Dandy,
I have a son, 8, who was grade skipped one year (skipped first grade) at the request of the school and not myself. I had serious concerns about his emotional/social ability to move forward. Second grade went very well socially and academically he remained at the top of his new grade. Last year in 3rd I started noticing that he was struggling a bit socially. I am becoming more concerned with fourth grade coming up and yet academically he is still between 2 and 8 grade levels ahead, depending on the subject. Like you I am trying to determine the best path for him and I can not afford to HS. There are no gifted programs near us and our work is embedded in this area so we are not likely to move. So far my tactic has been to try and work with each teacher to get informal accomodations in the classroom. Even so I don't think they really get the level of work he can do. Of course it doesn't help that he rushes through the general work they give and puts in very little effort. I am very concerned that he is learning to think that everything will and should be easy.
For our situation I would vote for telescoping/curriculum compacting but each child is different. My DS would definitely suffer socially and honestly even if he grade skipped again I would not want him dealing with the issues etc. of pre-teens when he was only 8 or 9. But like I said this is my DS. He is very intense and sensitive and I would worry about him handling those middle school years even at the proper age. Your child may very well be able to handle it. I am not sorry I grade skipped my son but I do not think I will do it again. I guess we just struggle through the next few year until grade 7 when subject levels are ability grouped.
Sorry to ramble myself but like you I feel like I want to know all the choices and then choose what is best but all that information just swirls around endlessly in my head going nowhere.
I will be looking to see how you make out in your meeting.
I hope it clarifies things for you.
