We had DS4 tested, and he qualified for, early entrance, and decided based on expert advice to keep him in preschool for another year.
1. No separation issues whatsoever, he boarded the bus without looking back at all.
2. No need for a nap (ours was an all day program)
3. Long standing willingness to sit/blend with kids older than himself
4. Eagerness to attend kindergarten, and comfort with chosen school
5. Advanced fine motor skills
6. Height and maturity, he easily looked the part
7. Respect of authority, and willingness to please teacher
Going through Dottie's list, the ones that are problems with us:
1. DS4 still has separation issues, though a bit improved from last year.
3. No long-standing willingness to sit/blend with older kids (maybe because he's an only child?)
4. DS4 constantly says he never wants to go to school.
6. DS4 is one of the smaller kids his age.
7. Very little respect of authority, not a teacher-pleaser type.
He's also a "run-around-when-learning-something-exciting" type kid. Also, learning that he was HG+ helped us realize that academically he would be ahead whether early entranced or not. Finally, on a positive note, we recently learned of the approval of a new K-8 STEM charter school sort of nearby, starting fall 2009. They describe a learner-centered overall curriculum, described here:
http://www.seer.org/pages/eic.html This sounds good on paper, and i'm hoping it will be good IRL.
Remind me of this when I freak out again!
I know how you feel - I expect to have several waves of freaking out when DS actually enters school!
