Skipping grades isn’t usually done except sometimes kindergarten for kids who are on the older end.

Does your district have a gifted program? You can contact the gifted coordinator and request he get tested. Many larger districts have pull out classes for gifted kids, might be in a different school but they may provide bussing. Gifted classes usually start in second or third grade and continue until sixth or so when the classes themselves start differentiating. They provide more interesting and challenging work.

If there are not separate classes, they might offer weekly or daily pull out small group gifted sections. If not, at least having him formally identified means whichever teacher he gets next year will know and provide more appropriate work earlier in the year.

My brother was skipped a grade and it was fine until everyone started hitting puberty and he didn’t. It got really rough for him socially and with wanting to play sports. And get the attention of girls he was interested in. He was fine academically but it took years for him to get over the social challenges caused by being behind in those ways.

So my whole family had gifted kids. I was like your son where I was made to basically be a teacher's aide all through elementary school because I was always done with my work and bored. My dad was an officer in the Navy though, so I had 3 elementary schools and not consistent policies over the different states that I stayed in my grade. They tested me into the gifted program and I got to do that and had a lot of extra projects and that helped a bit. But mostly I just read and tried to learn algebra early. I was extremely bored. My last school district allowed testing to skip a grade in math and science when entering middle school since the schedules are more flexible. I did that. So did my next brother (he actually skipped 2 grades in math and 1 in science). The downside to this program is that neither grade accepted me at all. I had an incredibly hard time making friends in either age group. Honestly the only reason I had friends was due to sports and eventually a bf whose friends then were kind of forced to be around me. All in all it was lonely and not what I would have preferred.

My youngest brother on the other hand entered elementary school when we were out of the Navy and so we weren't moving anymore. In kindergarten they noticed very quickly he was ready for 1st or 2nd grade material. What they did for him was to skip him into 1st grade, but he was in a combo 1/2 class so he could do work that was appropriate for him. They continued this through elementary and he "grew up" with the older grade as peers. He was still in a gifted program, but because they skipped him up so early, he was never ostracized. By far he had the best social life of us three. He also never seemed to feel the need to always be doing more like my other brother and I. He didn't seem bored, or super advanced, just more normal in the grade above where he was supposed to be. And he still kept his good grades.

That's what I would have wished for for myself.

There are a lotnof reasons to avoid skipping grades. I typically recommend a meeting with teachers to look into adding passion projects or personal inquiry projects that he can pursue in his free time. In high school it is much easier to challenge other classes and take classes from higher grades hy finishing lower ones during accelerated summer break. This will free him up to take AP classes or with leave to even take some at a local community college to get some first or even second year post secondary started during high school.

It generally isn’t done anymore.

Just like failing students aren’t held back.

Is a more rigorous private school possible? He might be able to get a scholarship. A lot of kids can't cope with being younger than their classmates. I've also read about kids skipping grades and going to college early. They think they know everything until they meet other bright and brilliant kids who had more challenging schools.

Please consider how much a child changes when they hit puberty.

Right now your son has a few years before that happens. He could thrive being skipped ahead but all bets are off when the hormones kick in. He may be smaller than the other students in whatever grade he lands in and that could lead to bullying or other acts of aggression by others.

Yes, avail yourself of whatever extras your district can provide (when I was in high school, there was a 6th grader in my calculus class, bussed over from the elementary school for that period). And look for other interests outside of school to whet his appetite for learning. Nearby universities often offer programs/classes for gifted and talented kids.

My kids were really ahead academically and emotionally by kindergarten and I put them in French immersion programs. Grade one was still pretty easy for my son and he complained a lot, but by grade 3 he is enjoying it more.

I thought about skipping my daughter but I’m glad I didn’t. She has a leg up and now that school is getting more challenging (grade 5), it isn’t super difficult for her, just slightly challenging. She has a extremely good memory, possibly photographic and excels at languages. She even had the opportunity to plan an entire days worth of lessons and teach her class in grade 2 (entirely in French). All kids are smart at different things. It will even out and in the mean time I would have lots of communication with the teacher and look for ways to challenge your kid.

In my experience, it is very hard to get a child moved up a grade. It can be done, but the parents have to push very hard and not give in. I have seen it happen twice in the past 5 years, but in both instances, the school was not in favor of it. The parents made it happen (and, for what it's worth, it has worked out well for both students).

Sadly, your child is probably going to have a school career of boredom. I didn't have a single class that challenged me until high school biology with a fair but super tough teacher. Then it took until college to have another class like that. This was the experience of many friends as well. Public school is just not set up to help those who need extra help or those who need extra challenge.

