Florida - can my child start kindergarten or first grade early??

Question

So my kid was born September 11, so he misses the cut off by ONLY 10 days. Everything I’ve read says they have to be 5 before 9/1 for kindergarten and 6 before 9/1 for first grade. Can he start early? Skip a grade? That 10 days is crappy for him because he’s way ahead his peers in reading, writing, speech, math already. I’m super nerdy and we’ve been “studying” and reading together since he was just a baby. He hates hanging out with the kids in preschool because he says they “don’t understand anything” and “talk like babies” and he’s more at the level of his 7 year old cousin. He is going to hate school if he’s not intellectually challenged and won’t be able to make friends he can relate to either, and I have no idea what to do. I’m worried I have to homeschool (am I even  allowed to homeschool him early?). Does anyone in Florida or education know if there’s anything I can do???? Is it possible to get exceptions bc my internet searches say no but also I saw there’s such a thing as grade-skipping. 
I personally graduated high school at 15 because I moved from England where I started 1st grade early since I was just like my son and there were no restrictions to starting early there. Any one with knowledge on this PLEASE SHARE!!! My husband and I are stressed out about this. The kid is already smarter than both of us and I don’t even know if we are capable of homeschooling him!!! He is 4 now and couldn’t get into VPK because he turned 4 9/11 instead of 9/1. 10 days seems so silly. I’ve done an at home curriculum I bought this year and he is already doing the 1st grade (not the VPK, not the kindergarten, but the 1st grade, and very proficiently). The state would have me basically put him 3 years behind at this point and he would be stuck in VPK this year when he will already be ready for grade 2 curriculum!  He gets bored if he’s not challenged. Do I have to just homeschool and am I allowed to? Idk what to do, so if anyone knows, please enlighten me!

Answer

I’m not in Florida, but I am a former teacher. Almost every state in the US allows for early entry through testing. You can’t just automatically enroll early, but I can almost guarantee that you will have the opportunity to have your child tested. Most cut off early entry at 10/31. Call your school or school district office and ask what the procedure is for early entrance testing. Here in AZ you have to pay a fee to do the testing, and you have to sign up by a certain date (I’m fairly certain it’s in June because they have to set up times for all the children who are testing and they have to pay staff to come in and do the testing). I hope this helps!

Answer

If you do decide to homeschool, all we gotta do in Florida is submit a letter of intent to the superintendent of your district. It’s easy

Answer

My son is in private school here in florida. He’s been reading fluently since 3 and way ahead of his peers academically. He just finished preschool and could probably handle himself well in the 1st grade. But they’re hesitant to move so young because of general social development. I did ask them and they said they’ll reevaluate after kindergarten if he’s still well ahead of his classmates. He also has a late birthday of October. But again he’s in private school, I think public schools down here stick to the guidelines.

Answer

They will have to have him in the grade he’s supposed to be in and evaluate him their selves. Not off of what you say. This happened to my cousin in laws son. He is September 13 and cut off is September 1st. They skipped him.

Answer

Im from Florida and recently moved overseas. In public schools to my knowledge no, they may skip a grade but wont start k at age 4. But private schools might, you can call around private schools and umbrella schools as they have different requirements than public schools. Skipping grades used to be more popular, but now theyre hesitant to do so because it can cause social issues when they hit the preteen years, especially for boys. Im not saying it never happens, but they usually arent readily willing. My son was insanely bored in kindergarten and was miserable, they have to get all the kids at one level so they do basic stuff like phonics initially, but the material jumps tremendously in 1st and 2nd grade. What drove me nuts was they tested my son as gifted but instead of actually advancing his material, they just gave him 'gifted enrichment' which is basically more worksheets and busy work to keep him occupied rather than him waiting around on other kids with nothing to do. My son hates worksheets as it is and he started hating going to school. We actually homeschool all of our kids now. Dont think you cant do it. Once they can fully read and theyre naturally curious, they can 90% self teach. We mostly unschool, meaning we dont follow any curriculum, we just load them with books and resources and dont even make them do any work at all, their learning is their choice, but I very much limit screens so theyre not ignoring learning for the sake of screens (we have no TV and no tablets). Then periodically I take a workbook and have them do worksheets or verbally quiz them on it just to check in on how theyre advancing, and theyre almost always beyond grade level. Example my 6 year old has never had any formal math lessons but she just completed a 3rd grade level math quiz without help. My 5 year old I discovered can add out loud but couldnt write some numbers, so now I know to give her a number tracing exercise once or twice a week to fill in that gap. As they get older I then plan to get them a curriculum (my oldest is 11 so hes almost ready). So homeschooling is an option.

Answer

Not in public school. You can enroll your child early at private schools. And then transfer them out the following year if you desire. Also, look into the StepUp scholarship for kids. It covers around $8k a year towards private school. There are some smaller private schools that fall under that amount.

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Probably not

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No, most likely not. And if he does skip a grade it won’t be so early

Answer

@GlowGPT please help me with this topic!

Florida - can my child start kindergarten or first grade early??

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