[toasterlovin]

This is a huge problem.

We are perfectly happy to identify athletic talent and enact systems so that the athletically talented are matched up with peers who share their gifts, but we mostly refuse to do this for intellectual talent.

I was fortunate enough to attend a program that handled this pretty well. Basically it was 120 kids from 11-18 who skipped high school and attended university together instead. It’s called the Early Entrance Program and it’s at Cal State Los Angeles:

http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/eep

The issue I face is that I am raising my children in Portland, Oregon, so this program will not be an option for them. Our personal approach is to home school instead. And I’ll probably investigate starting something like the Early Entrance Program at the state university in Portland here.