Yeah, writing was pretty much the only hard part when my DS skipped 1st. But then again, his writing in K with agemates was also crummy -- he wasn't magically going to get better with or without a skip. We were lucky with an HG program that didn't mind that his writing was poor - they said it was age appropriate. Now in 5th, you can decipher his writing a bit better, but it's still not fabulous. His cursive is better. And if he takes the time to really try, it's fine. Good enough for us. But if you're in a program where they're going to make a big deal about quality and quantity of writing, then it would be a concern.