We've just requested a skip of K for our son. The policy in our district is that everyone must start in K, and after 4-6 weeks, they will assess how a child is doing, and will allow them to move up to 1st grade if they feel it's appropriate (they are very concerned about how well the child is doing socially/emotionally). So since my son is technically starting in K (and hopefully will be moved up to 1st fairly quickly), we have not had to answer any questions from others about why he is (hopefully) skipping. However, we have talked to our son about how things will be done in this school (namely, that they group children and teach based on what the children know), so if he moves up to 1st, he probably won't be too surprised. I'm sure at that point we might start getting questions from others. Close friends and those that know my son would think it's a no-brainer for him to skip K, but others probably wouldn't. Not sure how we would answer those questions, will cross that bridge if/when we come to it. I like the "because it's the best fit for him" approach.
