I have a few friends who have very gifted kids - who also go through life thinking that school would magically provide 100% of the academic needs of their kids if they bought houses in the best local school districts. These people always tell me that school is "very easy" for their kids and that is because their kids are "very smart". I convinced one of them to finally go to their district and ask about acceleration and differentiation in the 4th grade. They did not understand why anything more than school work was needed and when I convinced their dad that the child should not be bored in class, his mother asked me what the big rush was to finish higher grade level work. They were told that the teachers would test him to see if he required enrichment. I will follow up with them in the summer to see if the testing panned out. This kid is atleast HG+ in my opinion and he has intuitively learned math to a high level - he was explaining the concept of exponential decay as applied to radioactivity from alien mutant attacks at age 8. And I also convinced his parents to send him to the local Math Circle and I am told that he enjoys it hugely.
I also convinced my other friend whose kid is extraordinarily musical and composes a lot of music that Music Theory and Composition classes are a great opportunity to develop his skills. He finds the classes very challenging and has found a mentor through the class who helps him develop his composition skills to a high level.
