<p>I think with accelerating kids there is a lot of concern about making friends/bullying and other social issues…Personally, I don’t think that should be made into quite a big deal as it is now, unless the child is indeed extremely shy or awkward. Kids learn to adapt. In fact, they’ll probably be more social and happy when they are not bored to death in class. </p>
<p>I will admit myself that I was (still is?) quite the shy one around strangers and probably awkward as well, but I didn’t find any major social problems after I skipped 4th grade. I made some friends quite easily, but kept in touch with my friends from before.</p>
<p>But I think it was really when high school started and I got myself into all GT/AP classes that I felt truly happier…I wasn’t bored to tears anymore. As a consequence, I think I became more social. I’m such a strong advocate of skipping grades for kids who are just not challenged enough in school; yes, friends are an important part of life, but that comes naturally when you feel happier as a whole. </p>
<p>I know a couple people at high school who have skipped grades; none of them have had any serious social problems. One is a total musical genius, another is a senior currently (angsting over college apps! haha), and the other one is my best friend, a total chatterbox and clown. He and I met in 5th grade; hopefully, there will be at least one other kid who skipped a grade and can emphathize?</p>
<p>While this may be true conundrum, I encourage you to follow your gut.
I wondered the same thing, as my D was petite, and born late summer. But I knew she would be board out of her mind, and elected to sign her up for K when her peers entered K. As it was, the school wanted to have her skip.</p>
<p>“Boys – why do they have to be so complicated ?”</p>
<p>I don’t think they are complicated, but I do think elementary school is designed for girls. My son was years ahead of the curriculum in every way except for writing. Between perfectionism (I don’t know what to say) and not too great fine motor skills we didn’t feel a grade skip was in order either. However holding him back would have made him even more bored than he already was.</p>
<p>So I gather, you moved him up? And how did it go?</p>
<p>BTW, I’m not criticisng moving kids up - or holding them back. I think it’s an individual choice. And as to boys being complicated, I meant it partly tongue-in-cheek – but it also seems in boys, there is a bigger gap between their intellectual and their emotional abilities. Girls seem… more even-keeled. But, maybe I’m just projecting my own situation here.</p>
<p>just about the 7 yr with ivy dreams( from 2-3 pages ago ) </p>
<p>as an 8 year old my favorite shirt was one which said harvard in hebrew( i got to show off twice- once by reading the shirt and once by being so cool as to have a harvard shirt)</p>
<p>and yes, my parents/granparants got it for me, but i’m pretty sure someone gave it to my grandfather… plus at age 8-- i wanted to be EXACTLY like my mom i.e. graduate from harvard and become a librarian… LOL
( on a side note, if only my planned out life had stayed interesting-- this would be soo much easier!)</p>
<p>Having skipped more than one grade myself (and despite a wonderful experience academically and socially while at college) , I was biased on this issue and when we needed to make a decision about our fall birthday S, I was not in favor of pushing ahead. He just missed the cutoff date but I had the option of what to do. At the time, many well meaning friends and relatives thought he’d be bored (he was a very early reader) and that it was a mistake not to place him in the grade ahead. </p>
<p>I think the key for us was being part of a school district that supports enrichment for children. Reading and math groups are done by ability and there are pull out groups for the gifted from elementary school age and up. By middle school and high school, there are some children who are ahead by two or even more years in math or science. Kids, even brilliant ones, are rarely skipped, for this reason. </p>
<p>One piece of practical advice I might give to someone, whether they are making a decision like this at an early age or moving to a new district is to take a look at the birthdates of all the children in the grade. It might be a revelation to some to realize that in school districts with a Sept 1 cut off date, for example, children are held back with summer, spring and not uncommonly winter and previous fall birthdays too, making not a few of the children in the class a year and a half or even two years older.</p>
<p>There may be unintended advantages both minor and major to a decision not to accelerate or to hold back that only became obvious later on. An additional year of development and maturity sometimes can make a big difference in terms of readiness to live on one’s own at college - certainly, intelligence has very little to do with this! Another advantage is that the youngest children in a grade have the issue of having no driver’s license for an extended period of time as compared to their peers. Particularly relevant in states where you don’t get the full, unrestricted license until later is that there is more time at home to teach and monitor safe driving habits before they leave for college. Certainly some people will also want to consider that an extra year of saving money for college may come in handy. </p>
