Our current plan is to homeschool until we run out of advanced high school material, and then take individual/extension/online college courses in those subjects until our children appear globally-ready for the college life. We try to keep their schedules, independent homework, and extracurriculars at a level of intensity that matches their interests and developmental levels, with only the content of academics accelerated. Our sports enthusiast plays by age group, which appears to be the norm in our community, for both community and club teams. We do know many talented athletes who "play up," often with much older children, based on their level of competition. School teams play by grade placement, but also routinely "cross-grade" athletes by skill. (Alas, none of this is common for academics.) One of the advantages of homeschooling is that no one on the team (kids or parents) seems interested in the grade placement of our child.
My siblings and I were all radically accelerated straight into college, which, as I said, I don't exactly regret, but I and one of my siblings with school-age children appear to be tending toward the model described above for our own children. Another sibling, whose children are early elementary age, has them in a high-achieving private school (more or less pre-prep level), without any particular plan to accelerate so far.
We didn't go away to college (attending the state 4-year in our home community instead), mainly because our parents felt we should still be under the level of attention and supervision typical of our chronological ages, but also because, back in the day, most college insurance policies would not cover students under 16 in campus housing. Besides, our parents took the position that only your grad/professional degree matters; your undergraduate institution is irrelevant, beyond a minimum level easily met by a four-year state institution. Generally speaking, that proved to be the case.
As there is no way of accurately predicting the circumstances this many years in the future, I think it is most productive to make decisions about placement and programming based on what is best for your child right now--for the next six months, year, two years. I am inclined to overthink future plans too, but remind myself that my parents had to make very fluid school decisions for each of us (all quite different along the way), most of which they would not have been able to anticipate based on our circumstances at age seven.
I hear the anxiety about harming your child in the future with a decision made now in good faith. There is something to be said for extending a certain amount of mercy to yourself as a parent. We do the best we can, but we will make mistakes. Surprisingly few of them result in irretrievable damage, especially as long as we are effective in communicating to our children that we love and value them as they are, and thus make parenting decisions as an expression of our love. Even when there may be irreversible consequences, the context of love allows for forgiveness and healing. Do the best you can based on the resources you have available to you, apologize and make reparations if it doesn't work out, and forgive yourself.
