Jamie:
We were in your shoes four years & two months ago. Our son, still 4, was slated to begin K in the middle of August. Two or three days before school was to begin, we were approached by the various teachers & principal strongly recommending a grade skip.
He'd been reading fluently since 3.25 and by 3.5 he was reading @ 2nd+ grade level.
Honestly, we never thought anything about a skip. In fact, I told the teacher about a year earlier that I wouldn't dream of grade skipping... which is why they waited until they'd all spoken to each other and then they came to me as a team.
They reviewed the end-of-year K assessment, showing that he was beyond that. Then they showed me the end-of-year 1st grade assessment... and he was beyond that with the exception of a couple skip-counting skills.
I was floored. But what they shared made perfect sense.
I then turned to the internet for what seemed like 24 hours straight. I read so many forums, my eyes started to bleed. "Do it!" -- "Don't do it!" Back and forth I went.
What finally provided the answer was the report, "A Nation Deceived"
http://www.nationdeceived.org/Reading through the report -- which summarized years of research on the issue of acceleration -- wiped away so many of my own misconceptions. And then reading the collection of stories from dozens & dozens of students, parents & teachers ultimately gave me what I needed to make my decision.
Start with the executive summary to get your feet wet, and then plow into the full report. You are able to download everything for free from the website.
Then read through the stories. You will likely see your child described in many of the anecdotes -- who knows, you might even see yourself in one or more also! I know I did.
The day before school was set to begin, I took our son to the Back-to-School night and introduced him to the 1st grade classroom and teacher. She asked him if he'd like to visit her class for the beginning of the year to see how he liked it. He said he was OK with that.
I was a nervous wreck for the first week or more, but then after the teachers got me to relax, I saw that my son was thriving. Although he was 1-2 years younger than anyone else, he jumped right in and did great.
We don't regret the decision one little bit.
-- -- --
Fast forward 4+ years. He just turned 8 and is in 4th grade, about to start 6th grade math and is off the charts for reading & language. We didn't have him tested until this summer, which really turned our lives upside down.
We're now faced with the possibility of another grade skip -- or more -- and it feels like we are revisiting many of the same concerns as before, but on a larger scale.
I'll tell you this... if we hadn't skipped K and started him in 1st, I suspect we'd be in a much more complicated situation now. Getting the one skip out of the way nice and early helped immeasurably. From what you describe, I bet you'll be faced with a similar decision in a handful of years... but don't let that prospect color your decision now. (Trust me, you'll drive yourself crazy with all the "What-ifs" by trying to telescope 4+ years into the future and might wind up making no decision at all.)
I wish I had discovered this group "back in the day," as there are many more people who are dealing with these situations, and many have also BTDT (Been There Done That) two or more times.
Good luck with your own decision making process.