<p>As others have mentioned, there is the potential for additional maturity to be an advantage in sports as well as in social situations. Another thing you may never think of as the parent to a young child is that you are delaying the inevitable exposure to the drinking and partying situations many HS kids confront. Last, but not least, when I think about it, it was very nice that I had S for that extra year at home. The time comes when they are gone all too soon!</p>
<p>My D has a late fall Bday and began kindergarten in a state with a December cut off, it was quite a shock when we moved to a September 1st cut off state and she was immediately a year younger than most of her same grade friends. She, however, did fine with it, but she matured early. The biggest issue with being younger is the whole driver’s license thing, very frustrating to be the only one not driving.</p>
<p>k-mom were you talking to me - no I didn’t hold him back - but I didn’t bump him up either - eventualy he bumped himself up in math and science. We have a Dec 31 cutoff in our district and not too many parents hold their kids back, but getting a grade skip is only possible by sending your kid to private school for a couple of years.</p>
<p>I’m quite open to acceleration though having skipped first grade and having only had positive experience from being young.</p>
<p>my friend’s sister skipped second grade. teachers suggested that she skip a few more grades and by 8th grade, she became the youngest person ever to get a perfect score on the SAT. I’m pretty sure they allowed her to skip a few grades at a time after tat SAT incident, but her parents decided not to. Being with higher level students when the child is not as mature can be detrimental. Also, a child should grasp their childhood and i’m sure the child would appreciate it later if they can stay in primary/secondary school the longest they can. By the way she was taking college level math in eighth grade… wow.</p>
<p>I don’t know…7? I’m still not sure if it’s real or not but:
I was more concerned about the new episode of Power Rangers when I was 7. I don’t think I even considered college until 10-11th grade?</p>
<p>if you hold him back a year maybe it’ll be easier and he’ll get higher grades.</p>
<p>But if you really do know alumni, you’ve got it made, I’m telling you. My brother got into Yale because my mothers partner knew people on the Board of Trustees or whatever and they talked to the admissions office.</p>
<p>If you know high-status alumni don’t even worry about qualifying for admission if they know the right people.</p>
<p>We held one of our sons back (a Nov. birthday in a 12/31 district), on the recommendation of the preschool he attended. Lots of social immaturity, but at age 4 yr 10 mo. he was also reading at a 4th grade level, writing stories, plays, etc. Turns out that a lot of the “immaturity” was some significant sensory integration/attention issues that showed up as such when he was one of the oldest in the class. Had he been the youngest, I am convinced it would have continued to be attributed to his young age.</p>
<p>Fast forward a year later – same school recommended a skip. Son was in occupational therapy and we were addressing the other issues. HUGE progress. Academically there was no question. Ultimately was skipped one year, plus significantly subject accelerated in math (and later comp sci), is now a 15 yo junior, attends a specialized HS program and is doing great. He is <em>not</em> the youngest in his grade.</p>
<p>He hit puberty in mid-8th grade, so he was never noticeably shorter than his peers (just skinnier). Where we live, none of his friends drive to school and not many have their licenses at all. It has been a non-issue. The government doesn’t decide when my son is mature enough to drive – my husband and I do!</p>
<p>Yes, yes, yes, yes. Such a hassle, having mother drive me around all the time. Won’t be able to drive until I’m a freshman in college. <em>dies</em></p>
<p>In response to OP, the conservative community graduated from, from K-12, had very similar “ivy league”/top tiered schooling goals. The high school churned out numerous top tiered college bound students. Most of the parents were very intent on getting their kids into a top tiered school from an early age, so don’t feel out of place. </p>
<p>It’s important to prepare a kid early to ensure his entrance into a top tiered school but it’s equally as important to make sure he is socially on par with others. I know of two that skipped a level of schooling in order to take more difficult classes. For the most part, both of them are socially a bit behind in comparison to their peers. This social difference is not significant, but it is noticeable. Where this social difference comes into play is in HS extracurriculers. It’s fair to say that kids who are more confident and extroverted are more likely to run for student office, be successful in forensics, and play sports. </p>
