We had the opportunity to test DS (now 9) into K early, but we purposely chose not to because he was really not emotionally ready for it, although academically, he could easily have handled 1st at that point. When he ultimately did start K (at 5:9), he spent months having trouble tuning out all the sensory input and just dealing with being in the classroom. There is still part of me that wishes he could have been ready to have started early, so that we wouldn't be dealing now with as big of a mis-match.
So, here's my random thought.... Wouldn't it be lovely if they went ahead and set the minimum age at whatever, so that a child would "mature enough" (whatever that means) to be at school all day, but when the child reached that minimum age, they were given a test to see which grade they should start at? Of course, that would mean that we would no longer have an age-based school system, which I know would make us all soooo sad.
