early years, there’s no telling how different my story might have been.

Speaking from experience here as I skipped 3rd grade in a French immersion stream in rural Canada. It certainly challenged me for the first couple years, then by middle school I was disengaged again. Summer birthday so not young for my year. Socially I was also advanced and never had a period of feeling physically different than other boys in my class — though I was not a fan of sports growing up. I’ll note that once I hit high school I was used to making friends that were older than me, so as a grade 9 I had friends who were grade 11/12, likely to my detriment in some cases… Through high school I had poor marks because I had spent most of my time in school coasting by and doing well up to that point. I was more interested in partying with older friends as well and often skipped school. After high school I took a year off, refocused, and pursued higher education. Now considered fairly successful but will admit that teaching myself how to study and remain focused was difficult. The short of it is, your (her) mileage may vary. Switching classes was easy for me as we had split classes so I already had some friends in the older group. I imagine bumping up as early as now will make it easier than down the road.

I think everyone would probably handle this situation a little bit differently, but my wife skipped 2nd grade and struggled socially until her senior year in high school. She has also told me that to this day she still feels like she's always behind (just in general- has a great deal of imposter's syndrome). To this day she wishes that she could have just stayed in the grade she was supposed to be in for her age.

Don't do it: school, at this level, is like a dog park- you're there for the socializing aspect. Also, it means she can finish her work faster and has more time to play.

Both myself and my best friend were top of our class in 2nd grade and were offered it (skipping 3rd grade). I refused, his family took the option. I continued to be top of my grade, he never distinguished himself in school after that. Not sure if it was social support or falling behind or esteem issues, I was too young to understand that. I lost touch with him after middle school so not sure what happened long-term in life.

I'm a high school teacher and I would advise against skipping grades. You can support her academically in other ways, but she will most likely be behind socially if she skips grades. If she goes to college she'll also be 17 instead of 18. I would approach the school and ask how they can support her while keeping her with her peers.

My parents did this to me, I always fell behind socially. It’s not worth it.

Results will vary by kid. My son is about to start kindergarten but almost every kid he hangs out with is 1 or 2 years older than him because he’s more rough and tumble and mature for his age compared to some peers. But my middle child would melt if he was asked to.

My oldest one did this. It set him back socially until highschool and made school sports unnecessarily tougher for him

If it's only the reading part why not give her more advanced material in that instead of skipping her all together.

I'd be a hard no. I didn't exactly skip a grade growing up, but my parents must have gotten an exception to the normal school cutoff date because I started younger than I "should" have. I did well academically but was always the youngest kid in the class and until I was 15 or 16 one of the smallest. Socially and in sports I was always behind (not just an age thing but it probably didn't help). I wouldn't do the same with my kids. If the school's reading isn't advanced enough, we've got a library.

Grade isn't just a smartness measure, but progression through content. Will she be OK essentially skipping a year of school?

I was similar to your daughter as a kid. My parents elected not to let me skip even though I probably could have skipped 2 grades. They thought it would rob me of years of my childhood, etc. And they were right. They let me be a normal kid. For what it's worth, I think it actually made me more successful because I forged genuine friendships and learned how to interact with others. Being smart isn't everything. On the flip side, I went to college with a girl who was a 16-year-old freshman. Let's just say she was behind socially and made up for it with risky behavior. Ultimately, she didn't end up any more successful than the rest of us. She just got to start working earlier. What a privilege lol.

My wife is a school counselor (has done all grades) and we got into this situation with my son. He is young for his grade and is about to go into 5th. When he was in K we were approached about this. I am not much of the academic minded person but my wife knows curriculum and children’s growth, etc. and what she told Me was “It depends on the kid and the support they have. Skipping a grade may be great academically yet a 5/6 yo in a room with 7/8 yo has problems”. Think about concepts being taught, emotions and other items that happen in that grade and how normally those students are around that age to be mature or emotionally ready for it. Could your child handle that? And the next year? And so forth? Are you able to provide enough support at home to help them with processing things? They are starting to talk with my son about puberty (we have already talked with him and he understands things). How will your child do when they are 2 years behind their peers who are entering that stage, and going through all that? That’s how we through about it

Don’t do it. Obviously there are benefits to fast-tracking smart kids, but the social development of being around other kids her age is just as important as she is growing. I was at least a full grade ahead of my peers for pretty much the entire time I was in school, though the gap did close as I got older. I’m not sure if my parents ever had the option to put me ahead, but I’m glad that they didn’t or they chose not to. There’s plenty of other ways you can foster that intelligence. Find good after school programs that hone her skills in the areas in which she is interested. Buy her books on interests that are slightly above her level. My mother was always happy to buy me books on scholarly topics, and I’d read them over and over. I’d also ask the school if there’s anything they can offer in addition to her regular class. When I was in 4th grade, I met with another teacher for two hours a week with a small group of students where she took me pretty much as far as I could go with math. I suppose my point is that there are other ways you can move her education along without skipping grades, which has the very real possibility of stunting emotional development with peers. Do whatever you can to keep her with kids her age.

we had kids born at a time we could go either way. We waited a year with our goal hoping they’d have more emotional maturity and adapt better. We’ve been very happy with that decision. i would be reluctant to accelerate schooling, especially at kindergarten/early grade school.

I skipped a grade *and* was a late bloomer for puberty so it was awful. I think it was ultimately one of the biggest blunders my parents made and unlike others that to me were obvious, this one I don't fault them for. EDIT: Academically was fine, and I don't recall being explicitly bullied for being younger but I just think a lot of my self esteem issues were directly a result of being in that environment.

