My son just graduated kindergarten, he will be 6 mid July. I would never have wanted him to skip kindergarten, he is smart and was almost reading when he started but with in 2 months read at a first grade level. I think they learn like 80- some sight words over the course of the year basic adding subtracting, money ect. A great deal of it is about socialization and following the rules/behavior.

IMO skipping kindergarten would be a horrible mistake.

I've never heard of such a thing, but than again, I'm not an educator. It just sounds odd to me.

I don't think skipping kindergarten is a good idea. They learn SO many basics there that they use for years to come. That being said, my oldest BD just skipped 3rd grade. By the end of kindergarten she was reading several grade levels above and was accepted into her school's gifted program. We had her assessed and she was already at knowing 49% of the math and something like 80+% of the reading she would learn in 3rd grade. It was a tough year getting her far enough along in math, but she got As and Bs the entire year so I know it was the right decision. There was a lot of new testing, reviewing previous testing, even reviewing her gifted testing results before the school decided to allow her to advance, so hopefully your school will be as rigorous.

I believe kindergarten sets up a true classroom structure to prepare kids for grades 1-12.

I've never heard of a school system that has approved of skipping this basic step.

Kindergarten today is what first grade used to be like. It's waaaaaay more than just learning how to stand in line and doing puzzles. When my DD was in kindergarten they were teaching them sight words and simple math problems.

No way would I tell a parent to let their kid skip kindergarten. They learn a lot in that grade.

BS was even learning about fractions at the end of t he school year.

I don't know even know if it's legal to skip kindergarten and yes - it's very different now. They learn so much in kindergarten.

Bad idea-on so many levels. While she may do well on her own, k5 teaches more than just academics. Yes, she will learn to read and write, and do math, but they learn social skills that are life-long skills.

That said, most schools will not test for 'gifted' until they are finishing 1st grade! This is done to give the child time to adjust. DH's ex pushed for early testin (they caved after months of emails/calls/meetings) and skid missed being put into the program by 3 'points,' and cannot be tested again. If she is bright, give her time to mature, and allow her to do her best. If BM is pushing for it to happen, dh should request that it not happen. Sad to say, but that may be enough for the school to question BM.

Many apparently bright children actually 'regress to the mean' during this time. They seem like they're gifted because their language development is accelerated and they learn to read early but very often their peers catch up and as they are required to learn in a more structured way, they lose that 'edge'. SD's school will be well aware of this and I would be very surprised if they even entertained the thought of her skipping Kindergarten unless, as another poster suggested, the testing reveals she is a genius.

In MI, I don't know if it is the same everywhere, but they are gradually moving the age up to begin kindergarten. So the kids entering will be older than the years before. I know that my school district is offering a sort of "test out" of kindergarten for students. I really think this is a bad idea, as I do agree that kindergarten is their first steps in socialization. Good social skills and behavior, and just knowing what is expected of them will make a big impact on all of their schooling. IMO, whether they are Einstein or not, not being properly socialized with other students, teachers, and just the all around school life, will not help them long term.

BS6 just graduated kindergarten. He was actually accepted for early entrance into kindergarten but we did not do it. He is small, and we figured when sports become important for him - size will be important. So, he is smart. He just graduated kindergarten. He learned a lot. He could read etc before, but he has learned in terms of social interaction, listening and even just the different personalities of different people. He has learned to sit, listen, that mommy and daddy (separate households) are not always there to hold his hand. He has learned to compare and what he is good at versus what he is not (I firmly believe this is an important life lesson). He has 4 older siblings so is used to interaction, but interacting with kids his own age has made a huge difference to his confidence - he has much more.

In terms of learning, he tries much harder than before school. He is something of a math genius (he can add, subtract, multiply and divide in his head, even with pretty complex numbers). This is his talent - he talks about "seeing numbers in his head". This is probably from me - I can recite every credit card number, bank account number and social security of several people (fun to freak people out in banks!). Just because they have a talent does not mean they do not need to be around kids their age. I have a friend who skipped 3 years in total through school (genius!) who failed out at university as socially could not cope! At 15 a 12 year old is very different and kids are cruel.