I realizing I'm re-raising this topic after a long time-- I finally got around to registering.
We've been with Connections for a number of years now-- I'm happy to answer questions that anyone has about the program-- good, bad, or otherwise. Given our advocacy role with our state's program, we've seen some insider stuff.
My child has been one of their "poster children" (literally) for 2E/HG-to-PG education.
Some of their rhetoric or advertising is wishful thinking, and some of it is real.
My child started with Connections after being eclectically homeschooled for about 18 months. We were able to place her in 3rd grade without any problems at 6yo-- though do be aware that this particular loophole has been (kind of) closed by the national powers-that-be. There is still considerable flexibility in academic placement for K-8, though they are pretty rigid about no early enrollment and radical acceleration is often at the discretion of state school administration.
My DD11 is now an 8th grader, but she's doing a full slate of HS coursework. There wasn't really another option that was suitable, since the GT program is really only a language arts pullout course for middle schoolers, and 'differentiated' courses that are actually just subsections of the 'regular' courses for each grade. In other words-- it's still very much public school.
Connections offers AP coursework and has (nominally) got "honors" coursework. I have my own opinions about that, but anyway. It's not differentiated much.
The program at the MS and HS levels is VERY demanding. The average expectations of students are an order of magnitude higher than at our district's public schools-- and we're in a university town. The writing expectations are tremendous, quite frankly. Most of the curriculum is bundled with language arts, too, so this is a terrible problem for kids that are asynchronous with a weakness in writing skills. (Not that unusual for HG and PG kids.)
On the plus side, the Special Ed staff is terrific-- including at the national level, and my daughter loves the interaction with other students (who don't all know how young she is via virtual interaction... and certainly don't know about her disability).
The biggest downside to these programs (K12 is another) is that the parent is there as an "enforcer," which can be problematic depending on personality issues. We sometimes struggle with that. You can tell my daughter; just not much. LOL. The program is highly flexible in terms of pacing and scheduling up to about 6th grade, and less so from there, though there are still ways of working around that.
The biggest PLUS to the program is the obvious-- that once the schoolwork is done, everyone's time is his/her own. For my child, on a "good" day, that can be as little as an hour or two. At that point, she is free to pursue other interests. On a "bad" day, however... (ugh) see above-- this can turn into a power struggle of epic proportions and wind up with my DH and I feeling as though we're being held hostage by our adolescent child.
The other thing to know about this program is that there is little feedback offered on daily work. That is both good and bad. It means that capable students are not forced to do drill-and-kill, which is fabulous. The bad news is that parents get stuck doing much of the correcting of daily work, and that the assessments are *disproportionately* high-stakes from a far-too-early age. Also, most assessment tools are multiple choice quizzes and tests, and they are not all well-written, to put it kindly.
In a state without any real gifted education outside of the major metropolitan areas, though, this program is the best option around by far. IMO, anyway. It's also terrific for kids with professional/artistic obligations and scheduling difficulties, and 2E kids, especially those with a chronic medical condition or ASD.
HTH--
~The Karmic Howler Monkey <shout-out to CathyA-- you knew I'd get here eventually, right??>
