Thanks, everyone, for adding your stories. It does give me a broader perspective on it all. I'm glad to hear a story about a happy accelerated man, for example, b/c I'd never even heard of one before.
Montana, I was radically accelerated when the school districts took the time to test me. I was very happy with the arrangement because school work became interesting and challenging and I made interesting friends. The easiest skip was spending time with the higher class for 1-2 hours a day then starting with them after Christmas break. The other accelerations were a straight jump within the same school and a jump when we moved to a new district. The latter was pretty easy as well - from 7th grade to 10th with part of the day spent in 7th - I just walked across campus to HS.
My DW skipped first grade with no issues when they moved to a new district. In retrospect, she thinks she could have jumped from 7th to 9th or 10th grade, too. Her interest in school really waned in the 8th grade and she recalls being very bored.
I have a work colleague who was radically accelerated within the same school system for his whole education and was very happy with it, too.
