I think that being very gifted, or dealing with a very gifted kid, can be very challenging. To me there are at least three aspects of this:
- appropriate academic coursework
- having a social life
- waiting until the student is sufficiently mature in non-academic ways before they go off on their own to university.
I think that it is a mistake to focus only on the first issue. The other two are important also. Unfortunately, at least through high school, being exceptionally intelligent also means being “different” from other kids.
I am quite sure that I don’t have all the answers, but suspect that the best answers will vary according to the kids individual personality and the parents resources.