You have to bear with me here, sometimes words do not come easily in a second language
I do not like that "forward or sideways " thing but could not think of anything else at the time.
I believe there is always going to be PACE problems for GT students, and there is really not much we can do about it. Even if our kids were placed in the classroom of five mathematically gifted kids, their pace would be all over the place. This is my son's biggest problem so far. This year he was finally mature enough to propose to his math teacher that he will be working on his own, ahead of the class. It was not perfect, but it was better than following the class pace. The class was small, but I imagine that other kids were also working at different pace. It is difficult to find a solution to pace problem. The ideal situation would be to work independently with a tutor.
I believe we can more easily find solutions to depth problem. Math contests.
We are frequently lamenting on this board that our kids are not challenged ,that everything is too easy, they are getting easy A's and not really learning the value of studying. Why aren't you guys signing them up for contests that will realy challenge them? Chances are, they are not going to be the winners (well, I am talking outside of class/school), they will learn some humility, they will see that they NEED to study way more than what is in the book.
If I was given a chance to do this over, I would have made sure that my kids were exposed to MathCounts and MOEMS since grade 4 at the latest, preferably sooner, and to AMC since grade 6.
