I have a 3 yr old and I see what you're saying. I only have one elementary school locally, no private schools, a boy with a late birthday, and a principal who's never heard of early pre-k entry, although I've been told by a local teacher one town down the schools down here don't mind skipping; they test the kids and place them accordingly.
Re: staying one step ahead of him, my thoughts;
When I wuz preggers I told the hubby, "if he's smart I'm going to homeschool him so he doesn't suffer. If he's normal I'll send him to school so he can have a normal life". I made my judgement call early in his infancy. Of course I've evolved as a parent since then.
I think what has to happen to stay one step ahead of a PG-gt-let is to call it like what's happening is that you're ultimately homeschooling/afterschooling/unschooling regardless of whatever else happens. If he's lucky enough to go to school for a year, or two, or ten, or thirteen I consider that desirable.
I would call it unschooling in that the responsibility and the right to learn belongs to the child. We have to keep bringing it back and realigning the plan to that goal. I call it homeschooling because as a mother I'm dedicated to teaching my kids the basics because, well, that's what parents do. I'm hopeful for a good school experience when it's our turn. Of course it's a huge unknown. I don't know what I'm going to do/request. I don't know what the school's going to do/request.
Keep reading this forum. It's very reassuring and chock full of common sense. Acceleration and reversal are never final decisions. At 6 he may be too immature for his academic peers, or unable to manually complete the written coursload. And he may be concurrantly too immature to "play along" with his agemates' classwork if it's too easy and the pace is too slow.
You may homeschool until age 6 and find he's not mature enough for what school has to offer until age 9 or 10.
Enjoy this year if it's enjoyable and/or productive. Congrats on the baby step. How exciting a first school!