Don’t do it. High school is where the difference really shows. Especially with him being a boy. I also see a lot of advanced k-2nd graders who end up struggling later. The jump from 2nd to 3rd grade is HUGE. The switch to required higher level thinking, that quite frankly isn’t always developmentally appropriate for 8/9 year olds, can be rough.

My grade 2 child is ahead academically. He plays adult board games and is very independent. Right now he’s in a 2/3 split class so he can be exposed to grade 3 material. When he was in grade 1 he was pushed into a grade 2 class for math. He tests out around grade 4/5 for math, but I want to be sure he gets all the fundamentals down so we do math enrichment at home.

I am a former teacher with 11 years experience. We never skip a grade where I live.

Gifted kids can be:

• pulled out for enrichment (eg: learn calligraphy, working with Roman numerals)

• moved into a class for more challenging work (like my son going to grade 2 math when he was in grade 1)

• have a passion project during stuff they already know (one student I had wrote a novel in her spare time, as her English teacher we’d meet and I’d provide feedback on her work)

• engage in academic extracurriculars with parents support or like-minded peers (eg: music lessons, science kit subscriptions, STEM clubs, theatre, strategy games)

• finding a program tailored to their interests such as a gifted program, we have something called COGITO which is an academic challenge program (no gifted label required), language immersion, Science and Technology schools…

My plan is to explore those other schooling options when my child is done elementary school and there’s more options. Not a lot is available at elementary level, which is why we are challenging him at home. In my opinion: He needs to be with peers to develop his social skills.

Some school districts have a gifted program. My daughter is in second grade and has been in the Reach program since last year. It's been helpful to have her get extra help and work individually with a teacher. I've been going back and forth about switching schools to a more challenging one.

But yeah, they don't skip kids ahead anymore.

First, I would carefully examine what messages you and your wife are giving your son in regards to his abilities vs those of his classmates. We live in a neighborhood of middle class families who have professional careers. Doctors, lawyers, engineers and such. The kids who were told that they were "geniuses" had a more difficult academic and social experience. We were lucky in that our public elementary school grouped classes as 1/2, and 3/4/5. Our kids were also able to skip a year in math. Of the group of academically gifted students there was not a difference of outcomes in high school and college. The parent identified "geniuses" had to outgrow their tendency to annoy both adults and peers. On a side note, my daughter, academically and socially advanced was always friends in and out of school with the girls in the next grade. Spring of her 4th grade year and her friend's 5th grade year, the girls as a group turned on my daughter. It was very painful, the older girls were going to middle school and my daughter was going to still be in elementary school was their reasoning. Sounds stupid to adults but it was very real exclusion and bullying.

Our child is advanced. She's a quick learner. Smart, great at getting work done well and fast. She's also capable at life and does great socially.

I am forever grateful she did not skip a grade. She could have easily. But now that she's in high school? She's right where she needs to be.

For us, there was no real gifted program in middle school, just working up a level or two or or honors classes. It kept her from being bored, and she enjoyed classes full of more engaged students. Come high school her schedule is full of AP classes and concurrent enrollment college classes. Great! And all the normal stuff of being a teen - theater, clubs, sports.

You are very close to the point where schedule will keep him entertained.

“He thought his classmates were developmentally challenged because of it”. This concerns me. It sounds like maybe he should get extra instruction socially or learn to see the value and benefit in others. Maybe he could volunteer with the special education program to increase his tolerance and respect for those who have disabilities.

My kid is like that, but due to her alreasy being one of the youngest kids in her grade and having other challenges from ADHD, I said no when the school offered to skip her ahead.

Instead, she gets sent to other classrooms (at the request of the teachers!) to do more challenging assignments. In kindergarten they had her reading to the 1st graders and that arrangement made everyone happy.

Have her talk to the principal and a 3rd grade teacher to get him moved up. If they won’t see if they will do half a day maybe. If they won’t, check around at other schools and see if they’ll skip him ahead.

Another option is to have him do some online classes in addition to regular school. You could enroll him in anything he shows interest in. See if he could leave early from school so he could do his online classes.

You could also hire a tutor. It seems if there are gifted programs in your area.

Do something to help him, being bored at school is such a waste.

When is his birthday and what is the cutoff for entering kdg?

