For those of you who have officially done a grade skip

[EKS]

Could you tell me why you decided to do it?

 

We are contemplating grade skips for both boys and I am wondering about how/why others decided to do (or not to do) this.

 

Thanks!

[Jill- OK]

Could you tell me why you decided to do it?

 

My son was going to be doing work that was high school level, and he felt that he could handle a grade skip. ::Shrug:: That's it.

 

We left the state where we were required to declare a grade, and when we made it to our new state, I simply began testing him at the "new" level. (Our current state doesn't require reporting or testing, but I have them take standardized tests, beginning in middle school).

 

I wouldn't do it before 8th grade, personally. And I'd be certain to discuss it thoroughly with the child, and be sure that *they* understand, and feel that it's a good idea. (My son was all for it; I wouldn't have done it, otherwise).

 

I was skipped one grade. For some kids, one year makes little or no difference. For others, it does. You simply have to evaluate it on an individual basis. I have no qualms about this particular child moving forward at this pace (we skipped him two years ago)...I'd have to consider it on a case by case basis for our other kids.

[Amber in AUS]

It is a tough call I think to do it officially.

 

My cousin was skipped at K, she went from pre-K to 1st she coped really well and finished as an above average student. She wasn't gifted just accelerated and she worked hard to keep up in high school.

 

My DD is another kettle of fish, She will be starting 1st at home in July and that is a 2 year skip, according to our state she will just be a pre-K. I am not going to skip anything officially until she is much older, like the year before she graduates, then I will know for sure that she needs it. I guess she then has the flexibility to slow down back to grade level if she needs to (although I can't see it, it is possible) and wont have to struggle to keep up with the grade.

 

FWIW we are not telling her grades we just say this is your 5yo year she will use different materials to what her brother will when he gets to his 5yo year so i don't think it is really a big deal. Just keep the work up to a challenging level i guess is the main thing who cares what the grade is called.

[chaik76]

We haven't skipped yet but plan to skip ds from 7th to 9th when we get there. We un-officially held him back due to a summer birthday and not-quite-there social skills (so he is a seven year old first grader). He works several years above where he would be in a classroom setting. Our goal in skipping is merely to have him graduate at 18 rather than at 19. He will most likely be doing college work for his last couple of years of high school, so the grade skip is mostly to get him back on level with his peers...we really don't think he has the type of personality that is going to want to be a senior living at home with our rules when he is eighteen.

 

This is all subject to the next six years, of course!

[Jenny in Florida]

Well, first I have to tell you that, according to our local school district, we can't "officially" skip a homeschooler. Sigh. Our county has a strict rule that says homeschoolers are in the grade they would be in by age in the public system. Period. No exceptions.

 

Also, I always feel weird talking about grade skippping, because my daughter didn't really skip anything. She just worked through things more quickly. Essentially, she started kindergarten when she was three and did one and a half or two grades every school year thereafter, which had her finishing high school when she was 12.

 

We tested at her functional level and kept all of our records as though she were in that grade. It came in handy when we wanted her to have access to outside classes that were at an appropriate level if we could show that we took the grade thing seriously.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

We did it for social reasons. Dd has more opportunities to be grouped with her friends and make new ones.

[KAR120C]

Although NC doesn't require a grade designation, we've "skipped" him up for test norming and for placement in academic competitions (math competitions and the science fair). But like Jenny said, he hasn't actually skipped anything, just moved through everything much faster. The only thing that's been skipped is the designation.

 

In our case, DS was working far enough ahead of his age-based grade that it was getting ridiculous to pretend otherwise. I wouldn't have bothered if he were just a year or two ahead. Also, he was impatient to start the competitive level of the science fair, which didn't start until 3rd grade.

