I thought about CTY. Actually, I am debating whether to bother having DS7 take the CTY test. It seems that it would not be very informative in his situation as he already is obviously above level so scoring well doesn't really show much of anything. I mean the purpose of above-level testing is to gauge their ability, but if the "above-level" test is not really "above-level" because it is "at level", then what is the point?
My dilemma is partly due to the fact that I do not have an "academic" child. He is not interested in after-schooling nor do I have the time (demanding full-time job, three kids and a special needs child) or inclination. That, in fact, was one of the reasons that I decided to pursue subject acceleration for him. He is difficult to teach because he doesn't like to listen or take more than a couple of minutes to figure out concepts. I pretty much leave him alone and just answer random questions here and there, which is how he mastered 3rd and 4th grade math as well as picked up some more some advance math concepts.
You make a great point with the "least worst" standard. I just have to remember that is why I pursue the subject acceleration in the first place. I really envy the idea of a special HG school, although I don't know that DS7 would even fall into that category. He's simply one of those lucky kids who is extremely verbal and has incredibly processing speed and great memory. In fact, although he seems to pick up math concepts without being taught, I don't even know that he is a particularly mathy kid as his strength is really on the verbal side. In other words, he is not really visual-spatial oriented, which is what I associate with "mathy" kids.
I think that for me the question also is whether a child should pursue higher academics just because they are capable. I completely get the situation where the child is crazy about academics and just wants to study as may be the case for many children on this forum. However, DS7 simply isn't inclined towards additonal work. As a matter of fact, he is incredibly adept at deicphering the exact minimum he needs to provide (particularly to satisfy writing requirements)and producing that exact amount needed to get the top grade.
I really can't claim social misfit either. DS7 is happy with his chronological peers. He has fun with them so it wouldn't make sense to remove him to a different environment. Interestingly, the high school is near the elementary school, but GT algebra isn't available at the high school because algebra after 7th grade wouldn't be considered "advance/ahead". You are right that it is better to worry about the latter years later.