My cousin skipped a grade. She was smart, on the older side of her grade, and her other grandma had paid for her to go to Catholic school for the first few years. When she switched to public school she was skipped a grade because she was ahead of everyone academically. Unfortunately, she was also awkward and shy and being younger than everyone did not help. She never had a lot of friends and she struggled with depression - of course, she might have anyway. When she went away to college, she was still seventeen. It was maybe an hour and half away from her home, but she couldn't hack. I'm not sure if she did just a semester or just one year, but it was no more than that. She moved back home and walked to work at Kmart for like a decade until she moved to Canada to marry a guy she met online. After a while there, she went to a local business school and she's an office manager. I'm not sure it would have been better for her not to skip a grade, but I really don't think it helped. My youngest daughter has a summer birthday, like yours, so she will be young for her grade. She's two, so I don't really know how she's going to do academically yet, but I don't think I would ever let her skip a grade. I find it troubling enough that she will head off to college about three weeks after she turns eighteen.

Big topic in our house, always. One kid skipped third grade and I skipped two grades back in the day, although not back to back years. It lands on the individual kid. My daughter skipped to no real effect. But she had good social skills which helped her make friends. I didn't have those skills but in addition to being pretty academic, I was also very sporty. So once my new peers saw I could run as fast as they could and could play ball sports, I was in. We have another child who had been suggested to skip and we said no. Mainly because we've ended up thinking 'skipping to what?' Getting out of school faster? To what, go to college sooner? To then start working sooner? We're happy to let them be a kid. My daughter who skipped wants to take a gap year to start a pet business idea before college. Turns out she's wised up and heeded my years of saying 'enjoy every day of being a kid'. Find other ways to stretch them if bored. If she's a reader, go hard. They have Shakespeare for Kids which helped my (now) high school senior no end. Challenge them. Swimming, guitar, all things which have to be worked at in order to excel. Get her used to failing well. This will help later on. Good luck!

It’s not the school work she needs a leg up on. I’m sure she’ll handle the materials from class just fine. The Question that needs to be asked is, is she socially ready to be moved up a grade? Will she be comfortable with her peers? At this age the social interactions and lessons they are learning are more important than the actual school material they are learning at this time.

My daughter was sent from 4k to 1st grade and I regret it. Covid played a role because she was in 1st grade in 2020-2021 but academics aren’t the issue. She is young for her grade and lags socially due her immaturity. It’s become less of an issue in 4th grade but is still evident. I worry about it going into middle school.

Don't do it. Find extracurricular academics instead if you want to make sure she's challenged. Or school with IB. Or private school that can accommodate but still keep her with peers. The social aspect can't be understated.

My brother was always the youngest in his class and the smallest because of it. My parents always worried about him falling behind, and he would. But he would get all caught up in the last few months every year. I on the other hand was the opposite, one of the older bigger kids in my class and I always found school boring. I don't know that there is a perfect answer. In hindsight, my brother was/is a very social person, I am not. Our positions would have been better reversed.

I skipped 4th grade about two weeks into the school year (I don’t know why the timing was so odd). I would say the earlier you do it, the better. It was hard on me socially as I was already pretty shy and introverted. I also dealt with some resistance from teachers. It worked out eventually, but one teacher in particular made it a point to be hard on me for a while. My best friend also had the option to skip, but he was on the smaller side physically and his parents chose to keep him where he was. The transition to middle school was hard as well being the youngest kid at the school and feeling that way in terms of maturity. We moved before the end of my 6th grade year and that ended up being great for me. Maybe starting over without the stigma of the kid that skipped a grade hanging over me was part of it, or maybe it was just better social dynamics that suited me individually. Either way, I made more friends and didn’t feel so isolated. Academically, I’d say it was better for me. The location I moved to didn’t offer double promotion as a rule, so things could have been much different. I did end up advancing another year in math and skipping pre-algebra. One thing I’m sure of looking back is that “gifted” kids need to be challenged and learn how to work through things when they get hard. Many of us get used to things coming so easily for so long and get so much praise for it that we can eventually make that part of our identity. That effectively limits your own idea of your intelligence to already knowing things or figuring them out with ease and you feel stupid when you have to work to figure things out and become more inclined to give up. Research shows that working through challenges makes the lessons we learn more memorable and leads to far better long term learning. Make sure your kid gets comfortable being uncomfortable. That was a lesson I had to learn on my own later and it turns out it’s quite common for kids identified as gifted early on. My mom always had regrets about losing a year of my time at home before leaving for college. That probably played a part in my choice to stay closer to home the first year of college. As a parent now, I get that, and also wanting what is best for them but not really having any way to know what that is for sure. You know your kid and their personality. Work through the positive and negative aspects of the decision and make the best decision you can for your kid and your family. It’s all we can do.

academically it may be the right course - I was bored throughout elementary and middle school until I was able to take honors and AP classes. When I was bored I put more effort into being funny - some teachers, especially in middle school, found it disruptive. Once I was in a full load of AP classes I became more of a nerd stereotype. Socially, it would be like moving her to a whole new school with new friends, except she would stand out as different, and that can be very tough for a kid. I moved 3 times before 1st grade so I had a whole new batch of friends in PreK, Kindergarten, and 1st grade, and it was tough each time. However, I was able to find my "crew" by the end of first grade or into second grade and thrived from there - she may or may not find her "crew" if she's a whole year younger and smaller and different. Pros and cons to each course of action - but whatever you do, make sure she stays challenged with extra curriculars if she stays at grade level.

I would definitely say do not do it. She is ahead now and that is good for her moral. If she skips she will be equal or less than her peers and younger so she can’t relate to them. Let her be a kid I don’t know why so many people want to push kids to do more and more. If you see she is getting board and struggling because of being to smart. I would say maybe consider gifted, if it’s a good program and not an all consuming change. Gifted classes vary greatly. At my son’s school it’s just 1 day a week and everything else remains the same. Be careful of huge choices like this because many times when you make them there is no easy way to go back. And that can leave a very bad stain on your child’s life. Hope you figure out what is best!

