We went throught the exact same thing. At the time, we knew our ds was bright, but we didn't realize he was gifted.
Our experience was very similar to Jen's, but at the last moment we decided not to redshirt DS, who is now 12 and in 7th grade. I believe it would have been okay either way. The first few years were tough in some ways - during the first three weeks of kindergarten he fell asleep in school every day (at that point we and the teacher were seriously reconsidering our decision to send him)! And he had some issues with being hard to redirect/talking too much in class about things he is interested in, but I'm not sure how an extra year would have impacted that.
Now he is in 7th and it still affects his school situation in some ways, particularly since MANY people in our district redshirt summer boys, so there are many kids in his class that are more than a year older (and some of the kids his age from preschool are now in 6th). But academically he is doing great, is in GATE and all the things that go along with being a smart kid.
Like Jen's DS, my DS is very mature now, so that is no longer an issue. Now he just doesn't like it that he is among the smaller 7th graders!
PM me if you have any questions about our experience
