I'm curious - how long has school been in session? And have you talked to your ds about it all? Does he have any kind of ideas about why he has a tough time sitting in circle? I know he's only 4 so he won't be able to figure it all out, but sometimes our kids have a viewpoint that we'd never imagine, and it could make all the difference in knowing how to handle a situation.
Another ? I have is - is this his first preschool? If so, I'm not surprised he hasn't been totally excited about sitting down at circle time. Do you think he's been given a good trial run with his age group?
If you are comfortable with the school and believe they'll differentiate, I'd suggest this - let your ds be with the 3/4 class for the start of this year, and ask that he be moved back into he 4/5 group at the start of 2nd semester, or sometime in the spring. If the issues with circle etc are simply maturity issues, they'll most likely be better by then.
I wouldn't agree to move him back to 3/4 with the idea that he'll stay with that group of kids forward through elementary school. It *might* be a good thing for him but he's way too young and it's way too early to know that's the right thing to do for him. My ds is one of the oldest kids in his class due to birthdate, and due to 2e we had too much of a battle on our hands to even consider asking for a grade skip etc in early elementary. It worked out ok early on - I was glad for awhile that he was one of the older kids because as jack's mom mentioned, in K/1 it was pretty easy to see who was younger/older based on how they acted (not true for everyone, but for the most part it was true). However, by the time he was in 5th grade, our ds was *beyond* bored with the pace of instruction, with the level of questions asked in school, and with the lack of intellectual challenge. Being up one year in grade level wouldn't have solved all the problems but it would have helped.
On the flip side, once kids get to middle school it's often much easier to get differentiation and subject acceleration plus there are more opportunities for after-school academics... so our ds is much happier now.
One other thought... it sounds like perhaps this school isn't the best fit for your ds. If you aren't contracted in for the rest of the year, if it was me, I'd look around at other preschools. Even the "best" and "gifted" schools or schools with great reputations aren't always the right fit for every kid. One of the things that I think is important in preschool is that kids have a chance to be kids and have fun and not be worried that they are being judged on behavior or expected to learn huge amounts of academics *unless* they are driven and doing it themselves. But that's just me
Best wishes,
polarbear