 

While we generally try to be consistent in his grade designation (since it wouldn't really be "fair" to skip back and forth as we liked), we also don't try to place him anywhere that the age and grade don't both work. No matter what we call him, there are plenty of opportunities that either won't be open to him at his age or won't be a good fit, and we are honest about the situation with whoever is in charge. So it's not like a ton of doors were opened because we changed what grade he was in. What it does really help is in his not sticking out like quite the same sore thumb in competitions, both because I don't think it would be fair to the other kids to keep him at his age-grade when he's really working way ahead of that, and because honestly I greatly prefer to have him compete at a level that he has a chance of losing!

 

Depending on how you count the birthday cutoff for kindergarden, we've either skipped him up one year or two, and it still doesn't represent what he's actually doing... but now that he's starting high school work I don't think the grade levels mean quite as much as the courses finished (kwim?) So I don't think we'll bother changing anything until he's ready for college, at which point (given enough warning! LOL) we'll do an 11th grade year for the PSAT and a 12th grade year to graduate. On the other hand, if he's not ready for college before 18, he knows that our school might well go up to 14th grade. ;)

[Quad Shot Academy]

But like Jenny said, he hasn't actually skipped anything, just moved through everything much faster. The only thing that's been skipped is the designation.

 

:iagree: I have found that the term "skipping a grade" has led to a lot of miscommunication on this board. In home school you never have to really skip anything. My son really wants to graduate a year early so that he can take a year off for mission work before going to college, so he is very determined to skip a grade designation. I told him that if when he is supposed to start 5th grade, he is in all 6th grade curriculum, he can skip 5th and graduate 1 year early, IF he keeps up with the work. He has always been very far ahead in most subjects, but he has been working really hard to catch up in writing and spelling and now he is working really hard to excel at it. I will keep him in grade level for children's ministry activities though.

[Melinda]

We have not officially skipped an actual grade level at this point, but have contemplated it because Jared is functioning on a much higher level than K. We ultimately decided that they will be able to work through things as quickly as they are able and willing, but that we will have an age minimum for graduation (not sure what that age will be yet).

[joannqn]

Both of my kids are officially a grade ahead of their ages. That said, we didn't really skip. I started kindergarten with my daughter when she was 4 1/2. With a birthday in mid-January, she misses the public school cut-off by several months and would not have been allowed to start school until she was 5 1/2. My son graduated from the public school's pre-K special ed program with an evaluation stating that he was academically half way through kindergarten. Knowing that they were correct, we went ahead and pushed through some K-level phonics and math workbooks over the summer and started 1st grade in the fall instead.

 

When we enrolled in the virtual academy we use, I had to prove that they were at the grade I wanted them enrolled in rather than by age with test results. They require the student to score 90th percentile in all areas of the test to skip (but only require 30th percentile to be maintained at grade level). So, I gave my kids the CAT-5 for their age level grade in the Fall rather than the Spring. The results came back above the 90th percentile. I sent the results to the school and they bumped their grade level. That said, they still score very high in their current (bumped) grade level but I won't be skipping any more grades officially...unless I see that they are ready for it when they are older.

[skaterbabs]

DD technically "skipped" a "grade" (in preschool levels) with church activities. She has an October birthday, and our church uses the September cutoff used by the school systems. This would have had her in the class with three year olds when she was four, and four year olds when she was five. We didn't stress it before she was reading, but there are very few four year olds, so the fours typically ended up in a class with the twos/threes. We felt this wasn't really fair to her or the other kids, so bumped her up into the kindergarten class.

 

It works for us because she has been reading for some time now, so can keep up with that part of what they're doing, and age wise she's only a few weeks younger than the youngest kindergartners. This should have been her second year as a Cubbie in AWANA, but only because they absolutely would not allow her to start the year she turned three because her birthday was two weeks after the cutoff. :glare: Fortunately the children's director agreed that she could try Sparks and we'd move her down if there were any problems. Ditto Sunday School. Technically she should be in the 4 yo/preK class, but she's done very well in the kindy class.

[Blessedfamily]

:iagree: I have found that the term "skipping a grade" has led to a lot of miscommunication on this board. In home school you never have to really skip anything. .....

