Our youngest grandson has given every indication that he is probably the brightest person in our extended family. Unfortunately, he is bored out of his mind in school. They apparently teach to the lowest common denominator at his school with little opportunity for the gifted to excel. We are in the middle of fixing one house to sell and fixing another to move into. As soon as we are done with that my wife and I are hoping to figure out how to help our kids send him to a private or at least a different school. This seems like a critical time to us. Talking with him it seems like his mind is being wasted there.
When I was a kid during baby boomer days, even with classes with 40 kids or more... those of us who were considered “gifted” were given opportunities to learn at an expedited level with little supervision using “modular” self teaching materials. I do not know that I made the very best use of my time with these materials but I found it much less boring than having to spend all my time with the rest of the class.
The dull also received “special” instruction so they wouldn't be “left behind”. These classes were much smaller as they required more one on one teaching time by teachers and assistants. They also expected those of us who were ahead the other students to try and tutor the less intelligent kids. It didn't seem fair to me at the time, and we were given no real training other than just being told to help some other kid get up to speed. But it was interesting for me to find out about how people with learning disabilities especially... were not able to use their minds in the same way that I did.