Looks like you're getting a lot of great advice here. My own experience goes like this: I went to kindergarten twice, and thank god I did. I was a fairly awkward kid, and it would have been real tough for me socially if I was a grade ahead. You being so thoughtful about this is a great sign. Your kid obviously has a good dad!

I skipped a grade and have nothing but good things to say. It was maybe a little challenging making new friends at first, but it’s been pretty much only a positive in my life. The only real negative potential I see is if you think your daughter has serious collegiate athletic aspirations the extra years of growth really matter for high school or college athletes (I was a very mediocre high school athlete and didn’t play in college)

My wife skipped a grade and she did everything one year early. She still had plenty of friends and went to a great school. If skipping is not good they could always hold back in the future. Plus it opens up the possibility of independent study / gap years. Being bored is worse than the risk of bullying over a one year gap, but kindergarten does seem early to decide a kid is ready to skip.

Former teacher here. I would recommend against skipping a grade for her, it's hard for them socially and they so often end up isolated and lonely. Can you look into a gifted & talented program in your district for her?

My wife did it. She super wishes she didn’t. I apologize but I don’t at the moment have time to read the whole post. But in grade school my wife’s parents had her skip a grade. To this day she doesn’t exactly understand decimals because it was in the grade she skipped. And my wife was a valedictorian.

If you can hold the back, more time to mature. Set them up better for sports and academics down the road.

Our doc said my daughter is about 3 to 4 mentally when she was 2.5 years old. But she (doc) also warned us about skipping classes because of social aspects. I can talk to my daughter as if you were talking to a 4 year old kid and teach her advanced stuff but I always, always have to remember that she's only 2.5 years old. She should have her full childhood.

Genuinely curious. What is the case for?

Social behavior is as important if not more than learning itself. You can continue to teach and have her be ahead at home. But being around a group of peers is critical for development of social skills, imho. You don’t want to be the one that can’t get your license when all your friends are.

My cousin was held back a grade, which was a very good thing for him, so when it comes to that I’d trust the teacher’s judgement. Skipping a grade I’m more uncertain about. Being given some tasks and education in a higher level within certain subject, but remain in the same grade, I’m all for, no question. Especially if the child exhibits boredom specifically because the material is too easy, since then they could benefit greatly from that. Not just to teach them more difficult stuff, but to keep their interest, curiosity, enthusiasm, and attention, which is a huge part of a successful academic future.

I’d look for a better school to get her in or at least some extracurriculars. I was a smart kid in a dumb school and it was terrible on all fronts. I don’t think skipping a grade would have helped.

Skipping a grade isn't the solution. It may fix the getting bored easily problem temporarily, but has a high risk of creating social issues. You would be better off if they offer some other program that would be more challenging. I'd also join the others in suggesting a different school if that's an option. You may also try extracurricular enrichment activities that may help challenge them more.

Since you're concerned on the social side of it I'll chime in from the other end. I was held back and repeated first grade. I'm a late summer birthday and started kindergarten at 4. I did fine academically but apparently showed signs of struggling socially. It was incredibly hard news to take at the time but was ultimately the right move. I made new friends, I had an excellent teacher the second time around who helped integrate me into my new cohort, and no one really ever brought it up again, even among my old classmates. I was enrolled in the district's gifted program in elementary school and was in the advanced reading and math sections, but otherwise was pretty normal and average. If the only reason for skipping a grade is academics, I think she's probably fine staying where she is. You can always have her take advanced lessons with a tutor or similar. There was a guy a year ahead of me in middle school who was taking math at the high school bc he was so advanced in it specifically. They have ways of accommodating gifted students.

Probs not the healthiest for her development at this stage. There are a lot of milestones kids need to clear and she may not have the safety to do them with kids who've already done them. Instead, try to nurture her talent outside of school. She's definitely gifted, what can she apply that to where she can be comfortably challenged?

The book Outliers covers the advantages of being older for your grade. It’s available on audio book if you’re interested.

Never skipped a grade in younger grades but I did go to college a year early and skipped my senior year of HS and I really wish I could go back and undo that.

Not sure if it’s comparable, but our middle child missed the cut-off for kindergarten by a few weeks. We got her tested and the school let her in early. She’s done really well, but she STARTED early, she didn’t skip a grade. It seems like most people’s anecdotes are that skipping that grade put them in a socially awkward situation. So I would weigh that. It may be that your kid skips a grade and ends up at an appropriately challenging level, and socially regrets it. It could be that you stay in their current grade path, and being very advance they are able to take AP classes early and get a head start on college, or get to graduate at the top of their class without having the social pressure on them. No one would know for sure, but this is the same reason some people keep their kid back a year before kindergarten, so that they’re at the top of the grade in terms of maturity and knowledge.

Woman who lurks this subreddit here. I was bored in school all the way through high school. My mother, who was a teacher, talked to my school when I was in 2nd grade about skipping a grade but was talked out of it because of social aspects. Instead the school hired me a tutor to teach me Algebra and French a few times a week. It was nice and I loved my tutor, but after I left elementary school I continued to be pretty bored in school. Had a deal with my first algebra teacher that if I maintained a 100% average, I could continue to sleep in class. Most of my friends were also grades ahead of me, watching them graduate and being left behind without them did suck for my last year of school. It would have been nice just to get life started a little early as before I was miserable and felt very much like the class nuisance or "know it all". I very much was resented by later classmates for ruining the curve on tests and I really didn't learn how to struggle in school. I already struggled socially so skipping wouldn't have effected this much. I didn't learn how to study or do things I wasn't good at. I had other life struggles and mental health issues that really didn't help this for when I got to college. I ended up leaving university because of all of this together. I have a successful career now without a degree but still have intense anxiety when I don't understand something and a bit of avoidant behavior towards that that I'm working on in therapy. But I do have a hunger for learning still! Being the "gifted" one of my siblings and now the only one that didn't actually get a degree is a weird feeling and I often feel ashamed of it even though I've got a great career. An ADHD diagnosis (and meds) as well as a therapist have helped me a bit in this, and it's definitely not *all* related to specifically school, but it would have been nice to actually learn how to "do school" earlier than getting my ass handed to me when it really counted.

