The trouble with our school is that due to space issues, they made "centers" - K-2 and 3-5 in different schools (yuck). So we don't have older grades that DS could move into if he's starting in K. So probably he'll be learning stuff by himself.
Wow, we have the same exact grades per school in our district which concerns me. Before DS was born I thought it was great, now that he is how he is I see the problems with it. We will probably start him in first in the fall, but may do K with acceleration if they refuse to start him in first. But even then, he probably will need to be receiving some 3rd grade work pretty soon after starting. And even if they wait until next year for that, it still won't be in the same building, so they will have to bring over stuff from a different school. I guess that shouldn't be so hard, but I wonder if they will do it and I also know that means he can't be going into an older class but has to be by himself.
Although my DS doesn't have a "best friend" he has many friends. He doesn't really care for kids his own age and he gets along great with the older kids. He's extremely personable and having people to pal with shouldn't be an issue.
this is how DS4 is as well. He likes people for certain things. Older kids he has conversations with and does different advanced stuff with, younger ones he plays tag with. He doesn't seem to notice ages much. In fact I mentioned to him the other day that his friend was a year older than him (not sure why I even was mentioning it) and he insisted the boy was not almost 6 and that he was 4 just like him. So I let it go. It's funny though that sometimes it matters to adults, but kids could care less. So now I don't plan to ever even mention age to him. The only time he mentions it is when he is playing a game that says 8+ or something and he tells me that is just a suggestion and that he is still allowed to play it.