should I move my first grader to second grade?

Question

My son has always been very intelligent and smart. First grade isn't stimulating him. He already knows all of what is being taught. He says he's bored. Has anyone had a child move ahead a class? If so, what were the pros and cons of your childs experience?

Answer 1

Since first grade just continued I would speak to the teacher regarding this .. as the year goes so does the level of education. I know for my son he was bored to tears because it wasn't meeting his level of education. Needless to say, we currently have him in a multi-age class that combines 3rd and 4th graders together (my son is a 3rd grader). They work more one on one with the students at their own level and speed.

Hugs from a Loving Mom to a Brilliant, as well as beautiful 8 year old Jared and Our Angel, Zachary (taken to soon but who will always remain in our heart) ~ Mel

Answer 2

Okay, well ... I'm a student, so I haven't had the experience of having a child move up a grade. Second grade may stimulate your child some more, or in my opinion, third grade may even be where your son's level is at; thinking back to my experiences in elementary school, I find that the material students are taught in second grade is not much different from the material taught in first grade, besides some introductory skills to cursive and simple multiplication. The pros are that he may be more interested and may be more engaged in school, but the cons are that he may feel left out from the other children, and he may feel inferior because he is of a younger age. Also, second grade could possibly be too hard for him; sometimes, some parents find it more helpful to wait until later grades, such as fourth or fifth grade, or even middle school, when children are divided up more based on their learning ability and capability. There, in higher leveled classes, your son may feel more stimulated. However, skipping a grade would look good on a college resume, and it would help him get to college earlier, thus, in a way, adding more years to his life ... ^^ ...But he might miss out a bit on the school experience and just experiencing being a kid, which I feel deep down inside, all of us miss.

Answer 3

We moved our son from Kindergarten to first grade last year. Basically what happened is that his birthday falls on December 24, so he is about a month or so late for the cutoff to get in. We could have pushed for him to enter early, but we decided to let it go.
Well to make a long story short, he wasn't stimulated and was leaps and bounds beyond the other kids. He was reading on a third grade level and was more mature than any other kid in there. So... we had academic tests done, teacher interviews, etc. After a couple of weeks, he was moved up to first grade where he absolutely loved it! He got along fine with the kids in his class (mainly because there really isn't a big age difference.) He also ended up getting accelerated learning on the side because he is still ahead of his classmates somewhat. He just went back to school today (second grade) and he had a blast. I love the fact that he is so into homework. He's disappointed that they won't get any until next week! It will be a bummer when he loses that perspective.
Ask your child if he wants to move up, and also explain what is expected of him in the higher grade. He may or may not decide to move. Also, have teachers who work with gifted youngsters test your child. It's not the end all,be all, but it will help determine some of your child's strengths and weaknesses. I wish you well, in whatever decision you come to.

Answer 4

My advice is don't do it. For one thing, he might be just as bored in second grade as he is now, or possibly even worse. Another reason is, he will have more to learn in school than academics. He will need to learn to grow socially. A single year may not seem like much now, but later on it will be more important. When the kids start dating and if he gets into sports, a year more or less can make a big difference and he may find himself at a disadvantage. No matter how smart they are at book learning, boys mature more slowly socially than girls, and if he's younger than the other guys, that can turn out to be a real drawback & more problems than are necessary for a teenager, who have enough problems anyway. I have some experience with this because they started me in school at age 5 and then skipped me from the 1st to the 3rd grade, so that I was two years younger than everybody else. I had a son who was smart and we had the choice of having him skip a grade, too - but I turned that down and had him stay with his age group, and was glad I did. So I have had experience with both sides of that, and think it's best to keep a kid with his own age group ... unless maybe if he's some kind of super-genius like Gauss or Mozart, then you'd have a different set of problems. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Answer 5

On the bright side, once he is done with his easy homework, he will have plenty of time to play with his friends! You won't have to worry about bugging him to get it done. ^_^

Seriously, I was a gifted child growing up. When I was in the fourth grade, I had to be moved to the sixth grade because the private school I attended didn't have a program for gifted children. I was then moved again from 10th grade to college because the school refused to let me in AP classes.