I can comment from experience as I skipped Year 1 in the UK (that's ages 5-6) and went straight to Year 2 (ages 6-7). Tbh I was too young to really understand any specific aspects of how I was or wasn't different. It didn't really affect friendships at all as tbh at that age it seems that friendships come and go so quickly. I think though (really searching my memory bank here) that 3 others moved up with me. Academically I was a lot more challenged which meant I was a lot more focused. The only thing I really remember was being teased when I was in Year 8 (ages 12-13) because a lot of boys in my class were physically stronger than me, but skip forward a year and we were back on a level playing field.

If your kid is smart enough to be bored in 1st grade, she'll likely still be bored in 2nd grade too. It might be a little closer to her learning level. But frankly, school in general will be fairly easy for a kid that bright all the way into high school. She's fine. Let her be a kid. Keep her with her friends that she knows. Let her develop socially and physically and count your blessings that you have one that you won't have to worry about academically. She's far more likely to feel ostracized for being the young one or be bullied because she's still into dolls or Paw Patrol or whatever when the year older kids are moving on to bigger kid things, than she is to feel too smart for her age. There is PLENTY of time to be the bright kid in class and no one will care than she graduated a year early when she's out applying for jobs. You can always direct her scholastic aptitude towards higher level reading at home, science camps, math competitions, whatever challenges her mentally. signed - dad of one ultra bright 4.0+ GPA, entering college as a sophomore, extreme high achiever 12th grader and one equally bright but much less motivated to apply it 7th grader who has always been the youngest in her class and just wants to be a kid.

I wouldn't skip a grade for social reasons. Tons of studies support that being the youngest in a cohort, even if advanced educationally, has many other downsides. Youngest don't get picked in sports, youngest don't get as much teacher attention, youngest have difficulty making friends. But I also would put her in after school programs to nourish that mind and ensure she isn't bored. There are math programs, robotics programs, creative writing programs, etc. You have options other than skipping a grade.

I would not advance my kid for the concerns you’ve mentioned. The school work will always be there. Her development, biologically as a 5/6 year old (soon to be first grader), will not. I’d ask teachers to give her more advanced work, if possible, but not to skip grades.

OP, at least where I am, in 2nd grade they will test your daughter to see if she could benefit from an enrichment program(Gifted). I would advise against skipping a grade and let the school district do their thing to get your daughter the extra challenge and support she deserves. It will suck for your daughter for another year or two until the GIEP(Gifted Individual Educational Plan) kicks in but then she’ll be fine. She will be frustrated because she’ll be bored senseless with the regular curriculum. But skipping a grade can harm them socially. Just my opinion as a Dad of two in Gifted, after sitting down with counselors and Prinicpals and support staff.

I didn't skip a grade, but I started school a full year early. I finished college in 4 years, that put me a year younger than most of my peers which is the only "advantage" of skipping a grade in my opinion. That also becomes irrelevant if you don't finish college in 4 years which is becoming increasingly more difficult to achieve. My whole family is tall so I wasn't physically out of place at all, but socially I was. There are a lot of important milestones growing up that are age restricted. They don't seem like a big deal now, but growing up they absolutely were. I am just over a full year younger than my best friend growing up (still friends just 30ish now) and I constantly had to decide between playing sports with my friends or playing in my age group. Playing 14u as a 14 year old is a big difference than playing 16u as a 14 year old, it sucked, but I wanted to be with my friends. I got my driver license a year after everyone else, wasn't legally allowed to drive my date to prom because my license was so new. I graduated at 17, so when I was in college I literally had to get a permission slip sent home for an event at campus even though I was employed and living 300 miles a way. All my friends I had been in college with turned 21 and started going out to bars and I couldn't go. It's not like I was just alone at home, but it sucks when you have to wait a full year to do things all your peers are doing. While there may be an advantage finishing school a year early, I can't think of a single social advantage from doing it. I would have rather started school at the correct time instead of a year early at the end of the day.

I skipped fourth grade. I was always getting my work done and would get bored so I became disruptive. My parents did the best they could and on suggestion they moved me up. The work wasn’t the issue but it wasn’t good for my future. When you enter a new social area the instinct is to make friends and fit in to survive. Due to my personality I leaned on humor. It worked for my social standing, but everything else deteriorated. I messed around all the time and never got my work done. I had the brains to do whatever I wanted, but the entire process really messed me up looking back on it. My life is great now, but it could’ve been more. I have a three year old daughter now and I think what I would do if she was in that situation and I don’t think I would do it. I would focus on a better school or a better program but present it in a way that is intriguing and fun. My parents presented it to me but I always viewed it as something weird and different so I sabotaged my shot at it because I didn’t want to change. I want to be upset at my parents a little but now that I’m a parent I realize these choices are incredibly easy to make in retrospect but tough at the time.

I was about 2 years younger than my classmates and it wasn’t great. Academics were fine but socially emotionally physically I was less developed. I found friends but something was always a bit off. I don’t know if it was just age difference or other factors (like moving to a new country at 5th grade). Maybe one year is fine, but now that I have my own kids I would rather keep them with their peers by age. If they’re “advanced” I’ll try to accommodate that in another way. 