<p>The students I knew that went to the top 5 schools in the nation all excelled academically, socially, AND physically. None of them found the need to skip a grade for reasons roshke said in post #166. Ivy’s are looking for well rounded students, not solely book smarts. </p>
<p>I highly recommend roshke’s advice on schools that support enrichment for children. His whole post is extremely helpful in answering your question. Look for a school with accelerated learning programs; schools with honors classes. Look for educational opportunities outside of school also. The library is full of books to read, he should be more then able to start early in his field of interest. Students that pursue their interests out of school really stand out amongst other students in the college admissions process. Colleges really don’t care about whether or not your S was bumped up a grade or not. </p>
<p>For these reasons, I believe there is no significant advantage in bumping a student up a grade.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be rude or mean, but are you trying to force your child be what you couldn’t be, not because of financial reasons, but because of personal choice?</p>
<p>I’m not a parent, i’m just giving my opinion on how I view this whole issue of how to prepare students for college. Most of my post is, as I stated, conclusions based on my personal observations which are inherently limited. I’m not going to say i’m not biased because I am. I’m biased in a sense that I believe that early preparation needed to a top tiered school is extremely important. I’m not biased in a sense that i’ve portrayed the attitudes my community had towards college and their results. I grew up in an elitist school and even though I’m not currently attending a top tiered school, i’m very much influenced by my peers. The school I graduated from has a significant asian population that is very culturally influenced on educational achievement. </p>
<p>I apologize for not stating my bias’ earlier, but please take my posts with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I’d like to add that my version of early college preparation would be to further their interests. If they english, i’d take them to the library and recommend him books. If they like science, i’d do some experiments with them and explain to them how it works. Etc…</p>
<p>Actually, from what I’ve gathered, being significantly ahead won’t help your admission chances at all. If anything, it’ll work against you. One Ivy League school that I visited this summer strongly suggested that I, a 14 year old senior, take a gap year before applying and make sure that my maturity and readiness for college shows through my recommendation letters and application. Apparently their house masters had voiced complaints over younger students in the past. I would assume that other top colleges share their concerns.</p>
<p>Hi Sir,
If you are talking about skipping grade during elementary and middle colleges really don’t care, its upto you, you can make your kid do the whole elementary and middle in yrs, but when it comes to high school its not the same. Every single college in good standings, from regular to Ivy League (except community) requires FULL four years of high school. Sometime colleges do make exceptions, but there are no exception at Harvard or MIT as far as i know of.</p>
<p>If you ask about Internationally recognized universities like Oxford, Cambridge, NAU, Imperial, Melbourne, ITT etc they all require FULL four years of high school, note no exceptions, no matter how smart you son/daughter is. They also, if you’re from US, sometimes require Associate degree and AP courses. When entering for proffesional degrees in U.S a student must be atlest of 17rs old on the time of entrance and internationally its 18 yrs, so if your son/dau graduates at age of 15 from high school he/she will either stay home or go to county college or any another program. Note, If you’re planning to send your kids to Harvard ot MIT, i guess you’re not sending them for regular bachelor’s instead, for bachelor’s which is persuable for ex. BEng to MEng etc and is intensive and really competitive.</p>
<p>Most of all colleges want to know about your kids life, hobbies, activities, not just how many A='s he/she got. A student with 3.6 GPA with Volunteer or JOb experience has better chances of geeting into a college (take for instance, Harvard or Princeton) than a student with 4.0 GPA and no Volunteer or JOb experience or extracurricular activities. We need to maintain our students life by balancing academics and life-emics(as i like to call it)…</p>
<p>If you still have any questions, feel free to ask and for further investigation contact the university, where you/your kids want to go, but just remember people who teach at MIT, Harvard or Princeton etc were not all Ivy Leaguers, as matter of fact most them attended State or national Universities :D</p>
<p>Totally wrong!<br>
Many schools, Harvard and MIT included accept homeschoolers who do not follow a strict 4 year high school trajectory. They also accept early high school graduates. My S’s school sent 3 early graduates to Harvard (2) and Yale (1) in recent years. MIT regularly accepts younger students. My S is among the 2 Harvard students who graduated early from high school.</p>
) </p>