 

Yes. My dd hasn't skipped, but has worked through quickly. DD has a late bday, but has done several years worth of material already.

 

I will start her as a first grader this year, because Sept. 30 is the state's school cut-off, not mine. After that, I don't know what I'll do. She's getting so far ahead (esp in math, grammar, and science) I'm getting confused as to where to go next.

[AuntieM]

When we started home schooling, we lived in a state that required annual evaluation to demonstrate progress over the year. Based on that, dh said, "Why don't we have him meet with a friendly evaluator before we start, that way we can track that progress?" So we did that.

 

Evaluator said, this kid has already surpassed all the skills I look for in completed-K level evaluations and is well into the 1st grade range. Go ahead and skip K. So we did. Never had any regrets, he is very mature and has always done well with older age peers. The down side was, if we ever wanted to place him in school, we might get some grief from the district. But he has always tested at his assigned grade level in the highest percentiles.

 

But I understand your situation is different, as you are dealing with an older child. I did not understand from your post what you see as the benefit of skipping him, other than just being able to call him in a higher grade. Will he qualify for any memberships/programs/etc?

 

If not, and if I woke up in your shoes, rather than skipping a grade, I might plan his course work in such a way as to graduate him early. I think most accelerated home schoolers can rack up the credits necessary for graduation requirements in less than 4 years. If you have a transcripts and files to prove he has earned the credits, and acceptable scores on standardized and college entrance tests, you could likely graduate him at your discretion. You could even slow him down, if the need arises. Of course, check what your state allows. Just my 2 cents.

Edited April 23, 2009 by AuntieM

[SkateLeft]

My oldest was legally grade skipped with our charter school when she was in kindergarten. I did it because it opened up some opportunities to her that she would not have had otherwise. At the time, there were some classes and things that she wanted to do that would not permit a kindergartener to participate.

 

It ended up being a great thing for her. She's always fit in well, so there's been no second guessing the decision.

 

I'm struggling a little with it this year though, because she's an 8th grader. She'll be 13 in July. If I hadn't skipped her, I'd have another year with her at home! She's very ready for high school, academically and socially, and I'm confident she'll do well. After surveying area high schools, she's chosen to go to our site-based charter school's independent study high school program, so she'll be on campus a few days each week, but do academic work at her own pace. But it's hard on me because I'm not ready to hand off her education yet. She's my baby!! lol

 

I had the opportunity to grade skip my younger daughter a few years ago, and I opted not to because there really wasn't a reason to. I'm glad I didn't because she's not as intrinsically motivated as my oldest. :)

[Brindee]

My younger two did K and 1 in 1 year, I just couldn't stop them once they got started! For awhile, if asked, we said the higher grade level, because that's the level of work they're doing. dd is still doing much of the work a grade or 2 ahead, but both of them need some maturing, and ds has ended up mostly right on this "school level" anyway. I think dd would do fine, but she was shying away from it, and ds15 is not as mature as I feel he should be. So, we all discussed it and decided last year to just stick to the grade they would be in if they were in school. If there's some reason to change at a later date, we'll look into it again.

[MariaT]

I think the beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility. I remember one September years ago when my younger son figured out on his own how to carry numbers--and that happened to be the last math concept taught in the age-appropriate math book we were using at the time. So I just ordered the next level up and in two weeks he was working away.

 

We had pulled our kids out of a private school and I was thrilled that I did not have to have a series of conferences with teachers and principals to convince them that he should be moved up. We just did it. Now, my kids work at different levels in different subjects. Most of them are ahead of their grade in everything, but in some subjects they are at grade level. Our state does not require any reporting, so we are free to make these decisions based on what is best for each child.

