I'm new to this forum & therefore late to this thread, but wanted to agree with your comments. My girls both started school very early and though they've performed well, it took years for them to think of themselves as smart and capable, whereas my son, who is academically stronger than his sisters, wasn't socially ready for school at three, so he is in his age appropriate grade, but has always had total mastery over any subject taught in class (so much so that in most of his reports, his teachers have graciously included comments that he's taught them a few things). He's had individual subject acceleration, but declined offers to grade skip because we agreed 1 or 2 grades wouldn't have made much difference and any more would have been socially uncomfortable. As things are, he enjoys wide popularity because he's very entertaining with skills in speedcubing, origami and other creative outlets and he excels at many sports (he coached himself in various track, field & swimming events by researching the Internet). He's usually been given a fair bit of latitude to use class room PCs (in primary) or BYODs (in high school) to explore topics on his own, so he's really enjoying the best of all worlds.