The most important thing you should keep in mind is the child's social development. This is the very thing I wished my parents had looked at when I was young. It's great that you want your child to be excellent in his classes, but he will need strong social skills when he becomes an adult. Many professional jobs these days require lots of networking and socializing.

I work as a medical assistant and most med jobs are not posted in the newspaper. I got most of my job leads from collegues and peers who know the powerful hiring people in the hospitals and offices. All the social skills I didn't learn as a child, I had to learn quickly as an adult while in school. My job search had taken longer than normal because i had trouble making friends.

It would be great if people with high academics got jobs on just their degrees alone, but sadly, todays employers don't care. They only want to know if you are a "friend of a friend".

My advice: Talk to the teacher first and find out what the cirriculum will be for this year. If the cirriculum really is too easy, find out if the school has an accelerated learning program. If that is doesn't exist, do consider switching schools. Not all public schools are the same these days. Some schools have new tough (and fast paced) academic standards thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act. Some schools even have first graders who read beginner novels (like Little House on the Prairie)! The latest Newsweek magazine has more information on this.

If there are no public schools that can accomodate your child's needs, consider private school.

I really do think that moving your child to second grade should be the very, very, very last resort. You son does need friends in his age group whom he can relate to.

Answer 6

I jumped to primary 3 partway into primary 2 while changing schools. I jumped from grade 5 to grade 6, again partway during the school year. Then in grade 9 (1st year of high school) I started attending the gifted program.

It's not as much the change in grade that's a problem, especially if the kid already knows the stuff. It's a sudden change in school & peers, and trying to fit in again socially. But it's always those younger smarts of a class that get distinguished -- in other words, it could also make him popular.

But since he's only in grade 1, I say go for it. Kids make friends fast. Also, grades 1 & 2 teach very little academically. Many kids who've already been pre-schooled by their parents already know the stuff. And if your kid keeps on learning during the summers, he could potentially skip many grades.

As he goes up the grades, the curriculum will pick up pace. If he happens to need to repeat a grade or take a break for a year later on, he'd still be as young as everyone else, if not younger.

Most people don't finish high school when they're 19. Four years of university would make 23 years of age. A masters (2 yrs) and a PhD (4 yrs) would make 29 years of age. So if your kid is so academically inclined, he could be almost 30 by the time he finishes grad school. That is, if he doesn't skip grades.

Answer 7

I think that you ought to. If he says he's bored, he won't like staying in that class all day doing nothing.
It might also put him off learning so that in the ned he becomes (knock wood) one of those kids who eventually get left behind in class because they have gotten into the habit of not listening.
It might also do him some good concerning his social life. If he's too smart for grade one work, he might also be way ahead of his grade one peers. Very frustrating and lonely.

However, there might also be some drawbacks in moving him uip a grade. In grade one, that's when you're taught all the fundamentals and build a really strong foundation because at the later levels, they start teaching very fast.
Also, since he's been having such an easy, laid-back time in grade one, grade two, being more challenging, might come as a bit of a shockl to him. it might take some time for him to adapt.
Lastly, moving to a new class all of a sudden means that he'll have to adapt to a whole new set of classmates and teachers. This might be unsettling for him and he might be unhappy with that too.

Personally, I think that you should let him skip a grade. Besides having a more interesting time at school, it'll also give him a story to tell his future grandkids or add to his Nobel prize-winner's speech.

Answer 8

I haven't had this experience but I've heard a lot about it from others who have been there. Before considering skipping a grade find out if first grade will become more challenging for him. This is the beginning of the school year and it tends to start off very simple. Next, find out if the school has a more challenging class. if the school has more than one class for each grade the kids may be assigned due to ability. You might also want to check if they have an accelerated program if that is what he needs.
You can also check for charter schools in your area or even homeschool. Skipping a grade is one of many solutions and it might not be the best one for your child. There are also social and emotional factors to consider in a school setting. But - Like holding a child back, it is best if it is done now and not at a higher level.