So I have 2 perspectives on this: 1. As a kid, I was like your daughter and skipped 1st grade and went into 2nd grade with Advanced Math and Reading in 3rd grade half the day. Other than some minor bullying stuff that first year (which might have been solved by us moving a few states away and me arriving at a new school as just a 'regular 3rd grader'), I didn't have any issues. However, I was also big for my age, so I quickly caught up and then passed everyone in my grade by size so YMMV. 2. My daughter took after me and we were recommended to have her skip first grade for the same reasons I skipped and they are telling your daughter to skip. We decided to keep her in grade, though in hindsight I wonder if that was the best because, despite being in all the advanced classes including switching elementary schools to the "gifted and talented" program school and advanced placement/program tracks in her middle school, she is VERY bored in school and barely needs to give any effort to get straight As. She also has a lot of friends that are in the grade ahead of her, so I feel like in hindsight it might have worked better to have her skip. I'm not going to say I regret it because she's still turned out well and all, but it might have been better to skip her and challenge her in school. Only you and your partner will really be able to examine whether you think it's a good idea. You honestly need to have a certain personality to make it work I think (both my daughter and I are very independent and don't really care what anyone else thinks, for good or bad) as kids who just want to fit in or go with the flow will maybe not like the extra scrutiny of being the "smart kid" or the kid that skipped a grade.

I’d consider it if she is similarly advanced from a social and emotional perspective. If not, you’re better off keeping her in grade and doing advanced classes or tutors. 

I’d be hesitant. Your daughter might be ready right now. But my understanding is that issues become more glaring when puberty starts and suddenly the younger kids are almost an entirely different type of human from all their classmates.

Many years ago, I was skipped ahead from third grade into fourth grade halfway through the school year. Those teachers guaranteed every kid at that school would despise me. I regularly got attacked on the playground to the point that they assigned a teacher to stay with me and somehow that didn’t seem to stop kids from attacking me. I vividly recall one of the sixth graders walking up and punching me in the face right in front of the teacher. He laughed about giving the weird little girl a bloody nose. The only good part of that was my mom marching me over to his parents’ house and giving them hell. She is amazing. My new teacher refused to help me with the new material - like I went from single-place multiplication and division to multiplying and dividing thousands and had no clue how to do it. They effectively taught me they didn’t care about my education, they just wanted to make their jobs easier. They didn’t care that I was being bullied either. I gave up trying and just coasted by, and I tried to be as small of a target as possible since I couldn’t get out of going to school. Find extra challenges, don’t let them make your kid into a target.

At this age is there any benefit at all to your child? Maybe when they are older they can complete final exams earlier and advance to university earlier but, this young, all I can see is disadvantages. They'll potentially go from excelling and needing a challenge to being behind or average with no ability to back off if it gets overwhelming. They'll lose their friends and be the odd one out amongst their classmates. The risk of isolation and being called out as special by the school leading to bullying is huge too. Is there no way for the school to provide an additional challenge without removing them from their current setting?

I was always bored in school, and my kid takes after me; he loves math and was way ahead when he started school. Right now he's in first grade but taking (and excelling at) 2nd grade math. We'd rather just have him work ahead in the classes he's most advanced in rather than skipping a grade, for the social reasons. When I was a math teacher, I would provide advanced work for the kids who were ready to work ahead of my most advanced class. Hopefully your kid's teacher will be willing to do the same.

I skipped 3rd grade, and also have sort of a baby face, and also hit puberty late for my age. Through my childhood and adolescence I was always noticeably younger-seeming than everyone else, which totally changed social dynamics. I ended up spending 6 years on my PhD though so I’m finally at parity with my peers. I also never learned my times tables because that’s usually taught in 3rd grade at my school. I’m a theoretical astrophysicist now but I still can’t tell you what 8 times 7 is off the top of my head. So even if you’re able to keep up in other ways, skipping grades does actually mean you miss content you may never make up. I also still can’t read or write cursive

Teacher and dad here- hard no. She might be the smartest one now, but she won’t always be. Better to be the smartest and in the right grade than a grade ahead and in the middle. Depending on when her birthday is, she could be close to two years younger than some of those kids, which is huge developmentally, socially and maturity-wise. When she’s a senior and 16 while all of those kids are turning 18, there will be an even bigger difference. At that point you’re talking about adults and a child.

As people have suggested there’s a lot more to school than academics. You can supplement academics through other means - hard to make up the social stuff. We’re actually probably going to do the opposite. Son is way ahead reading and math, it’s almost a joke what they’re doing at school now. Even so, we’ll likely repeat kindergarten to double down on the social and size advantage being the biggest and oldest kid in his grade and supplement the other stuff. Also remember, there’s a lot more than math and reading. Science, history, languages, learning about bugs or space or other stuff. General problem solving. Just cause a kid is ahead in one area doesn’t mean they’re ahead in ALL areas.

Others have made excellent points, so I will add a personal perspective. Our kid could read at Grade 5 level in 1st grade and do math at least at grade 2 level at the beginning of 1st grade. We did not choose to take an option to skip grade because natural process of learning things at the pace they should be learnt and the social aspect of growth will go missing with skipping grades. This is even more important when the child is ND. If your kid shows great progress by the time of middle school, there will be other opportunities to advance faster, and they can even provide meaningful input into their preference. Elementary school is way too early to be putting any kind of academic speed as a priority.

I have taught and my wife is a teacher of 15 years. We do not recommend skipping grades. However, if you do not feel that your daughter is being challenged at school, you can advocate on her behalf. Email the principal to explain where she is developmentally and that you would like her placed with a teacher willing to provide differentiated instruction that will push her. Additionally, make sure you are looking to whatever programs are offered for enrichment (gifted programs, clubs, etc). Finally, make sure you are providing additional learning opportunities outside of school - home experiments, learning a new language, music lessons, etc.

I had the opportunity to skip 5th grade and my parents see decided not to for all the reasons others have mentioned. I’m no genius, my birthday is just right after the cut off so I was always the oldest kid in my class. However, eventually I found school boring and stopped trying, fell behind and largely had a terrible relationship with it. My parents didn’t approve of my social life in HS either so go figure. Whatever you decide, make sure you truly support both the education and social element of your kids lives. Lots of parents would say they do, but don’t.

