**Update #14** When the teacher suggests grade acceleration and the parents aren't sure?

[LynnS6]

Warning.. I may just be thinking through my fingers here, but I would appreciate feedback.

So, we had parent-teacher conferences today and dd's teacher brought up the question of whether we'd thought about grade acceleration. Dd in first grade and is working 5+ grade levels ahead in reading and about a 3rd grade level in math (conceptually, she's very quick, but she hasn't learned some of the computational stuff.)

I hadn't really ever considered skipping a grade with dd because she's young for her grade (late May bday) and socially, she's still rather immature. She's somewhat of a drama queen, takes slights (real or imagined) hard, and needs to process them a lot. (We had a 15 minute discussion/rant this morning because one of her classmates got to dismiss the kids from lunch to recess yesterday and dd was intensely jealous.) I really can't see her fitting in socially with 3rd graders next year, especially with 3rd grade girls.

Right now dd gets pull out reading and math enrichment daily, with other first graders who are also above grade level. According to her enrichment teachers, she's surpassing those kids too. Her teacher said "I'm really glad she's got the pull-out classes, because there's no way I could have met her needs in the classroom."

BUT.... if you've made it this far... the thing is they probably won't have the pull-out enrichment next year due to budget cuts. They need to cut some teachers and those are the 'expendable' ones. If dd's needs can't be met in the regular 2nd grade classroom (and 2nd grade tends to be a 'repeat' year, trying to get the kids who aren't quite up to speed in reading and basic math to grade level), I'm not sure how she'll do. There's a huge range of achievement levels at her school (lots of low income kids, lots of kids who speak English as a second language).

Switching schools for next year won't be an option for a variety of reasons (and isn't high on my list of ways to accommodate dd anyway.) Gifted school options start in 6th grade in our district.

Dh is opposed to grade skipping (at first blush). His point was that even if we skipped her to 3rd, she'd still be reading 3-4 grade levels above her grade, and so the social immaturity worries him. I'm pretty sure if we skipped her, she'd be OK intellectually, but out of her depth socially. Dd, when asked, said that she'd like to go to 3rd grade for reading, but stay with the other kids for everything else.

Where do we go from here? What can we think about asking the school to do?

[AllisonR]

Originally Posted by LynnS6 

Dh is opposed to grade skipping (at first blush). His point was that even if we skipped her to 3rd, she'd still be reading 3-4 grade levels above her grade, and so the social immaturity worries him. I'm pretty sure if we skipped her, she'd be OK intellectually, but out of her depth socially. Dd, when asked, said that she'd like to go to 3rd grade for reading, but stay with the other kids for everything else.

Where do we go from here? What can we think about asking the school to do?

I agree with your DD! That is actually the most logical. Would it be possible? If she is so many grades ahead, putting her ahead one year isn't going to close the gap much. But it will affect her already struggling social skills. Young girls, maybe all girls, are very complex in their social structure; an ability to be subtle and deadly at the same time. IMO, as one who struggled with this as a child, many of these social skills come only with age and experience, and can not be learned intellectually.

Though I am a believer in the social system coming first - a happy, social, healthy child that is intellectually deprived will still be able to learn more than the unhappy, picked-on, stressed child who has access to more intellectual material. Not that your DD is either extreme, just a pov.

[Monkey Keeper]

My parents faced a similar choice with me as a child and I am SO. VERY. GLAD. that they did not grade accelerate me! I never could have hacked it socially and emotionally, not just early on but middle school and high school as well, and I am a January birthday.Middle school and high school are socially brutal for most girls without the disadvantage of being a year less mature than classmates. I was subject accelerated for a couple years until the teachers quit bothering, but I did have a G&T pull-out, and my mom challenged me a lot at home.  I probably was quite similar to your DD, actually, in that I was many grade levels ahead in reading/language skills and got math concepts quickly but wasn't as advanced with math computation.  

