acs -- No, it's really helpful to read your experiences! Do keep sharing, because it ensures that parents examine all angles.
As for your ds ... I wonder if his perspective comes *from* being "just subject accelerated" as opposed to full skipped? I know that I, for one, never felt like a younger kid with older kids; I was one of my class, and that was that. I honestly felt more "out of place" as a subject-accelerated first grader than I did as a third grader. I didn't think of it in terms of, "I should be in second grade" ... I was in third grade, I was a third grader, and that was that. My closest friend was a girl who was in third grade already when I was skipped, though we were in different classes; we didn't have the same issues you and your friend did, likely because we *weren't* in the same class.
So much of the skip equation is personal to each child and each situation. That's why it's so hard to make these decisions -- you never know how it will turn out for your individual child! I think that my positive skip experience and that of two of my sisters (my youngest sister skipped 8th grade) has certainly made me more open to skipping than your average person-on-the-street, even if that person has a gifted child. It takes a lot of the mystery out of the equation for me, since I've gone through it and have experienced first-hand the goods and the bads. Luckily for me, my experience was, overall, very positive.
I'm sorry that your skip was not so positive ... that really stinks, since it is completely an elective decision in most cases. It's hard to feel like you don't fit in, especially as a child. I certainly still did not "fit in" in grade school, for a number of other reasons, after we moved when I was in fourth grade ... that was due to a number of other issues. But I still know the feeling, and it's not a good time. I'm truly am sorry you went through that.
