Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions SF bay area elementary school private or public?

Hi, i have seen some of you post about the sch in bay area, and would like to hear your experience in the public sch and private sch. My DS4 is very advanced in his math (he is in 3rd grade level), and his reading level is in 1st grade, he will enter K in the coming fall, so it is time for me to start searching for sch.
I live in Fremont (and live in a high rank public sch region), i am struggling should I consider private sch or public sch. For private sch like stXXford, i talk with their principle, and she seems doesn't support grade skipping, or subject acceleration, but she emphasized that her sch is already a year ahead than public sch for each grade level. For other private sch i have talked to, like one of the christian sch, they allow grade skipping but not subject acceleration or enhancement.
I am not sure if I really want my son to skip a grade, as he looks small and not that mature, but he will be very boring to stay in his "age" grade for sure. He is a very well behaved boy, so he will not bring any trouble to sch, but he will not enjoy his sch.
Sure I try letting him to enter public sch for K and see what happen there? or should i find a more challenge private sch? Does anyone here send their kids to public sch and work well?
I see the other post of private sch for the gifted in bay area, but we don think we can afford those sch with a tuition of 30K per year.
Anyone send their gifted kids to challXXXger or strXXford or other private sch?
Btw, should i bring my son for IQ test? any recommendation of any psychologist that is familiar with gifted kids?
Thanks a lot! i feel lost. :<

We went through similar decision-making process two years ago with my now first grader.

We opted to have him tested to help prune the decision tree. The tester recommended three gifted schools in the area -- but like you, we found the $30K+ price tag prohibitive. At the end we settled for a small private Montessori school. While there were some rough patches in the Kindergarten year, first grade has been a very positive experience so far. Classroom is mixed-age so socialization is not an issue. Subject acceleration is built into the system and my child is adequately challenged.

In our case a whole grade acceleration in a single-age classroom would not have worked because of maturity issues. I would not recommend ChallXXXger/StrXXford for gifted children. PM me if you want specific names.