My DD1 (July birthday) is likely gifted, and we actually are giving her an extra year before starting kindy because of the social aspect down the road. My DH advises that in most districts, grade level tracking blurs a lot in middle school and virtually is gone at the high school level since kids are then tracked by ability, and since you have access to a G&T school in 6th grade, I think in your shoes I would focus on getting her accommodations till then.

[whatsnextmom]

When we were approached by the school for acceleration for our DD, we were unsure as well. We chose to start with a "try-out." DD went to first grade in the morning for English and Math and then back to kindergarten for the afternoon. Within 2 weeks, DD was begging not to go back to kindergarten at all. When the second skip was suggested, DD was opposed so we just went with additional subject accelerations. She's now in highschool and super grateful for the skip.

When approached about DS, we rejected it. DS was only 4 when he started kindergarten in a heavily red-shirted area (put it this way, two kids in his kindergarten class turned 7 during the school year!) While this wasn't a big deal for DD, DS was always comparing himself to others, paid attention to who was the oldest, biggest, ect. Instead of accelerating him, we moved him into a foriegn language immersion school with accelerated academics and then subject accelerated him in math where he needed it most. He's in 5th grade and doing well.

Acceleration doesn't fix your academic problems but it can improve them. Plus, K, 1st and 2nd are the worst years. In 3rd grade, you get more open-ended curriculum that a child can bring up to their own level. It's really not uncommon to have kids in 3rd grade at the middle school level in reading. The gifted child can still be years advanced but it's not so shocking and easier to accomodate in the higher grades.

If you are unsure, advocate for subject acceleration first and see how it goes.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by PinkBunch 

My parents faced a similar choice with me as a child and I am SO. VERY. GLAD. that they did not grade accelerate me! I never could have hacked it socially and emotionally, not just early on but middle school and high school as well, and I am a January birthday.Middle school and high school are socially brutal for most girls without the disadvantage of being a year less mature than classmates. 

Well, I was grade-accelerated and I'm glad I was. Twice in elementary school, and I was somewhat late going through puberty and on the 10th percentile for height. In middle school I was naive enough to be relatively oblivious to the social pettiness, and young enough that I was not considered a social contender and was therefore treated gently, more like someone's younger sister than a competitor. In high school I had my struggles but I think these were in large part because my parents were over-protective and didn't want me socializing with teens. While my peer group at school seemed quite accepting, my parents' limits prevented me from integrating well with them. Intellectually the kids 2-3 years older were the people I related to far more readily. It was worth a lot to be in a school where there were others who could actually write some decent poetry, who could table cogent thoughts about the fall of the Roman Empire, who could sight-read a concert band piece at a first pass, who could actually learn a short vocabulary list in French before the next class.

Miranda

[loraxc]

Tough one. I'm glad I don't have to make a choice like this with my DD, who has always sonded similar to yours and is working on pretty much an identical level. I do not think skipping would be a great choice for my DD, either. However, in your shoes, I guess I might consider it. It might just be socially better. It's important to keep in mind that the aggregate evidence favors skipping, and that anecdotes do not equal data (I know you know this).

I like the idea of the trial run. How does your DD do with older kids generally? While my DD often seems immature with her grade peers, I sometimes notice that she actually plays very well with older children.

young enough that I was not considered a social contender and was therefore treated gently, more like someone's younger sister than a competitor

At DD's small school she has become sort of a "pet" for some of the older girls, and it's actually quite sweet. They like her because she's just...I don't know, her precocity and quirkiness is endearing to a certain type of girl. She's very outgoing, which has something to do with this. She was the kind of kindergartener who would come up to the coolest 5th-grade girl and say "I like your shirt."

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by LynnS6 

I hadn't really ever considered skipping a grade with dd because she's young for her grade (late May bday) and socially, she's still rather immature. She's somewhat of a drama queen, takes slights (real or imagined) hard, and needs to process them a lot. (We had a 15 minute discussion/rant this morning because one of her classmates got to dismiss the kids from lunch to recess yesterday and dd was intensely jealous.) I really can't see her fitting in socially with 3rd graders next year, especially with 3rd grade girls.