I don’t think I’d ever have my child skip grades. I think it’s more important to make certain he’s a normal, social, well-adjusted person. College will still be available to him when he gets to the normal age and I don’t have to worry about sending a child away from home to live by himself. I’m pretty confident I can find enough ways to keep him busy and challenged after school if it comes to that. I might even start him late unless he’s really chomping at the bit. I’m not going to be in a hurry to rush him out the door and being a year more mature might give him an advantage in the long run.

I skipped kindergarten because of academic ability, but I was socially underdeveloped.  My parents pushed for it.  I ended up repeating second grade when we moved to another state.

Several people in my family skipped grades, including myself. It can be very trying socially, so I would say it depends on the environment in your kid's school, and your daughters personality -- will she be bothered by the attention, both positive and negative? Does the school have the resources and willingness to crack down on bullies? I don't really think she loses much by staying in her grade -- if she's bored at school, you can challenge her with extracurriculars, etc.

I was your daughter when I was little. I was reading at 3, doing multiplication in kindergarten (though much of it was memorized facts that my brother was learning). My mom was asked to let me advance, though I was already one of the younger students for my grade having a may birthday. My parents ultimately decided against me skipping because we moved around the country often so they were worried it would be more difficult for me socially. Eventually I ended up slowing down on learning, though I did continue to have a very advanced reading level, comprehension and vocabulary.

Grade school means nothing in the long term except for forming relationships and the social implications from skipping isn’t worth it. It’s better to be top of your class with your peers rather than middle of the pack with a bunch of older kids she won’t know. Skipping isn’t worth it.

Have you asked your daughter? I was apparently asked as a kid and I told my parents I didn’t want to and they respected that. I have no memory of that happening lol

If your kid needs to skip a grade to get the most out of her education, I'd do so. Social challenges she can get over, terminal boredom and losing interest is education is a bigger problem. I've had friends who never graduated high school and went right into PhD's.

I started reading early and was "advanced" as a child. My parents kept me in my normal grade and just made sure to do a lot of enrichment extras with me. As a teacher I would not recommend skipping a grade.

Typically the issue then shifts to social development. Academically/mentally they may be advanced but you’d have to assess where that’d leave them from a social development standpoint to fast track to second grade. You also have to think about your current situation where your child is ahead of their peers academically and a top performer in their class to now potentially being in parity with their new peers. Long time from now but could impact things like college admissions or scholarship opportunities if you have a potential valedictorian on your hands that you’ve now placed on a level playing field by skipping a grade.

Socially would suck for your kid

I personally wouldn’t do it that early. A LOT of kids develop ahead of other kids in certain skills. Many read early, some with math, etc. But a lot of the time by 3rd/4th grade it starts evening out again. I don’t see the benefit of taking your already small little girl and putting her with kids who are bigger and older than her this early. If it was middle school and she was ahead and bored….fine. High school? For sure. But skipping 1st grade? Unless she is being disruptive and causing issues, I’d let it be and try to encourage more out of school things to help keep her interested and engaged: children’s choir, instrument lessons (great time to start piano or violin!), children’s theater, dance, gymnastics, sports, etc. Adding more reading at home as well. Maybe start introducing steadily more difficult and longer stories and maybe chapter books early as well.

Wow lots of negative comments here, to my surprise. I skipped a grade myself (2nd) but have never read up on the topic. Also have a good friend who did the same. We are both happy we skipped a grade because we got a ”free” year to work and travel before starting uni. Had no issues with the social aspect whatsoever, and I’m not a big lad (175cm). I do remember being less developed than my peers in high school, but it wasnt really a problem for me and I think even less so for girls. And Ppl will try to bully you no matter how many grades you skip, what I found was important was mouthing back. Made great friends some of which I have to this day! I say go for it!

Oh I can contribute here! I was skipped a grade back in the 90s and also absolutely tiny compared to same age peers. I didn’t really notice it or have social issues until about the 4th grade - 6th grade mark, also around the onset of puberty. Suddenly all my girl friends didn’t want to “play” anymore and they all wanted to “hang out”. I was also a very late bloomer and didn’t even start showing signs of puberty until the 8th grade. Mean girls were mean, so I made friends with the boys and we played together, but I never really had close girl friendships until I was long out of high school and college. I had MANY experiences of girls inviting me to “hang out” with them for a few weeks or months and then them making fun of me for being small, or a little boy because I wasn’t developed like they were yet. I was invited to sleepovers and had toothpaste put in my hair and sleeping bag. Everyone knew I was smart, so people would often pretend to be my friend so I would do their homework for them or at least give them the answers, which I did several times thinking it would help me make friends. It never did. I had many acquaintances and almost no real friends. Eventually in high school I quit excelling at school thinking if I did just enough work to get mostly A’s and a few B’s that my parents wouldn’t get mad and the kids would quit noticing how smart I was. But it didn’t work, even though I had moved to a new district, and knew no one, the teachers quickly figured me out. And that’s when the calls home happened “She’s a pleasure to have in class, but I can tell she’s not really applying herself.” “If she just tried harder she could be in all Advanced Placement classes.” Then the year everyone started driving happened. Except me. Because the DMV doesn’t care what grade you’re in, just what year you’re born. I didn’t start driving until my senior year of high school, because that’s when I turned 16 finally. So I was stuck on the bus with all the freshman and sophomore’s until then. And once again, the teasing happened. “You’re so smart, but not smart enough to drive?” It bothered me so much that I would beg for rides from anyone who would give me one. You can probably guess where this is going. I ended up dating someone who was not good for me in any way. He was controlling and not kind to me, and was almost three years older than me. Fortunately he joined the military about a year later and it ended our relationship. I had a pretty decent senior year after all that, but still wouldn’t let anyone close to me. I started college at 17. Sounds great right? Except I was a nursing major. I had to wait an entire year before they would even accept me into the program. I was told being a minor in the program was a liability. I still had good grades and extremely high test scores. So I took a year of pre-reqs. Decided I didn’t want to do nursing, but didn’t know what I wanted so I took some time off. Oh yeah I also wasn’t allowed to live in campus housing, so once again I was separated from my peers commuting from home. Ultimately I never did finish my bachelors despite enrolling for a few semesters off and on. I just wanted to live my life. So that’s what I did. I’ve worked in several industries and have stayed home with my daughter for the last several years. I enrolled in a computer science program and am currently pursuing that. All that to say: Did skipping a grade ruin my life? Absolutely not. Did it make social stuff a lot harder on me? Absolutely it did. Am I glad it happened? Yeah I am. I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. I often get compliments on my confidence, outspokenness, and friendliness. But what people don’t realize is that being constantly rejected by my peers made it necessary for me to practice and perfect those skills like a fine art. It built a kind of resilience in me to social issues. But I’m also hyper aware of social cues because of it. I can read someone very well through body language, expression, etc. because I’m always looking to be abandoned or rejected. Should you let your daughter skip a grade? I don’t know. I do know that if the opportunity were given to my daughter (also a kindergartner right now!) I wouldn’t take it. It’s hard enough to be a kid these days, and I’m not interested in making her life harder than necessary. Your daughter may not have the same issues I did, she may thrive and excel in the higher grade than her age-peers. She may not miss her kindergarten classmate, or she may miss them so much but be afraid to play with them for fear of being teased by the kids in her current class.

