My DS5.5 (almost 6) skipped K this year also. And when I volunteer in his class each week I see that at "carpet time" he moves around and doesn't keep his eye on the teacher and sometimes plays with the kid next to him. At his desk I see him often tipping his chair onto its back legs. I see him raise his hand and say funny but totally irrelevant things. BUT I also see this in the majority of the kids in his class -- espcially the boys! I am a person who's all about following the rules and not calling attention to myself, so it totally stresses me out out when I hear that he's more, shall we say, spirited. But in a first grade classroom it is SO the norm to be "immature." If you can't be immature when you're 5-7 years old, when can you be?! No, my son isn't academically challenged for a lot of the day and this does contribute to his antics, but even the kids who are challenged act out because they are little kids. And, importantly, in my experience at school, the 7 year old kids are no better behaved than the 6 year olds or even than my DS5.5, no matter what the teachers say. It really can be just a matter of personality, not a deficit of any kind.
I am really lucky that I get to volunteer weekly in my kids' classes, because now that I do I really get to see the HUGE range of behaviors and academic abilities and it has really helped me to relax and not expect perfection from my kids when no kid really is perfectly behaved.
Also, I think a lot of teachers are always trying to find something to suggest as something to work on, like bosses do at job evaluations. They think it's helpful. It drives me nuts. If a child is working at or above grade level and behaving like a normal kid, why can't that be enough? Also, sometimes a teacher will mention a misbehavior and think that they're just sharing something interesting that happened that day, and I take it more seriously than they intended. I really wish if a misbehavior is par for the course that they would just handle it at school and not get me involved.
Anyway, shellymos, I think your DS sounds fun!