Right now dd gets pull out reading and math enrichment daily, with other first graders who are also above grade level. According to her enrichment teachers, she's surpassing those kids too. Her teacher said "I'm really glad she's got the pull-out classes, because there's no way I could have met her needs in the classroom."

<snip>

Dd, when asked, said that she'd like to go to 3rd grade for reading, but stay with the other kids for everything else.

IMNSHO, a skip is ideally for when a school cannot otherwise accommodate a child in grade.  It sounds like they do accommodate her pretty well right now, though that they may not be able to continue that next year.  That puts skipping squarely on the table.  I would go through the IAS as a check for myself and the school first, though.  IAS seems to push a skip more than I would - I see it as a last-ditch effort, whereas IAS does tend to advocate that eligible kids who can should.  {I saw a copy obtained through university ILL}.

Subject acceleration is a good middle ground, and can end up as the in-grade accommodation.  With the right teacher, language arts is easier to differentiate in the classroom (having a kid do a more extended writing project, maybe something that requires research, using the computer, etc).  That being said, we found that LA is second grade kept us in a bit of a holding pattern, and DD didn't progress much at all.  Third grade is suddenly less of an issue (better teacher, and the bottom of the class is high enough now), with more of a focus on content than mechanics.

Math is harder to differentiate, and if your DD is working conceptually well above grade level, this might end up being more of the problem.  If the school wants a skip, possibly a subject acceleration in both would be a good compromise.  Second grade math was indistinguishable to my DD from first grade (or kindergarten for that matter).  DD's strengths are in the conceptual aspects of math, and the mechanics/arithmetic were not obviously out of bounds until we had formal testing.  She got taught the concept of addition and subtraction in kindergarten, and from her perspective, nothing progressed through the end of second grade.  She got the concept, and didn't need it retaught for bigger numbers.
 

Originally Posted by loraxc 

young enough that I was not considered a social contender and was therefore treated gently, more like someone's younger sister than a competitor

At DD's small school she has become sort of a "pet" for some of the older girls, and it's actually quite sweet.

DD is subject accelerated in math now.  She's in 4th grade gifted math (finishing up 5th grade math with 4th graders identified & served as gifted) as a third grader.  She's 18 months younger than the next youngest in the class in a red-shirt dominant school.  She started the year as the class mascot.  She was obviously younger, and obviously more immature, and not part of the tight social group of the gifted cohort.  Slowly during the fall, this group of kids has become her peer group to the point that almost all playdates and other invites are now within this group.  This might be the way through your skip, as well.  You could subject accelerate in reading and/or math, get her socially comfortable in both rooms, and then move her up for 4th grade.  This is in fact what I personally did as a 2nd grader, where I was in a 2/3 mix, doing reading and math with the third graders, then leaving the classroom at the end of the year advanced to 4th grade.  In my case, I did it within my classroom.  Another mom pointed out to me that a concern of doing this between rooms might be to make your child feel as though she's a visitor in her own class.  That would be a point to think through knowing your own child.

[Monkey Keeper]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

Intellectually the kids 2-3 years older were the people I related to far more readily. It was worth a lot to be in a school where there were others who could actually write some decent poetry, who could table cogent thoughts about the fall of the Roman Empire, who could sight-read a concert band piece at a first pass, who could actually learn a short vocabulary list in French before the next class.

Miranda

Two points, the first of which being that you're clearly leaps and bounds ahead of me intellectually,  (I'm just at the midrange of highly gifted by IQ, and I never would have qualified for two skips, I don't think!) so we probably are comparing apples to oranges.   The second is that even though I grew up in a backward, rural school district, I ended up with a group of same-age, relatively comparably gifted peers, and I think that made a difference, both in my quest for a social group and in my educational experience as teachers could differentiate for a group rather than an individual. I think at times we were working at a level higher than the kids a grade ahead!