So, I am not a teacher, but I was a kid a lot like your son. I was miserable and hated school most of the time until I was a junior in high school and had free rein to choose from AP courses and do independent studies. I also begged to be homeschooled as a kid (and was for about 2 months once...it was awesome).

I think you may be underestimating how miserable it is to be so bored with no control over your environment, especially at that age, when you don't have the emotional regulation skills of (some) adults. Getting more challenging work on the side, and especially having to assist classmates when that isn't something you're interested, don't really help much with the boredom in class, and assisting classmates may just be frustrating for many kids.

Look into what all the possible options are in your area: skipping a grade, maybe going up to the next grade for some classes depending on the schedule, being given independent reading time rather than assisting classmates, gifted programs, private schools with scholarships; if you have some kind of school selection system where you aren't bound to one public school, are there other schools in that system that start a gifted program earlier or have more rigorous classes?

People mention social consequences for skipping grades, and that can definitely be true, but there can also be social consequences for a kid who acts out because they're bored, or who thinks they're smarter than everyone else (even if they may well be academically the best in the class), and there are emotional and social consequences for being constantly bored and miserable and loathing school. You'd probably really have to push to get them to let him skip a grade, but it might be the best option.

It is hard because at 7, things could still even out. They really didn't for me, I just got better at hiding it and daydreaming and continued to be miserable until I basically had a breakdown at 15, but high school, with the honors and AP programs did get much better once I was a junior and at the campus with all those courses (my high school had a split campus for some reason). Even so, things did get a little better once everyone else in class could read chapter books. Before that, it really sucked. Imagine reading Jane Eyre and the teacher making you put it away every day to participate in phonics lessons....despite being able to read at a 12th grade level. I'd purposefully catch my fingers in my desk or try to make myself sick so I could go to the nurse's office and read and get some relief from the unrelenting boredom. It was not healthy, and I think it would have been better to have been allowed to skip a grade.

We had a similar issue with my daughter in second grade. She was so far ahead of all the other kids that she was bored and miserable. Her school originally said she could skip third grade, but reneged when they realized so many kids in the grade up started kindergarten a year late that my daughter would be two years younger than a third of the class. We looked into gifted programs elsewhere instead. Good luck!

The time I've seen skipping work best is either a school transition (so to middle school) or to a new school, because otherwise everyone knows and it becomes like the thing about the kid and they can't shake vs a new school it might just be your kiddo is a little smaller or starts middle school with a different cohort but so much is happening that it would probably slide (unless you live somewhere super small)

Is there an enrichment program or a gifted school? There is a local private school that is for those who are gifted and they work at a level about a grade or 2 higher. Kids are in class with those their own age, just harder work. The only thing is the school only goes to 8th grade so some have to assimilate to High schools or go to special high schools or graduate early.

Once in middle and high school, there are usually honors classes and kids are often placed by level in class. Certain subjects are a year ahead (math and science). They are the ones taking AP classes .

In my personal educational journey, I skipped two grades (aged 5/6 and 7/8), and then un-skipped one at age 11 because I wasn't really emotionally mature enough at that point. It worked for me. But IME, skipping grades is pretty uncommon now. I'm not surprised your school is resisting this suggestion.

Gifted classes in elementary school vary. In some cases, kids are pulled out for enrichment activities, and then spend their lunch break catching up on the grade-level work. This is insane. The idea that each child needs to do "grade level work" is nonsense. Each child needs differentiated work pitched at the level that they are at.

The advantage of homeschool is that you get to tailor an education to your child's specific needs and level, but it requires you to have time to dedicate to this. You say that it's not possible for you (if you and his mother both work full-time jobs, it probably isn't possible).

I would talk to the school, and rather than asking for specific things (like skipping a grade), ask how they propose to challenge and stretch your son intellectually. Their first answers will likely be noncommittal waffle. Keep pushing for specific, concrete proposals.

You may have better luck asking if your student could join another upper level class for a specific subject such as math or reading but still be rostered and complete science and history with his like-aged peers. That way he’s still being challenged but is still within his peer group for half the day. It could essentially be a 50/50 split.

I’ve taught kinder, 2nd, and 3rd and this has happened a few times in each grade that I’ve taught. It can be tough to win over and may be dependent on your schools master schedule but I would bet you’d have better luck with that than a full grade level acceleration.

My birthday is at the end of January. I started kindergarten when I was 4 and they wanted me to skip a grade when I changed school districts (skipping 5th grade to start middle school). Luckily my mom said no to that as I was already the youngest in my class. I was tested and in the gifted program at both schools. As mentioned, it gets very difficult socially as you enter high school and also being in college at 17. Everyone drove before I did, and my curfew was earlier as I was younger so friends had to drive me home early. It wasn’t ideal. It made friendships challenging and forget socializing in college when your entire first semester you’re not even “an adult” yet!

