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By Sue W.

I'm a mom and a teacher, but I want to answer your message frm the MOM viewpoint. My first thought on reading your message was that I would not have wanted my kids moved ahead because it would actuallly have amounted to
having one less year to share with them before they were off to college. A friend's daughter got he GED and moved off to college 1000 miles away at 16. YOW!

As far as physical development, your daughter won't be far ahead for long, in general, girls are developing at a younger age.
Academically, her teacher should be providing differentiated possibilities for her, but as one

excellent teacher I know says, "If you're bored, its your own fault". Does she have interests she could work on? In school and out, the possibilities are endless, and some are fairly far out. She could learn about genetics by raising parakeets. She could take up dance and learn to cut her own music and learn to do choreography. She could become an expert on '66 Ford Mustangs. She could write poetry and submit it for publication. She could cooperate and/or compete with people her own age and of other ages by paricipating in a community theater, 4-H (tons of options, no longer just for farm kids) Girl Scouts or other options in your community. A 9 year old started the Pennies to Protect Police Dogs fund raiser project.

You said the principal and teacher don't want to advance her "for social reasons". It's rare for a child to be moved ahead. Maybe they feel that in spite of her physical and intellectual development she is socially in the right place.

I wouldn't worry about her social skills reverting . Give her options of being involved with people of various ages and you may find she is comfortable with people of different ages, which is a lot more like "real life".