Over all, I hope I am not faced with making this decision as a parent. I think my social experiences color my perspective very much and tend to make me lean strongly in one direction, mostly because I am so fearful of my daughters facing the "mean girls" when they are at a disadvantage in terms of social or emotional maturity.

The discussion is very insightful, and I am learning a lot--so thank you all!

[joensally]

Have you gone through the Iowa Acceleration Scale?

Have the teachers given you feedback regarding her social skills, relative to her age mates and when with older kids?  What about talking to lunch time monitors as well, as they may have insight as well.

I'm currently sitting on the wrong end of not skipping a daughter who we should have, so my perspective is skewed. 

[LynnS6]

Thanks for the feedback -- not sure where we are, but the variety of thoughts helps. I was in a very similar position in 1st grade, and I'm glad that I wasn't accelerated. Socially, I didn't really come into my own until late in my high school years.

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

Acceleration doesn't fix your academic problems but it can improve them. Plus, K, 1st and 2nd are the worst years. In 3rd grade, you get more open-ended curriculum that a child can bring up to their own level. It's really not uncommon to have kids in 3rd grade at the middle school level in reading. The gifted child can still be years advanced but it's not so shocking and easier to accommodate in the higher grades.

If you are unsure, advocate for subject acceleration first and see how it goes.

I think that's where we are first - I'm really worried about 2nd grade because I remember being bored silly in 2nd grade and I'm not nearly as heart-on-the-sleeve as dd is. 2nd grade is a 'skills consolidation' grade for most kids, but when you've got your skills down pat and you don't need that much repetition to get them down pat, it's torture. Once she's in 4th or 5th grade, a few kids will have come closer and the possibility for going more in depth (which would be good for dd as she loves to immerse herself in ideas/books) would be great.
 

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

Well, I was grade-accelerated and I'm glad I was. Twice in elementary school, and I was somewhat late going through puberty and on the 10th percentile for height. In middle school I was naive enough to be relatively oblivious to the social pettiness, and young enough that I was not considered a social contender and was therefore treated gently, more like someone's younger sister than a competitor.

Thanks - it's nice to hear of situations where it did work well. I'm not sure dd is so far ahead that 2 grade accelerations make sense. She also is tall for her age, and likely to hit puberty early (I did). She's also not oblivious to social pettiness. She's highly incensed by it. I don't think I'd have trouble letting her run with her classmates, but then she's 6, going on 7, so it's not like it's a reality yet. She's got enough strength of will that I trust her inner compass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

IMNSHO, a skip is ideally for when a school cannot otherwise accommodate a child in grade.

It sounds like they do accommodate her pretty well right now, though that they may not be able to continue that next year.  That puts skipping squarely on the table.  I would go through the IAS as a check for myself and the school first, though.  IAS seems to push a skip more than I would - I see it as a last-ditch effort, whereas IAS does tend to advocate that eligible kids who can should.  {I saw a copy obtained through university ILL}.

<snip>

Another mom pointed out to me that a concern of doing this between rooms might be to make your child feel as though she's a visitor in her own class.  That would be a point to think through knowing your own child.

Thank you for articulating this! That's exactly what was rattling around in the back of my brain and I couldn't find the words for. For me, a grade skip is a 'last resort' when they can't accommodate her otherwise. And since I don't know what it'll be like next year, I'm having a hard time judging what to ask for.

I got an IAS through university ILL as well, and when I looked at it, it was pretty clear for me that the factors were against skipping dd, and I didn't have anyone else fill it out. I got it more out of curiosity than anything else. But that was a year ago and her academics have skyrocketed since then.

I am worried about the 'visitor in her own classroom' aspect. She already feels a bit like this, I think. The good news is that they all move around for reading, so many kids switch teachers for reading as they try to have skill-level groups work together. Math is a different story, though. She's one of about 8 kids in 1st grade being given enrichment for that, and it's only part of the time. So, she's not with her classmates for several good chunks of the day. If she goes to another grade for reading and math, is she going to know any of the kids in her grade?

