Hi Nadia -
I have a perfectly behaved noncomplainer too. We were just talking the other day about the difference between the local school, where he spent half the year, and his current school, which is for HG kids. He said he preferred the local school because it was easier. I told him that I remember as a child being really bored when the teacher was explaining stuff that I already knew. DS said, "Well I really like to daydream, and there isn't so much time to daydream at the new school."
It definitely makes it harder when you do not have a kid who is disturbing the class in some way because they are not challenged. What worked for us was a grade skip plus a move to a school for HG kids, where they worked a year ahead plus at a faster pace. I recommend exploring all school options, if you have any, just to feel out what might be the best setting.
You asked:
"Acceleration/differentiation/enrichment...how do these all differ?" There are several forms of acceleration, including full-grade skips, subject acceleration (moving up a grade or two in one subject), and curriculum compacting (teaching materials in a shorter amount of time). I believe "A Nation Deceived does a nice job of explaining even more types of acceleration. I would recommend asking the GT coordinator which types of acceleration they have used.
Differentiation is an in-classroom technique, where the teacher teaches something different to different groups of kids (or one kid). For example, a classroom may have several different groups for reading, where each group is at a different level and gets different types of discussion questions.
Enrichment, IMO, is something that every student can benefit from, but is not necessarily "gifted" programming, even though the school might call it that. This includes things like getting pullouts to do poetry or higher level thinking classes. Gifted kids enjoy these activities, and I'm not saying they're bad, but I think they give GT programs a bad name because kids not ID'd as GT would also benefit from these programs and their parents are rightfully indignant.
I agree with the other posters - think about what you want. If you check out the Iowa Acceleration Scales, you might find that your child is a good fit for a full-grade skip if he has never been challenged.
There's a good article somewhere (I'll try to post later) about what a child doesn't learn if they are not challenged. Perseverance is one thing I'd like my child to learn, but he can't learn that if he never fails at anything because he already knows what they're teaching. I would prefer my child to get a hard-earned B than an A he did nothing at all to get. I think many teachers do not understand that we do not want our kids to get all A's!
