We have a similar situation, but have chosen not to do outside math like ALEKS. Honestly, I *generally* think it's best to keep kids close to their same-age peers. Our dd21 was already young for grade (not terribly, but bday a few days before fall cutoff) and then grade-skipped. She definitely always had friends and such, but there IS a difference when they are younger. I think many, many kids could go ahead in math if they were schooled in it through programs like ALEKS, but I'm not sure in the end what you really get from it. Now, I am NOT being all negative. Our ds10/4th grade also got a 25 (seems like quite a few did this year from 4th... wonder if the test was easier??) and will be going to middle school next year for math we hope. So, I'm all for acceleration, but at the same time, I think that just plowing through math isn't necessarily the answer. And honestly, I don't think that my own ds's 25 implies that he's mastered the middle school curriculum in math. He still makes the occasional stupid mistake and looking at the curriculum of ds11 (who is in 6th and preAlgebra now) I see that there are definitely things that ds10 doesn't know. Yes, I have to admit, a lot of preAlgebra is pretty easy for ds11 (who didn't have the opportunity to go beyond the way that ds10 has had, due to a different principal at the time) but he's also learning other stuff (different ways to do stuff, interacting with others, math writing skills, etc). Another thing that we're doing with ds11 is Art of Problem Solving (though weeks go by where he doesn't look at it, because he's busy with other stuff) and math team - that has been a different kind of enrichment for him than straight curriculum.
For ds10, he is on track to do Calculus BC in 10th grade, and ds11, Calc BC in 11th. They can then do AP Stats and/or Calc III (Ds11 can do both if he chooses to do Stats concurrently with either of the calcs).
At this point, I don't even know if they'll do anything math-related. Dd21 is graduating soon with a science degree and she certainly didn't need that level of math. Dd19 is going the humanities route, so she needed even less.
I can fully believe that an 8 year old has middle school friends, however - I think that there will be a natural gap as they age. Dd21 is PG and loves intellectual conversations. She adores talking to her brothers. But, honestly, would she have ever had close friendships with someone more than a few years younger in HS? No...
There have also been a lot of "little things" - the dating, the driving, even the drinking. Dd21 is on year 5, but had she graduated in 4, she would have graduated underage. Dd19 will graduate as a minor next year. Now, I know this all probably sounds silly (who needs to drink?) but do you know how many senior events or meetings are held in bars?
So, I'm not saying that I would have changed my dds' experience OR that I'm not going to continue to advocate for my dss. However, I will say that I am going to try to expand other areas (social emotional, athletic, writing, etc) and not really focus as much on math, even though they seem pretty gifted. As we were told when dd21 was diagnosed, "she will always be this gifted. You don't have to do it all now." In the end, does it matter whether my kids take Calculus in 8th grade or Calculus in grad school?
Just my two cents...