Originally Posted by joensally 

Have you gone through the Iowa Acceleration Scale?

Have the teachers given you feedback regarding her social skills, relative to her age mates and when with older kids?  What about talking to lunch time monitors as well, as they may have insight as well.

I'm currently sitting on the wrong end of not skipping a daughter who we should have, so my perspective is skewed. 

No, and you're right, we should. I have to find out if my district has it, and if they don't, how to get it done before the end of the year. I need her current reading, math and classroom teacher to fill it out. I don't know if her math teacher is going to be at our school next year.

te:

Originally Posted by loraxc 

Tough one. I'm glad I don't have to make a choice like this with my DD, who has always sonded similar to yours and is working on pretty much an identical level. I do not think skipping would be a great choice for my DD, either. However, in your shoes, I guess I might consider it. It might just be socially better. It's important to keep in mind that the aggregate evidence favors skipping, and that anecdotes do not equal data (I know you know this).

I like the idea of the trial run. How does your DD do with older kids generally? While my DD often seems immature with her grade peers, I sometimes notice that she actually plays very well with older children.

Ugh.. I know that the academic data supports skipping more than anecdotal data speaks against it. I just wish it were an easy decision one way or the other. Socially, she's mixed. Sometimes she plays fine with older kids, sometimes not. It's really much like her behavior with kids her own age. Dd has definite ideas about how the world should run, and gets frustrated when the world does not comply. Combined with a very age-appropriate ego-centrism (getting better, but it's still a lot about her), we have some issues. She doesn't play that well with the other girl in the neighborhood who's her age -- partly temperament, partly different interests, partly because dd can be real pain. She doesn't do well with older girls' social jockeying -- she sees it, sees it for what it is, and but can't figure out how to respond. She melts down instead.

Dd does play well with kids her own age at church (who are probably closer to her intellectual peers; we've got a group of frighteningly bright 1st graders.) In fact, one major thing making me hesitant is that dd's best friend from church is in the same grade, and they'll be together in middle school. (They're in different schools right now.) This little girl is as bright as dd is (very bright family). If we skip dd, she'd be separated from her friend.

Ok, I think I'm going to talk to the school about the IAS, and about subject acceleration for next year.

[pigpokey]

I think you should do what works for her now.  Consider the options available and choose for the moment.  I don't think the fact that she won't be accomodated in reading with a skip is a factor.  Also I bet that she will find some kids in the classroom that are at her level in reading.  Meet her math level.

It's our job to serve our kids' interests continuously.  So if her school situation is not working for her down the road after a skip, you have to assess that.  You can choose to do a gap year or move to a gifted school, or to a school with more serious kids who are not going to play games, or a virtual school, or do early college. 

[ChristaN]

My dd12 was in the same spot in 1st.  She was about 5 grades ahead in reading and a few grades ahead in everything else.  She, too, was very young for grade (late summer bd in a district with a 9/15 cut off; she got in by about 2 weeks).  What we basically found was that she moved further and further ahead as time went on.  Her reading was around 12th grade equivalency by 3rd grade & she tested in the 99th percentile on everything on the ITBS except math (92nd there).  She subject accelerated in literacy in 3rd, did GT pull outs in 4th, and then skipped 5th.  By the point she started 6th just before her 10th bd, her lexile scores were hitting the ceiling of the test (1500) & MAPs was in the 97th for math and 99th for reading.  She was, like your dd, still well above grade level in the grade in which she was being accelerated, but it was better than not accelerating b/c there was no way to really accommodate her in the grade she was in pre-skip.  She tutored the other kids and got A+s while doing her homework in 10 mins. in the car on the way to school.

The quantity of work increased significantly with the skip, which kept her occupied for a while, and accelerated math a grade up was a good fit since math has never been her strong subject.  I think that the math fit is good and I wouldn't accelerate her more there.  Like your dd, she was intense, cried, sensitive, etc. in early elementary.  I don't know how it would have worked to have skipped her earlier socially, but it was a beautiful solution at the point we did it.  She fits so much better with older kids.  Part of her poor fit socially in the early years, in hindsight, was that the other kids weren't interested in or worried about the things she was. 

