I love how you put that, radwild! I like to "think out loud" sometimes too. It just seems to help me to recognize the patterns that otherwise swirl around in those thoughts.
Perhaps I'm just a visual person. Writing it down definitely helps me.
Partial homeschooling can be a wonderful solution, for those that have the option (where we are it isn't an option, sadly).
Another possible solution might be on-line schooling if a family is really wary of sliding into an unschooling mode with homeschool. That's one of the reasons we do it-- but it unfortunately leaves the parent in the position of holding the shock collar and being the lackey enforcing the school's choices of curriculum, etc. (In the interests of full disclosure.)
It's more social than independent homeschooling, and my daugther likes the identity of having a school and a sense of "belonging" as well as a sense of greater authenticity when she speaks to others about academics. We like the fact that we aren't stuck spending thousands every year on curriculum that only sort of works, or works only for a short period of time, and we like that it is generating official transcripts and that she is getting some practice of having to do things she'd rather not do. When we homeschooled, because we weren't really accountable to anyone else, it was often easier to just give in when she dug her heels in about not doing something. That was not an especially healthy thing overall, since it meant that she NEVER worked on her areas of weakness (writing), and that the asynchrony and skill gaps got wider and wider at an alarming rate.
I throw the idea of virtual schools out there because I don't know if you have considered that as a possibility. A lot depends on how well the curriculum matches your child and on how flexible the administration can be; but it often makes radical acceleration MUCH simpler, since there aren't the social barriers in the minds of the school's teachers and administrators.
