We did not grade skip our son. His birthday is the end of September so he was one of the oldest in the class. Our son has always had social issues....even standing out at RMS. He always wanted to fit in so badly, he grew tired of achieving, always being the best at everything and he mostly wanted to be liked by everyone. He burnt out at 8th grade ..and tried very hard to fail, which he did. High School was a disaster. Our son "chose" by himself to leave high school early, so it was his choice that he "grade skip." We tired, the schools tried, it was just that he is "so out there" the top 99th percentile. He HATES to hear that. Having a gifted kid like him was a curse to say the least. He's almost 19 and by being out of high school early, he has make much progress this past year (friendships, college classes). He is moving to Chicago to attend a performing arts college...and I actually feel good about it and think it will work out well.

Got off track there...so back to the grade skipping topic....

Also, if you check standerized testing scores, starting K and 1st there is usually a huge difference in where the kids are, but the studies show that by grade 4 (at least at RMS) or grade 5, they are all reading well enough...the later readers do tend to catch up so that you can have a much more "balanced classroom" at the upper elementary grades. It's better for the "gifted kids" to branch out horizontally, rather than pushing them ahead to be the best reader, math student, etc. It's not such a great thing socially to be so far ahead.
So, hope you all can learn from our experiences!