Is it beneficial to skip Kindergarten?
I have a 5 year old son, Coby, who will be 6 at the beginning of September. The cutoff for Kinder is Oct 15th, so I held him back last year - even though he could have went to Kinder. This year we are enrolling him in a pretty structured, advanced Christian Private School. When the principal did an assessment on him, within 8 minutes she determined that he is very advanced and eager and should skip Kinder and go right into 1st grade.
I know he is 100% completely ready for 1st Grade. However, that will put him at being one of the youngest in his class; which is the entire reason I didn't start him in Kinder at 5. When he starts to get into puberty, he will be behind his friends who would have went through puberty a whole year before him. He could be more immature than all of the other kids in his class. He will be one of the youngest playing sports, he will drive an entire year later than his friends, go do things like go to the movies with his friends later, etc. How will that pan out socially as he gets older?
Right now he is very mature for his age. He currently hangs out with 7 year old boys who are a year and a half older than him and fits right in. However, will that always be the case or will the kids in his class start to mature before him? Everyone says I am making a mountain out of a molehill and just to put him in 1st grade but this decision will affect him one way or the other for the next 12 years! I want to make the right decision. I don't want to chance that come 4th or 5th grade we are faced with possibly having to hold him back because he is too young. I also don't want him to grow up any faster than he has to by literally forcing him to hang out with children that are older. Understandably, he would have been going into 1st if we went by the cutoff - but I just want to make sure we make the right decision.
Thanks for any and all advice!
April