Tigerle - no, that's definitely not true in our case. My ds is a dual US/UK citizen and we'd move or send him to the UK or an EEC country in a heartbeat, if $$ wasn't an issue. I've lived over there on/off with my UK husband before we had ds. We just visited family there in May since my fil isn't well at all.
Ds has been doing languages online with Memrise. Then again, dh is a Brit and learned two languages in public elementary/primary school. Ds is not interested in learning computer languages yet, but there are many ways to learn them today.
I know Jake Barnett is studying for his master's in Canada at Perimeter right now. He looked at the ivies here, Cambridge, and Oxford (I think) and probably many other places before heading north.
We've been looking at what's offered in terms of MOOCs (massive open online courses) with UK's Future Learn and Australia's Open 2 Study. Both offer some interesting courses that you wouldn't find here in the US. Newcastle U, for instance, has an archaeology/history course on Hadrian's Wall and the Romans. The chances of that type of course being offered here in the US are slim to none.
There are many opportunities around and ways to expose your kids to the wider world and beyond. There are many ways to keep them engaged in learning.
As for beyond gap years or truancy laws, if you receive approval or are ok to un/homeschool in your city/town/state then you should be free to pursue any type of gap year experience. In our state, we're only legally bound to submit paperwork for un/homeschooling until a child is 16 years old. Once a child turns 16 years old, you don't have to report and a child can, technically, drop out of school.
I'm not sure whether there are federal laws governing 16 years and 18 years old and public school but I would hazard to guess that each state allows a child to withdraw from public school at 16 yrs old without being considered a truant. After all, high school drop outs do find employment.
