Just a quick note on language immersion. I recommend doing a google search with davidson gifted issues and immersion programs. There has been a lot of talk about this on the site. What I recall is that while it works well for some, for others it only seems to give enough of a challenge in the early years. Unless there is additional acceleration, you're still learning concepts at the same pace as everyone else. Once you've cracked the code of the language, pacing may be too slow all around. Again, works great for some.
I can definitely see that happening with some kids... you're absolutely right.
So far my two seem ok, partly because their strengths are in math. DD9 is in the gifted math program: funding is limited and they only take about 3-4 from each school from the intermediate grades, and at the moment there's no primary program (they ran a pilot when DD was in grade 3 and she was in that, but it was cut from the budget).
DS8, meanwhile, has ADHD combined type and a language processing disorder (expressive and receptive), and is constantly challenged by the French - and is very happy.
DD9 was an early reader and has no language challenges so she sometimes gets bored... but grade 4 was good because I was able to have her placed in the 4/5 split: so much of what she did was grade 5 work, and in French. She's also a late November birthday and was the second youngest in the class.
So... so far so good.
However... the numbers suggest that the 5's won't be split next year, and the small group of 4's who were in the 4/5 split with my daughter will likely be reunited with the lion's share of the other 4's, who were split with 3's. THIS could be interesting.
So we're happy right now, but we'll see what the future will bring. DS8 will likely continue to be challenged because of the language processing disorder, and DD9 will be doing the on-line math enrichment which should be fun. Her other subjects may not be as engaging, but... the good news is that there's a chance that she could have the same teacher (who she loves :-), who is comfortable challenging the kids, and who has previously taught higher grades and is more likely to push kids than placate them.
Fingers crossed
