Dazey, I don't know the specifics of those boys, I only know that their moms are constantly commenting about how they hate school, blah, blah, blah. Some are pretty bright, but a lot of them have been tested and found <130, so it does tend to have me scratching my head, especially given DS's apparent enjoyment. One did have stomachaches, but he was actually struggling.
If you believe this book I'm reading on boys, some of this is due to a mismatch between the way schools/classes are run and boys personality. I know the teacher that DS had a good year with, was thought to be a good boy teacher. She had a loud voice, was constantly moving and had her class constantly moving. For baseball math, she'd actually move all the tables around and make bases and the kids ran around the bases doing math problems. In my son's 2nd grade class, the teacher was sooooo calm and steady with a very low voice, I'd find it hard to keep my concentration all day. Plus the classrooms are open so you can hear all the noise from the neighboring class rooms.
I also read in one of my gifted books that kids w/ IQ120 can be bored and under-nourished in a public school. It all depends on the level of the school. I have another friend where the majority of the kids are 120-135 and their curriculum reflects it, those are considered the ND kids.
According to someone in the know, my son's school isn't big on critical thinking. The kids in 5th grade thought slaves were invited here. Not just a few kids either. She said the level of critical thinking is just not what it needed to be for my son.
I found with my son, he was happy in math, he was happy overall. So it's not like he needed everything fixed, just that one thing. This is probably true about your son. He is enjoying a regular public school but with radical acceleration, just means his most important needs are being met. I don't think everything needs to be perfect for these kids, just the important things.