 

MariaT

[momto4greatkids]

I skipped my 8th grade year and didn't have any problems. This was in a Christian school. I don't want to skip my kids because I don't want them leaving home early! My son will finish high school early, and we can determine at that time whether we want him to go on or stay. Its a maturity level that I can't declare yet. So I'm leaving my options open. As a homeschooler, I work them at whatever level but keep them at grade level if anyone asks. (They can't remember most of the time. "What grade am I in, mom?")

[SonshineLearner]

This is an interesting thread, for me, as I can see my youngest being ready to do more advanced work. Right now, he's not really reading. BUT, it's just around the corner. I am doing the LCC and just plan to plow through until we're at the end of "high school" and then he'll graduate. Hopefully that just means that he'll finish at maybe 16 or so and then start College Level work. By then (11 years or so) new doors will be open in the "higher learning" department anyway, right??

Carrie

[CherylG]

I agree...I don't want mine leaving early either. My oldest two "graduated" from our High School at the regular age, even though they had tons of college credits. So, I am doing the same thing with the younger two-the littlest is two years ahead in grammar and English(analytical grammar is great) and a year ahead in math. I am not moving her into junior high yet. She can start next year...this way she can slow down on some days and do her arts and her jewelry or just take a breather. Our ds is in college algebra at the city college. He is 3 years ahead of where is older brother was at this time. I still wouldn't jump him ahead. They need the extra time at home to mature into good roommates and young adults, in my opinion.

[Brindee]

 

I agree...I don't want mine leaving early either. My oldest two "graduated" from our High School at the regular age, even though they had tons of college credits. So, I am doing the same thing with the younger two-the littlest is two years ahead in grammar and English(analytical grammar is great) and a year ahead in math. I am not moving her into junior high yet. She can start next year...this way she can slow down on some days and do her arts and her jewelry or just take a breather. Our ds is in college algebra at the city college. He is 3 years ahead of where is older brother was at this time. I still wouldn't jump him ahead. They need the extra time at home to mature into good roommates and young adults, in my opinion.

:iagree:

[asta]

My DS was skipped a year and a half when we moved once upon a time. He is also doing work beyond that. However, I "un-skipped" him due to the fact that he is 1 ) a boy and 2 ) a December baby.

 

It wasn't like I said "you THINK you are in Y grade, but actually, you're in X grade" - it was more that I put a bunch of "extra" stuff into grade school which managed to prolong it.

 

When I look around my local PS high school, all I can think is "DS would have been eaten alive if I hadn't un-skipped him".

 

Now, granted, he isn't IN the local PS, but he does interact with neighborhood kids who are. It isn't even that he is not a mature kid - he is lightyears beyond many of the kids he encounters - it is that his maturity is intellectual, not chronological. He appears (physically and intellectually) much older than he actually IS. He is still "just" 15, despite how bright he is. Does that make sense?

 

 

asta

[Jenny in Florida]

When we started home schooling, we lived in a state that required annual evaluation to demonstrate progress over the year. Based on that, dh said, "Why don't we have him meet with a friendly evaluator before we start, that way we can track that progress?" So we did that.

 

Evaluator said, this kid has already surpassed all the skills I look for in completed-K level evaluations and is well into the 1st grade range. Go ahead and skip K.

 

We had a similar experience. I wanted to enroll our daughter in an umbrella school the first year we had to report, but I knew perfectly well she was way ahead academically. And I worried a bit about assigning her a grade level that didn't match where she actually was. I was new to the whole thing and afraid it would come back to bite her later.

 

The umbrella school said that they would assign her to her grade by age unless I provided them with something to change that. So, we asked around in our homeschool group and found an evaluator to look at a portfolio of my daughter's recent work. She said it was approximately second grade level, so that's what I gave the umbrella school.

 

Several years later, by the way, we consulted the same woman about our plans to start a full high school curriculum with my then-9-year-old daughter. The evaluator went over my daughter's work for the year and agreed that she was ready.

 

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have an "expert" tell me we weren't completely crazy!