I guess that where I'm going is that if you are unsure on the skip now, maybe try some subject acceleration and see how it goes and consider skipping later if she doesn't seem ready for it yet.  FWIW, we too were approached by the school about the skip and had to be convinced by the school.  The process of deciding included filling out an Iowa Acceleration Scale, having dd shadow a student in the 6th grade for a day to see how it went, and meeting repeatedly w/ the GT coordinator of the receiving school, the GT coordinator for the district, the school principal, and the teachers in the receiving grade.

[Freckamac]

Talk about timely! I registered my younger son at our neighborhood school for kIndergarten this morning. He has been tested & identified as highly gifted. There is no Pre-k test so he took the grade 1 test and still achieved 99.9%

The principal suggests putting him into Grade 1 with the GATE teacher who will also have him tutored at a side table by the grad school interns who work in her class. She taught my older son this way and was amazing. I am very grateful for the individual attention, but would really like to have my son experience kindergarten. He is exceptionally smart, but he's also a cheery sunny funny kid and I don't want him to miss out on this special year. The principal thinks that as he is mature and big for his age, as well as an April baby that he will be closer to the first grade class. I am really torn. The first grade teacher said she would be happy to have him come to her class for math & english and return to K for story time, art, recess etc but the principal thinks he is so way far ahead that he would integrate well at 1st grade.

So I really do empathize. 

My older son is 7 and joined a magnet school for gifted and highly gifted kids 3 months ago. Heaven!  The gifted school teaches 2 grades ahead as standard and he gets to be with kids his own age. They are not geeks or nerds - just great kids who happen to be very smart.It feels like an oasis in the desert!! No one thinks he is strange for being interested in Greek mythology and he also gets to play dodge ball with kids his own age & size.

My younger son has already been accepted at this gifted school, 2 years in advance.

Anyway - my advice would be that if you have a gifted magnet as an option, try for it. Your child will be challenged and socially accepted.

Good luck!

[LynnS6]

I met with the principal and the TAG coordinator this week. They're going to develop a plan for subject acceleration and subject enrichment for her classroom next year. It sounds like the principal has a system that works pretty well so that dd can be doing things that are related to the classroom content, but more at her level. The principal asked about dd's interests and the kinds of things that she likes to do. We talked a bit about her emotional maturity level and general age (both young, in everyone's opinion).

The TAG coordinator was helpful because he could speak to how quickly dd picks things up in math. The principal wasn't entirely convinced that dd was actually understanding all she read or that she had the vocabulary and so I had to convince her of that. (And OK, I confess to convince myself afterwards, I gave dd the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test last night (my academic connections are useful!) just to check her vocab level: 99th percentile, age equivalent (which isn't all that reliable) of 10 years 11 mos.) Yes, she really does have the vocabulary and really does follow the plot.

We're going to try to get dd on an Oregon Battle of the Books team, if she wants to. It's usually for kids grades 3-5, but I know that dd can handle the books.

We also talked about what kind of teacher would be good for dd -- the TAG coordinator had a good insight, which is that it needs to be a teacher with 'thick skin'. Dd will make it known when she's bored, and dh and I will be (politely) pushing for her needs to be met, so if the teacher takes this as a criticism, it wouldn't be good.

I think that's the best we can do for now.

On a positive note, dd turned 7 yesterday! She's having her bday party tomorrow and 6 kids from school are coming. Since dd hasn't had the easiest time socially, that's good. (Or at least it makes mom feel like dd is socially OK among her peers.)

[Lisa1970]

Teachers and schools rarely suggest grade acceleration. I would let her do it unless she does not want to.