Answer 9

I was moved ahead, but just for one subject. I missed a lot of stuff in my original grade that I gave up the advanced stuff and just stuck with the basic class work.

Things don't really getting more difficult until you get to high school and get into AP classes. Honestly look at history class. In first grade you learn X amount of fact and in second grade you learn Y amount of facts. The study habits would be the same. In math you are still doing the same thing in following a sanard set of directions to reach your goal. In first grade you might be learning to add, but it is basically the same way of learning how to subtract in second grade. Sciene, Social Studies ... they all are taugh the same way so moving him up would proably make him just bored with the next grade. It isn't until you get to those highschool classes (i.e. philosophy) were you need to start using your head to come up with differnt answers.

You have to think about your kids friends that he will probably lose by being skipped ahead a grade. Also think about a few facts: Driving is 16-18 and your kid will be carless while all his class mates are cruising. Not being able to vote while in high school. He will also almost be out of college before he can drink (but when has that stopped a college kid)

My personal thoughs would be to keep him where he is with his friends and not skip him ahead. Give him some other things that are more stimulating (or mind-numbing viedo game) at home.

And also remember this: Kids are bored at school. It might not be as much it isn't stimulating him as much as he would rather be doing something else.

Answer 10

When I was going into 4th grade, my family moved across the country, from a school district that ranked as one of the top in the nation to one that ranked at the bottom nationwide. I scored really high on the placement exams, and they wanted to skip me forward to 5th grade. My mom talked to me about it, and we decided to stay put in the 4th grade, and put me in the gifted program. I'm really happy we did. While I was ahead of the class for the most part that first year, it let me acclimate to the new environment and new kids with less academic pressure.

While school IS for learning all the academic stuff, it's also crucial in their social development. And putting a child (especially that young) in a group of older kids could put him in a position where his social and leadership skills wouldn't develop as well as they could. While knowing the Three R's is important, the skills that EVERY child will carry through to the rest of their lives are those that allow them to deal with the people they live and work with.

Talk to your child's teacher. There could be several reasons why he could be "bored." The class could, as has been mentioned, be reviewing for the kids who may have lost some of what they learned last year over the break.

It could also be that your child may have some form of attention deficit disorder--I've known many kids (mostly boys) who are extremely bright, but they get bored if the class is dwelling on something for too long, or if it's something they already know. And at this stage in the game, the material isn't going to be too difficult, which could explain why it's so easy for him.

OR...it could be that your child is just more advanced than the other kids in the class, in which case I would recommend finding out if your school has an accelerated/gifted program. Teachers usually will pick kids out of the class that they feel would do well in these programs, but kids are overlooked all the time. So bring that up with your child's teacher.

And if, after all this, he's still bored then move him up.

Answer 11

no...your son will be socially outcasted. As children get older there are definite differences between grade 5 boys and grade 6 boys. I know a brilliant boy who was advanced into second grade and is really quite friendless now in seventh grade.....his peer group is in sixth grade but have a different lunch period, schedule, sports eligiblity, etc.....There are ways to enrich your son's education and keep him in the age appropriate grade. Just because he's bright doesn't mean he will be successful in everything he tries....My son is brilliant....he scores off the charts on all state tests....however, to keep him well rounded and not turn him into a nerd...I kept him in his age group and put him in karate. Karate is a mental as well as physical sport. It's not easy for him and he's not successful as other kids....a real good lesson for someone who is used to always being at the top. He learned humility and how to help someone in school and not let them feel bad. He knows what it means to work at something from his own experience and that he won't always be on top. I am very proud of him. There's plenty of time in high school to graduate early or take college classes...by 17 most kids have reached a social equality. Right now when he acts goofy with the other guys his age it's ok....but if placed with boys a year older....well, he would be the oddball out. Think carefully....