I was wondering if you could elaborate on why the tester suggested skipping 1st was easier than going to kindergarten early? It seems a little counter intuitive to me. But like I said, I'm new to all of this...
In our area, first grade is focused on learning the basics of reading and math, with a lot of seat time. Contrast kindergarten, which has more playing time. Since a very advanced kid would find both kindergarten and first academically unchallenging, let them stay home another year where they are able to learn at their own pace just as they have been, then go to kindy for the "learn to do school" stuff (being with 20+ other kids all day, getting boots and snowpants on, etc.), and play with all the toys/stations/fun stuff. Skip first because it will be especially mind-numbing to sit still and pay attention when you already know the academics. This worked well for us, especially since our kid didn't ever want to go to school and didn't want to learn how to write at home. And we were lucky to swing a bit of differentiation in kinder as well, which improved things (he was pulled out by the GT coordinator in the spring to do second grade math). I'm not saying this is the way to go for every kid, but it worked great for our kiddo. (ETA: well, worked great compared to alternatives... kinder was still pretty dull and the skip to second wasn't enough either... but all in all, a great success).
