Hey, Jenafur!
That was me! I'm the mom with the 4 yr. old at Montessori who may be allowed to skip kindergarten.
I've posted some lengthy posts about our experience over the last week under the "Underserved Populations" forum in the "Where Do I Even Begin" subject.
I spoke with the counselor at our local school system and explained our situation. At first she suggested he could start Kindergarten, and after 4 to 6 weeks they would evaluate the situation. After we spoke some more, she agreed to consider a complete skip to first grade if I present IQ and achievement testing. (Once I told her he was reading and writing at age 2 she perked up a bit.)I also told her I did not feel it would be in his best interest to change to a new class in the middle of the semester. She agreed that would be difficult for any child, and was open to further communication about it. Her comment was,"We want to serve EVERY child in this system." (Or something very similar if I'm not quoting verbatum.)
We will wait and see what the future holds. If we feel that he is mature enough to handle first grade we will definitely pursue it. But I certainly don't want it to be stressful for him. I want him to continue to be a joyful child. One of the difficulties we are currently having is that he seems to prefer to play with older children, anyway. Socially, he is very appropriate to be placed with a group a year or two older. However, I can't say for certain that his maturity level is where it needs to be. I just don't know how to ascertain that quite yet. I will rely on the psychologist to give me some direction in that department.
Either way, I would think that your system might want to see some test scores. I am very new at this, but that seems to be the first thing my system wants to see.
Good luck to you. It's exciting and a bit scary, too, isn't it?
Warm regards,
Allison
