I would not stay with the status quo as he is unhappy. Think of him as a fish needing a larger pond (or fishbowl). He is unlikely (at least statistically) to find even one MG (much less PG) kid among just 15 boys, especially in a catholic school. DS/DD (8th graders) have almost 400 kids in their grade and about a third are magnet students (not attending geographically designated school). I think 8-10 of their classmates are HG/HG+ based on 99/99+ percentile scores on MAP/PARCC as well as other information. Having appropriate peers makes a huge difference, particularly for some kids and more so for certain subjects. My DD was unhappy in her 8th grade "GT" Language Arts class a month into the school year until I made waves (even initiating some input from the Davidson Family Consultant) and at least got her "GT" class ability-grouped. The other 8th grade "GT" Language Arts classes (including DS') were also ability-grouped within days afterwards so maybe they were planning to do it anyways? My point is that she much prefers sitting in a group with the brightest kids who have more interesting contributions to literary discussions even if it's still the same curriculum. Regarding homeschooling, I would be less concerned with the social aspects if your DS already has strong social skills, has many extracurricular group activities, and there is a thriving homeschooling community.
