We are thinking through these same things concerning our DS4, but we don't have the options you have. But I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway. For me, the goal is to have my son learn something new every day and be exposed to challenges so he doesn't become an underachiever. If I had the choice of the accelerated school (working 2 years ahead), we'd definitely go that way. Right now, we're going to let DS play until he's 5, and then we'll work with the public school to see what they can offer in terms of accelerations for academics in K+.
Is the gifted school for HG kids, or is there a range? I'm going to throw it out there that 2 hours of homework for k might be based on what would take the average student in that class to do. Although I think that much homework for K is absurd, perhaps your child could really do it in 1/2 hour. But if the school is advertising this homework, I'd question the flexibility of this school anyway. It sounds like they have a philosophy they plan to stick to, in the teensy info i have. It seems to me that most kids who are HG or HG+ are better off in a flexible situation, even if not necessarily in a gifted-contained program.
Good luck!
