there don't seem to be any plans for him to do anything special or useful, like maybe working for that year on a farm in the Outback.

I will say that I tried hard to convince my sons to take a gap year, but neither one wanted to. I think a gap year is an excellent idea, if it's possible. I understand that these days colleges are often willing to suspend scholarships for that gap year, so the student doesn't lose it.

There may well be some reason that they just don't want to talk about, which would actually make a lot of sense. Unless the kid has bamboozled them into letting him take this year off for no good reason, in which case, I'd wonder both about their ability to exert appropriate parental authority, and what that kid is really up to.

a secret pregnancy to adoption perhaps but really what ever the reason right now it is not being told
Maybe it is something they want to keep quiet and are being very vague if questioned . I would allow them privacy but I would think they have to provide education
How do they get around truancy law ? Are they claiming home schooling ?

Although, I don't *believe* they apply to this person. I saw him over the holidays and he seems as he ever did, albeit having grown a bit (which I recognize is not dispositive of transitioning, but it adds a few weights to the scale). Also making transitioning less likely is that his parents are super right-wing FOXNews-watching Rush-listening fundamentalist Christians (of the everyone-who-does-not-believe-in-our-narrow-subset-of-protestantism-is-going-to-burn-in-hellfire variety), who I strongly suspect would not support their child in that situation. Sad, but that's how they are -- at least by all available outward indications.

As you allude to, I'm not keen on invading their privacy. I let my curiosity satiate itself upon superficial small talk at family gatherings because I'm not keen on prying. But by now I'm half-way to the conclusion that there isn't anything being hidden, it really was just because they felt like it. Which made me wonder if other people are doing this too.

As far as truancy goes, I don't know precisely, but they did home-schooled some of their older kids through 8th grade, so I would assume they game the system from that angle, if it is necessary (I've got no clue what is necessary there).

That is an important fact that they are RW
Norms or common sense explanations to their actions do not often apply .
Felt like it , don’t care, or disgruntled most likely .

They can be home schooled but must have a school program in place. I wish I held my son back in 8th grade as he was young for his grade. He graduated at 17 and was on the immature side and would have been better served starting high school a little later. He had a gap year with mixed results.

A friend of mine was out of school for a year between the third and fourth grades. Her parents owned an ocean-going sailboat (about 60' long, if I remember correctly), and pulled her and her older sister out of school. They spent that year sailing around the world. We moved, so I never knew anything beyond that, but I always wondered what remarkable adventures and knowledge their voyage must have brought.

Directly?

terms of reality-based subjects like history and science (never mind squishier subjects like economics or cosmic/ethereal ones like theology) -- think the kind of people who take their kids to Ken Ham's Creation Museum or Ark Encounter and you'll have a good picture of them.

So any discussion with them beyond small talk is asking for a headache. I am absolutely certain my opinion/questions would have no impact on their course of action (whether or not it is my place to look out for this kid, I'll have no impact on what happens to him in this arena, and I don't believe he's being harmed per se), so there is no use discussing it with them for any reason beyond satisfying my curiosity. And that satiation is not worth the headache of pushing the conversation beyond what they will offer without prompting.

two of my granddaughter's friends took a "gap" year between 8th and 9th grade so they would be eligible to play high school varsity sports another year..

His personal ambitions, as far as sports go, are golf-oriented. At least as far as I can tell. He really wants to be an accomplished golfer.

Soccer is more of a thing his parents (coaching) and siblings (playing) dragged him into by the inertia of the family. Same with running -- two of his siblings had cross country or track college scholarships.

I had considered that his sports ambitions might be involved, but does it really make a difference how good a golfer you are as an incoming freshman? (FWIW, he's already big for his age anyway and plays a LOT of golf for his age) I don't know enough about how one becomes a professional golfer to be sure, but I suspect not.

Even if one year of physical development made the difference between getting a college scholarship and not, his parents can afford to send him to college anyway... Are they money-grubbing enough that they would they delay his education for a year to try to increase his chances of a scholarship in a distant, uncertain future? I would not have selected that as the most likely explanation, but I don't know...

it's about having that extra year to develop...and yes that one year makes a difference...it's like playing "up"..bigger stronger a real stand out...it's about scouts and scholarships and playing in college...

then the reasons are personal, private, and/or none of your business. Probably all three, but certainly the third.

The kid is a good student, B average. He plays football for one of the local clubs. The father of the boy decided that his son was not big enough to be successful in High School football, so he had him held back in 8th grade.