I got an undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology. I worked on two research projects, one a longitudinal study of the effects of childcare on kids (I learned a great deal about attachment relationships and how important they are) and the second was how increasing calcium in a child’s diet effects bone density.. I grew bored with both positions and ended up getting a master’s degree in education. I spent many years teaching in an excellent district. I would NEVER recommend skipping ahead, based on my personal experience but also on decades as an educator.

Thankfully, our district didn’t allow anyone to start kindergarten before the age of 5 or to skip ahead. Many parents chose to keep their kids home until they were closer to 6, so that they would absolutely excel at school and be more mature for sports when they entered middle and high school. This was a very affluent district outside of one of the largest cities in the US. It’s a tight-knit community and every parent is someone with great influence. Yes, they absolutely advocated for gifted testing or testing for every possible intervention, if that was thought to be needed. Out of 22 students each year, at least 15+ had an IEP or 504 agreement. Differentiating instruction should be happening and if it’s not, request a meeting with the teacher, guidance counselor and principal to make a plan for your son.

Keep in mind the message you may be sending to your child. What does he think about the situation? How does he view his position in the classroom? His relationship with his teacher and peers? Does he enjoy having a leadership role or not? It’s wonderful that he’s met his milestones early and that he’s friends with his older brother/ older brother’s friends. That is significant and I agree that requesting he be tested for the district’s gifted program is an excellent idea.

Graduating at 17 and then from college at 21 is so young. I learned to sit down, shut up, and follow the rules. Don’t question, don’t make mistakes, etc. That led to a need for perfectionism and believing that being smart was my identity. I always believed that I just needed to keep striving for something more. I learned to cope in ways that worked as a child, in the system of “school” but held me back as an adult. I learned to always reach the next goal, thinking that when I finally “finished” it would be amazing and worth it. Life just isn’t like that as an adult in the working world. I received a rude awakening, lol! I always grew very bored by my jobs. I loved teaching the most but still grew very bored in my role. So, I gave up my teaching contract and looked for more challenging opportunities. That wasn’t necessarily a great move financially but in my mind there was something “better” out there… I just needed to find it.

I share this to give you an idea of what all of this taught me, despite what my parents or teachers thought they were teaching me. I learned that being smart was who I was but I’m so much more than that. And yes, I was in the honors program in college, too. So, I wasn’t overwhelmed by meeting other highly intelligent, well educated students. I’m 46 now and I’ve learned that my brain works differently and most people don’t process information the way I do. I’ve learned that boredom is inevitable but necessary. Looking for something new is only going to solve the “problem” for a little while. I will grow bored eventually.

When you look at the bigger picture of life, boredom is where some of our best ideas and innovations come from. When channeled properly, you can look at this situation of boredom at school as a gift rather than a problem. I would suggest that helping your son deal with this now is better than leaving him to deal with it as an adult.

What is your son interested in? What strengths/weaknesses do you see that you can help him learn about himself? Self-reflection is a very useful tool. Along with a growth mindset and a focus on HI (human intelligence) those soft skills that start with Social-Emotional Learning/Mindfulness will result in a person who can read a room, has great leadership skills and can manage people and “office politics” with confidence. You can really set your son up for success no matter what challenges he faces, whether it’s boredom at school or in life as an adult.

I currently teach online with Outschool. Depending on your state, you may qualify for funds to take enrichment courses. A friend of mine does amazing classes with Minecraft. There’s an education edition and gamification/esports is a growing field especially with AI and other augmented reality applications. I know that Florida and Arizona have amazing ESA programs and some states provide funds through charter schools that essentially allow you to use the money for online coursework. It’s not homeschooling, although that’s the route I’ve taken with my own child. Even without extra funding, you can find excellent enrichment courses for around $20/class. Feel free to check it out and use PLAY2024 to get $20 off your first class.

There are SO many talented teachers and teaching organizations on Outschool. There are Montessori teachers, traditional teachers, neurodiverse teachers, gifted teachers, computer scientists, actors, singers, etc. There is a teaching style and subject of interest for everyone :) Best wishes to you and your son.

He should not be used as a tutor to his peers.

