Lori, your story reminds me of my personal "light-bulb" moment-- when my DD was VERY newly five, and we attended "kindergarten orientation/welcome" at our local library.
One long-time primary teacher had me point out my daughter, because I'd mentioned that she was already reading "pretty well"-- this would be my DD5 who who was quietly, happily reading a novel (maybe Harry Potter? maybe Redwall? could have been The Hobbit), swinging her dangling legs back and forth, seated out of the way on an adult chair at this "reception," while her peers were running WILD, darting through clusters of adults, grabbing cookies, and shouting. That teacher took one look at her, one look at me, and leaned in to say, quietly-- "I never told you this, but please do NOT enroll your child in a kindergarten class-- with us or with anyone else in town, frankly. We can do NOTHING for her-- until at least third grade, and you'd be risking her life each and every day for nothing."
I was so stunned. It took me a few days to understand what she had meant. See, I'd intended to talk about how the district handled life-threatening food allergies. I had no idea just HOW remarkable she was. After all, we lived with her every day; who knew that kids didn't just start reading and within a few weeks jump four or five or more grade levels, right? Who knew that kids didn't learn that fast?
Besides, my mom (a career primary educator and master teacher) seemed to think that she was "just a typical, perfectly normal, bright little girl" whenever I asked about something that seemed a little unusual. (You know, like teasing a parent and laughing about it at 13-15 mo... her vocabulary at 12 mo... asking questions about existential matters at age 2-4... that kind of thing.)
