I have an October birthday so I had the option too - I started school "early" but was glad I did, as I was the kind of kid that was easily bored in school.

I think you have to do what's right for your kid - especially in line with where he is re: learning. I know that a lot of people hold their kids back (or don't start early) so that they'll be bigger, older, stronger, etc. for sports (especially boys). I'm not a fan of this practice, because for me school is about education first.

I say, if your son seems "ready" then go for it!

I held back both of my boys. My oldest is now in 4th grade and my younger son is currently in Young 5's. They tested as being ready academically, but I really felt that another year of emotional maturity. Also, down the road in junior high and high school, I really liked the idea of them being one of the older, and hopefully more mature, kids in their class instead of one of the youngest. We'll see if it works out that way, but so far I have absolutely no regrets about holding them back and would definetly do it again.

I have to say that we are leaning toward holding him back at this point. He was born with a cleft lip and palate and even though they are repaired his speech is still delayed. I think he might benefit from another year to catch up on speech too.

Maybe let him start pre-k and then you can have the teachers opinion as well to see about K. Lots of kids repeat pre-K. My dd went into school early as she had an August birthday and the cutoff was Sept. 1. My second son started late, as we moved from a private school where they moved up from the pre-K program based on testing to a public school in another state with a strict cutoff. He has already started K, and was already reading and doing adding and subtracting, so I saw no point in putting him back in K, so I kept him home. That was actually a great year for us. He wanted to learn to cook and garden, so we did that and had a great time together. He is now in 8th grade and doing fine. DD is now in fourth grade and I am homeschooling her cause she got behind. But socially she is doing fine.