I did not have my daughter do it. I regret it. I mean, I wanted her home until 18, she was my only little girl. But by her senior year, there will be no more courses available to her in high school. She will have already taken both AP maths and some AP science and other AP classes. I don't know if I regret it so much, but it has been hard even finding her schools to attend because none of them want a child to be more than a year ahead in math, and they don't want them ahead in other subjects.

[mom2ponygirl]

If they would like help finding resources for differentiation, you might point them towards the educator's guild at the Davidson Institute.  http://www.davidsongifted.org/edguild/

"The Davidson Institute's Educators Guild is a FREE national service for elementary, secondary and post-secondary educators, as well as other professionals committed to meeting the unique needs of highly gifted students.     

Educators Guild members access:

• An Online Community
• Free Consulting Services
• Educators Guild Publications"

The free consulting services include lesson plans and differentiation strategies.  Basically your teacher can say we're covering this concept and this student needs something at a higher level and they will find the resources for them.  

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Lisa1970 

Teachers and schools rarely suggest grade acceleration. I would let her do it unless she does not want to.

I did not have my daughter do it. I regret it. I mean, I wanted her home until 18, she was my only little girl. But by her senior year, there will be no more courses available to her in high school. She will have already taken both AP maths and some AP science and other AP classes. I don't know if I regret it so much, but it has been hard even finding her schools to attend because none of them want a child to be more than a year ahead in math, and they don't want them ahead in other subjects.

I know that administrators really don't like grade acceleration, but right now, Dd doesn't want to. and I'm not sure that's the best option for her. If I had to guess, I'd say that dd is highly, but not profoundly, gifted. I'd also like to give her another year to mature emotionally. Next year is our 'test year', really. If they can meet her needs in 2nd grade, then we'll see how much progress she's made. If they can't meet her needs in 2nd grade, then a skip becomes much more something I'll push for.

I'm actually not so worried about down the road. Our high school also has a pretty good range of programs for high achieving kids -- there's an IB program that's well regarded, there are accelerated programs, and there is the opportunity to take courses at the local college if the high school can't meet their needs (and since I happen to be a professor at that local college, I know that I could comfortably send my 16 year old to do that if I needed to).

Quote:

Originally Posted by mom2ponygirl 

If they would like help finding resources for differentiation, you might point them towards the educator's guild at the Davidson Institute.  http://www.davidsongifted.org/edguild/

"The Davidson Institute's Educators Guild is a FREE national service for elementary, secondary and post-secondary educators, as well as other professionals committed to meeting the unique needs of highly gifted students.     

Educators Guild members access:

• An Online Community
• Free Consulting Services
• Educators Guild Publications"

The free consulting services include lesson plans and differentiation strategies.  Basically your teacher can say we're covering this concept and this student needs something at a higher level and they will find the resources for them.  

Thank you! I'm going to pass this on to our TAG coordinator, and I'll make sure I'll make dd's teacher aware of it next year.

[ChristaN]

It sounds like you have a good plan in place.  My dd, whom I mentioned above, is also HG but not PG.  I'd agree with the pp that it is uncommon for the school to be the one initiating the discussion of a grade skip and maybe, like with my dd, it will be something you reconsider in the future. 

I've not been worried about dd going off to college at 16 (other than financing it!) and, like you, our local high school has a lot of course offerings as well as the option of taking college courses if you run out of the hs courses.  Let us know how it goes.

[serenbat]

some end up doing great with a grade skip++++

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2011/05/easton_resident_zoe_gauthier_1.html

really, there are lots of these kids out there and make great adjusted well rounded adults

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by serenbat 

some end up doing great with a grade skip++++

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2011/05/easton_resident_zoe_gauthier_1.html

really, there are lots of these kids out there and make great adjusted well rounded adults

I'm sure they do. I just don't happen to think that my kids are that bright. If they turn out to be that bright, I'll gladly send them to college early. Right now, I think they're smart, but they're also privileged to come from an 'academic' family. They have access to books and information that a lot of other kids don't. When ds asked me last night what hypothermia was, not only could I tell him, I could break down the word for him 'hypo' means 'low' and 'thermia' means temperature.