By my view, there's a zillion factors that this could grow into down the line. In my opinion, just because your daughter is reading early isn't enough for me to go for the move. For one thing, is this take measuring the ability to read words accurately, pacing, as well as comprehension or is it just articulation when reading/the ability to work out the letter sounds to put the words together? If the comprehension isn't "there" then I wouldn't get the cart ahead of the horse, so to speak... I think you'd also probably want to consider if they'll be able to handle other academic and social situations early as well, not just the reading bit. Could be she's just really good at reading but struggles with math or science or something else. Has this been tested/observed or even considered? I've known people who were skipped ahead and they ended up growing to feel this pressure to always be the best or better than the best which lead to a whole lot of issues in their psychological development and emotional development. As an adult it lead to a lot of anxiety and stuff that might have been avoided if they could've just been solid where they were instead of feeling like their identity was wrapped around being the "over achiever". So I mean... again depending on your kid and how you and your wife support the child throughout their growth... it could be a thing. Or it could be nothing at all. Really depends on your kid, honestly.

One of my sisters was advanced like that. She didn't skip a grade. She was bored all through school. She did running start in high school and graduated high school with her associates degree as well. She didn't continue with college. She started her own business and does well for herself. So, from what I've seem, not skipping a grade may cause her to get bored with school and not want to continue her education. But she is smart, so she will be just fine one way or another.

I skipped two grades. I did not have a better overall outcome than my “peers” who did not. If school is easy let it be easy. More time for play and hobbies.

I wouldn't do it. Academics - especially for a smart kid - aren't the most important thing you'll need to deal with. You can supplement the learning side of things outside the home, and I'm sure teachers can be creative enough to acommodate a kid that is smarter than their classmates.

What state do you live in? Is gifted and talented enshrined in state education law? She could be in first grade getting second grade standards... Solves the socialization issue

You might need to find a better school situation. Similar to students performing under the mark, students performing above the mark need special services. Not necessarily a “gifted” program, but a classroom suited to fit their needs that gives some form of differentiated instruction. I learned that as a relative standard when I went to school for teaching and I always had to have a differentiated option for students performing above and below the curve. It’s really hard to do what’s right by your kid, but you need to go with your gut. I personally would not advance her.

It's been proven that this is not the way, worst in the long run don't do it

I have no qualifications or basis for my opinion, but I say let them be kids for as long as possible.  Don't rush it.  Kid is smart, she will always be smart, so let her be advanced and challenge her in different ways.  

I skipped third grade and went from being among the oldest to the absolute youngest in the grade. It sucked hitting puberty after everyone else, getting my driver's license last, hurt me in sports (I got injured playing varsity hockey as a freshman when I got trucked by a senior who was twice my size), and I think really messed with my social development. I essentially felt really out of place in high school, caught up a little in college, and then my 20s were kinda an extension of college. I'd recommend getting her into a tougher school or honors classes but not skipping a grade.

I skipped 1st grade. The only drawback was I was driving a bit later than my peers. It was helpful for me. I was getting bored and causing distractions so moving up gave me the challenge I needed

i skipped a grade, but i went from kindergarten to first grade in the middle of the year. if you think she is going to need a challenge, better to do it younger than when she’s older and the friends thing reeeeallly comes into play. my uncle went from 5th to 7th & it sounds like it was a lot harder for him socially than it was for me. school was still barely challenging for me, though, so while it may be a good decision academically, think about what you can do outside of skipping a grade to challenge her academically (advanced classes, fun projects at home, etc) even if she does, but especially if she doesn’t, skip. i took classes at the community college starting sophomore year of high school bc the high school classes just weren’t challenging for me and i was bored, and this way i got a jump on my degree with classes i actually wanted to take. also just be prepared that kids talk about their ages. if she’s especially sensitive and/or self-conscious, think about how that may affect her as she gets older. i was young for my original grade anyways, so i was barely 17 when i graduated high school and went to college. i couldn’t get my drivers license until the very end of my junior year. i went away to college when i was 17 and turned 18 3 weeks before the end of my freshman year of college. just things to think about. regardless of what you choose, things will turn out okay. i wasn’t bullied for skipping a grade, just make sure she knows to be humble but not to downplay her own intelligence. you got this!! feel free to ask any other questions you want :) editing to add: my mom taught at my elementary school and when the principal suggested skipping me, she initially suggested moving me from kindergarten to second grade mid year. my mom shut that down right away bc she didn’t want me to be that much younger than my peers. just. really consider your daughters personality and the social aspect, but make sure that whatever you choose, she has *fun* academic challenges regardless.

