EandCmom,
I definitely read a lot in class. At first I was descrete and then I stopped pretending I was doing class work altogether. i think one of my teachers said that he felt better when I read because then he didn't have to feel guilty that he wasn't teaching me anything. In physics, I usually spent time looking for mistakes that the teacher made and then raising my hand to correct him. When my hand went up, he invited me up and I took over (and this is sad, because really I wasn't all that good at physics, just better than my teacher!). And then I had another teacher who gave me a "permanent hall pass" which I carried with me, so I could just get up and walk out (and go to the library, or visit the office, or whatever I wanted) whenever I "needed" to. Really, I just got up and walked out of class without having to ask permission. I held a number of offices and did have fundraisers and such I was planning, so, at least some of the time I went off and took care of business.
These are really happy memories. And I was rarely bored over all, but just didn't find the academic stuff challenging. This may be where my ambivalence about challenging my kid comes from. If I had been working to my academic potential I might not have gotten my treasured permanent hall pass!
I was also like your sister. I skipped first grade and never felt like I found my social footing again until my junior year in high school. I never told my mom how I felt, because I knew she'd feel guilty and I knew she had done what she believed to be best for me. So I got both the under-challenge of a school being too easy and the social disruption of a skip. Nonetheless, I am pretty happy well-adjusted adult. People can be pretty resiliant.