[Piano&ViolinMom]

Hi Jenny, So your 14 years old dd is a sophomore at Mary Baldwin. I wonder if you still think it was right decision on your part. Johnd Hopkins University CTY Talent Search do find many young kids who are college bound and thus can go to college if they want, like Mary Baldwin as they are good to accomadate young kids. Mine was college bound at age 11, but could not think sending far away.

[Tabrett]

My dd has a late b-day (October). I felt she was ready for k and started k material. The k reading was too easy, so I bumped her up to 1st grade reading material. Her math is right on target for k, but she is using RS which goes into Algebra earlier than traditional material. We had to skip her up to k Kids Church because she really didn't fit in with the 3 and 4 year olds. She was very board. I will be legally registering her for k this fall. I plan on keeping her with her grade/grade level and if she finishes school early, she will just graduate early.

I also like her being in the k class for church because her younger brother is only 18 months younger and I would rather them not be in the same class. For church activities, I will consider her a grade ahead. She also thinks she is in k because she does k (and 1st grade) work.

If I had to put her into public school, I'm not sure what I would do. I think she would be very board with her grade/age and cause trouble because she would not be challenged.

[wimseycat]

I think one of the only times you would run into issues with grade-skipping is if it was a multiple grade skip and done in an official capacity, through a public or private school. The issue you would run into is that you are looking at early graduation and early college. That, in and of itself is not a big issue. However, if as a gifted student, you were applying to colleges as a 15 or 16yo you may end up limiting your college choices. The upper tier colleges that may have taken you as an 18 yo may not accept you as a 16 yo for liabilty reasons.

[fourgrogs]

We are doing our second grade skip this year based on recent testing. He skipped Kindergarten and now we're skipping 4th grade. He is almost 8 yrs. old. We use TOG for History, Literature, Geography, Vocabulary, Worldview, etc. so it is so easy to accelerate using them.

 

For math and Language arts, we are skipping the entire year and moving on to fifth.

 

You can always change your mind or slow down if needed.

[Brindee]

I'm glad we decided to keep dd in her age-level grade. She turned 12 in March, and if we'd have advanced her, she'd be going into 8th grade next year. I'm not ready for that, even though it's just words. She's doing Algebra next year. She could be advancing faster, I'm just having her branch out more, and she's happy where she's at. And actually she's going through puberty, so it's good to wade through that where she's at and not push her limits! ;) DS15, would be a junior next year. He's needing to work an maturing before he's ready for the last year or two of highschool, then on to college! Even if he finishes his schoolwork eary, he would take a year to do some studies and work before going to college. That's what he said he wants to do anyway. I think it's a good idea.

[crosseyedparent]

Two of our kids were grade skipped when they were in public school, and I now regret it. It has been difficult in church and at camps, etc. when they were put into social situations that neither they nor we wanted them to be in. I think it is better to accelerate them academically without officially changing their grade. Hindsight...

[tammi]

My ds is in a small private school. His birthday is at the end of October. He started K when he was almost 6. When he finished 3rd grade his teacher asked us if we thought of promoting him to 5th grade. We said "No". But a month later, after his standardized tests came back, they asked again. This time saying that they could not challenge him in the 4th grade. We talked with him about it and worked out the pros and cons. We decided to promote him mainly because he did not want to be with the 4th grade teacher. (She was his 3rd grade teacher and he struggled with her or more than likely she with him.) He is doing great academically but if we had to do it again we probably won't have. We would have homeschooled him or worked with him on working with the teacher.

 

Since then, he has been one grade behind in Sunday School and Awana or anything not related to school. My husband and I decided this because he is still a 12 year old even though he is in 7th grade. (He just finished 7th.) Plus all his friends are/has finished 6th grade. He hasn't minded this too much.

 

I don't like promoting children especially in the lower grades. Even though they can do the work, they are still the age they are. Promotion in grades doesn't mean promotion in age. A 7 year old will always be a 7 year old. Sometimes they may act older but most of the time they will act their age.

IMHO.

 

Tammi