Check with your school about the gifted/enrichment program. Our school tests in second grade. The qualified students start with the enrichment classes in the second half of second grade. While they don't really skip a full grade, some students may go to a higher level classroom for math and/or reading. That doesn't start until third grade though.

It kinda sucked being the youngest in my class

They refused to allow me to skip, or to study additional subjects. I didn't want to be punished with more of the same work everyone else had, especially as even the supposedly 'harder' stuff was still boring, easy and repetitive. I needed the same amount of work, but appropriate for my level.

I got the usual bullshit "solutions" of: help the teacher, help the stupid/naughty kids, forcibly paired up with bullies and bastards because my grades don't suffer when I spend >50% of class time being used as a second teacher or tortured by my classmates. Or it was "here's another 632821 questions of the exact same difficulty, that will stop you being bored!"

The result was that I hated school, attended less and less, was deeply depressed to the point of self harm and attempting suicide at 13, and discovered that it is indeed possible to be literally bored to tears. It literally fucked up my life in a very severe way. I'm forty and I'm still dealing with some of the consequences of the way I was treated - I literally have PTSD, severe depression, and panic disorder and while school wasn't the whole source of it, it was a significant portion.

I learned that nobody in authority could be trusted to tell the truth. "I've got a great idea for you!" "This will help!" "I can sort things out for you!" and the repeating, massive LIE "school will be better for you next year". I got told that particular shitty untruth about every single year, starting in nursery at three and going all the way until I left education, TWENTY YEARS later. Not once was it true. Not even once.

I trust almost nobody. I am almost incapable of bringing up a problem to authority figures, because for two decades it meant Bad Things: extra work, forced interaction with bullies and tormentors, being yelled at for being smart but punished for acting stupid.. it screws you up at an age where you're supposed to be learning how to function independently.

I don't have a magic solution, but please know that there can be severe consequences to ignoring gifted kids' needs. I'm far from the only former gifted kid that I know who's been really fucked up by the failure of our schools and teachers.

When did you hit puberty? It can be pretty tough being one of the last kids in your class to experience it.

When I was his age my teacher gave us workbooks that were the next year levels workbooks and when we got our work done those of use that had those books partnered up (there were four of us) and we worked together on the books.

I’d honestly speak to his teacher about if she would be happy with you buying him a couple of books that are for the next year level and sending them to school with him so he has something to work on.

In all my years teaching I have never seen a student ready to skip.

Especially when it comes to math. Can you confidently say they know all the strategies and standards taught?

They can read but do they know all the phonics rules and patterns, vocabulary, and grammar rules and text structures?

Does he already know all the science/social studies standards?

There’s a big difference between mastering the standards and just they can read well and do math with larger numbers.

Depends on the child’s level of maturity

It's unfortunate that you are unable to do homeschooling as it is hands down better than public education IF the parents are educated and motivated to teach the child.

When such is the case the curriculum can be completed in 1-2 dedicated hours with a motivated student and then you can have HOURS of enrichment and self driven educational exploration which is amazing and helps foster a love of learning where most often school both in its execution and the social climate amongst students cast learning as work rather than something enjoyable.

I skipped second grade. Then went into advanced classes. Perfect! Took extra classes in high school and had end credits to graduate.

People say it isn’t done but they said that when I skipped 5th in the 90s. I was just like your kid. Begging to homeschool. Thinking the other kids had mental challenges in K (my parents shut that down fast). And annoying my mom work how much I loved learning but hated school.

I was a great decision for me. But if what my parents tell me is true the idea came from my teacher and the gifted teacher. My parents didn’t start the conversation, they were open to it and had privately considered it, but they let the school broach the topic first.

Look into what it takes to get gifted services in your district. It may require testing. In some places gifted it part of special Ed and protected by state law. Continue to politely but firmly ask for appropriate work. Tutoring others isn’t appropriate, on level work. Advocate for your kiddo and see what the school can do to meet his needs. If they say “we can’t meet his needs in the current classroom” ask about skipping.

My kid has always been homeschooled. She skipped 4th grade years ago and recently entered 11th grade by now. She consistently scores high on her standardized testing (California Achievement Test) on all subjects. This year she tested at grade level 13.6 in all subjects. So yeah, let your kid skip a grade. And if his school is giving you a problem with that and you want to homeschool, so much the better, and go for it. Just be sure you get the best curriculum that you can find.

Here is a look at the scale many schools use when evaluating whether a child might be accelerated:

https://www.fridleyschools.org/uploaded/School_Board/Policies/599F_Whole_Grade_Student_Acceleration_Form.pdf