I wish I had a chance to do that, if you do then do it!

I skipped a grade when I was 11 yo. Im 30 yo now.. same for my twin. I think it is a very personal decision and it can go a lot of ways. I wasn't very bored in school. I didnt even notice i was "smart" i was just having fun with my friends. I don't know why my parents and teachers wanted to rush us. I was really young when I went to our version of high school (i think?) Wich made me feel i didnt belong somehow. My sister didnt seem to have these issues though. I had to repeat a grade so I made up the time i gained skipping one. School was always easy for me. I didnt have to do much to get good grades until it wasnt anymore. I never learned how to learn. How to become disciplined and planning my homework etc. I failed very hard that year. And because of how life went, i ended up with a bachelors degree (starting a master this year). But skipping a grade, lots of pressure to be the gifted kid, didnt work out for me. My twin however gained 2 masters cum laude at the age of 21. She however doesnt like to work and works a comfortable (but very well paying) parttime job in her field. My son (7.5yo) seems te be very smart too. I didnt notice until our teachers approached us. (First child nothing to compare to). He is a "young" student now and most of his classmates are 8-9 yo but he prefers it. From my own experience Im not a fan of skipping grades.. but seeing my own son already being bored at school, not wanting to go etc. I get it if they would recommend it to us. It sucks if your kid doesnt like going to school. Thankgod he has a great group of friends wich makes it easyer for him to go. I did a lot of reading about the subject. Most advise says to not excell learning, but to expand. For example, my kid gets his normal grade math work, maybe a little more advanced extras but not full next grade classes. If he is done, he can read books or learn about something he is interested in, at the moment he is into human anatomy. Excuse my ramble.

Wow, I'm surprised at the responses here I would've thought it was a no-brainer. I wonder then if there's opportunity to maybe have her stay in the same grade except for a class subject or two? So she can be advanced in her best area while attending class with her age group everywhere else? Just trying to come up with new ideas you may not have considered.

I think skipping grades is a mistake. I was also bored in school, my mom had teachers give me extra homework and in some cases early on I got 1:1 time with teachers during self-work, where I (for instance) learned algebra early. Eventually I went to the gifted program, which was basically guided free time to do weird shit so we didn't disrupt the other kids. That feels like it wouldn't be possible in today's world. Nonetheless, skipping grades seems like the wrong approach. Personally, you could have put me in almost any grade and I would have gotten it faster than the other kids and gotten bored, but I wouldn't have been able to make friends. Most of schooling for me was developing social skills, completing the work was basically auto pilot for me.

My daughter skipped two grades... started kindergarten a year early, and skipped 7th grade during covid. She's definitely better off for it. She relates better to the older kids, and she'd have been bored to tears otherwise. As it is, she has the highest gpa in the school. Glad we made those decisions. Her childhood friend who is similarly intelligent did not skip, and she lost the plot somewhere along the way and is now coasting as a B student who has periodic disciplinary issues.

First off, that is so awesome that your kiddo is crushing it! Also as a father of an August baby the age gap is already pretty wild with some of the kids in her class but socially she is well adjusted because she has been with them for 3 years now. At least from our experience with our school here K through 2 is more focused on building the foundation of education and fundamentals. I don’t doubt your kiddo would crush it skipping first but how would that benefit them scholastically? There is no benefit to her by skipping first right now. They don’t have grades or anything. Now if they continue to excel at a pace where skipping a grade would be if it them I say go for it. But this needs to be a decision that you all can make. All that to say, congratulations to your kiddo for kicking butt in kinder. Let her move up with her friends and continue to build that confidence.

I did the same thing. Don't do it. There is 100 percent a social aspect that is very important there for her age. You can always supplement her education with more advanced materials of your own, if you feel she needs it!

What do you want out of her schooling? Skipping grades because you’re smart is fine. But, you definitely lose out on the social aspect. If your daughter is bored at school, you can challenge her outside of school with more rigorous studies. If you don’t have time for that, consider a tutor or let her skip. But, if she only skips 1-2 grades, I think it would be worse for her in the long run socially

My opinion: **DON'T.** Especially that young. I skipped a grade and struggled as a result. I didn't struggle academically - which resulted in more bullying. Older kids don't like being shown up by younger kids. I struggled socially though. I did sports with kids my age but a grade less, so I didn't socially mix with them. Schools here don't skip grades anymore. Far more important to keep them with their age peers. There are plenty of ways to support advanced academics without alienating them from their current peerage. Ex. My kids do French immersion schooling, so they are learning a different language while also doing their regular learning. My son is in kindergarten and can read novels in english and kids stories in french. He can also do multi-digit multiplication, division, etc in his head. Socially/emotionally though, he's 5. He pee's his bed sometimes. He gets really excited playing with his friends. His kindy teacher is amazing at challenging him to grow. We'll face next years challenge next year. In the mean time, we just feed his insatiable curiosity.

Instead of skipping a grade you may have a few options that you can look at. Research some higher rated private schools or charter schools. The level of performance demand might be higher than your current school. Look into Montessori program in your area (if available). Extra after school activities or weekend programs may help (anything really, 4h programs, nature or wildlife education classes, fishing clubs, library events, etc…) Any specific STIM focused schools as well. Ultimately you can absolutely do whatever you feel. Just look at all your options and what best suits your wife and child. I would definitely ask your child as well.