Just one very old perspective -- I skipped 1st myself and never really noticed much difference growing up. I have a winter birthday so was one of the older kids in the class before the skip. They assigned me a buddy in the new class since I made the skip partway into the school year; I think that was a great idea. I remember very little about it, to be honest. But as far as middle and high school -- it really didn't bother me being younger than my classmates. I got my driver's license a little later, that was the main difference; but I don't remember it being a problem for me. Of course this was back in the dark ages, so social pressures might be different now. But my own experience was a positive one. Oh, almost forgot, I did go over to the university for English lit my senior year of HS and that was absolutely no trouble at all (had taken AP English in 11th grade already). I was 16-17 at the time, able to drive myself etc. I forbade the professor to tell the other students that I was still in HS. lol. It was an evening class and the age difference just never came up.
I wonder about grade skipping for DS5. He is far enough beyond kindergarten academically that it seems ridiculous to keep him at that level, but his emotional maturity is not that high and we don't know if it would be a wise choice for him, at least not for the K year. But he's going into language immersion, so grade skipping might not be an option anyway. Elizabethmom, I have some of the same concerns as you even with kindergarten -- it's a long day here (8 - 3) and I don't know how well he will adapt. Good luck with your DD. I think it's normal to worry regardless of what you have decided to do!
