I had my 12-year-old take the CLT8 and he did great considering he's never had a timed test before and we never prepared for it in any way. He is at a 98th percentile. His lowest score was in the Grammar/Writing section which was to be expected since his strength is math/science. But I am now considering curricula for next year (8th grade) and I was wondering what I should add for grammar and writing. We already do Structure and Style for Students and Growing with Grammar, but I am wondering if there's something text-based like in the CLT exam where he has to correct mistakes in a classical text. What are everyone's suggestions?

Thank you for this! It's reassuring. I already contacted a local school and they assured me they can accommodate everything. I will keep an eye out for teams to see if he can join.

That was my thought process. I just don't want to blotch things out for him. He is very passionate about his interests to the point of obsessing over certain things he finds interesting. Typical science-passionate little dude since the first day he could talk. He is filling my head with interesting math facts, quantum and particle physics, chemistry.... and keeps calling me to show me his latest Python "game". He wrote one where you roll a dice and "move" pawns on the screen/code (I am not even sure how to explain it). Unfortunately, I have no idea what all those lines of code do and how to even begin to help him. I love that he loves these things and just want to keep supporting and help him move forward. I do keep an eye on the exams and requirements because I don't want him to have to do everything at once or for me to miss something he could have done in advance because I wasn't paying attention. I don't know what he will choose in the end, but I want to know the options we have.

Thank you for taking the time to research. I am not sure what Computer Studies is. Is this CSP A? We've been homeschooling since the beginning and I learned early on that forcing/rushing things doesn't work. So that's not my purpose at all. We will definitely adapt as we go and he will only sit through exams when he is prepared. We are in no rush. He's the one in need of more challenge. I just want the whole thing to evolve naturally. I know that CSP (the first level) is all about Python. He is already writing code in Python and understands a lot of functions. He wants to explain things to me but I don't understand a thing. So getting him a proper class/course/teacher would help him not only learn new things but have someone who understands him to ask questions to. I am of no help there. Someone here sent me the details of a good tutor in private so we will start classes next week and see how it goes. We have at least 1 year until the exam if he is capable of sitting through it in 8th, if not, we postpone it until he is ready. I am in no rush or hurry to check things off a list, I just feel with minimal prep he will be ready for the exam. My main focus with IT now is to keep his passion and curiosity going and encourage him to follow this passion as well as find the right challenge and materials for him. I want him to really understand what he is doing not just memorize things. We never memorized anything without understanding first in our homeschool. So I guess the CSP AP is only a step and one that's not set in stone for a certain date. I want him to be exposed to an exam, that's all. And this one seemed like a good starting point and easy enough to put minimal pressure on him. I don't want him to graduate sooner (if anything I will probably delay college by one year if he needs to so he is mature enough for it all). I just don't want to cram everything into the last 2 years of high school if he is capable of tackling them sooner. So I will spread out whatever I can. And he can tackle whatever is accessible to him now and move on to the challenging exams as he grows.

He will definitely sit through both. My idea with the first one (since it's easy) was to get him used to a formal exam. I don't mind him going through more than 3 APs. He doesn't know exactly if he will follow an IT or science route but the requirements for both are pretty clear: strong math and science.

We are in Europe so the AP here is more like an IB. He needs minimum 3 APs for a good university in Europe. It's not for college credit. They don't do that here. They need APs to have access to colleges. I did think the first AP CS would be easy. But I have 2 options: - he can go for it next year (8th grade) as an exam experience. He has always been homeschooled and never participated in an official test. So this would be a warm-up for high school. - he can go for AP CS A in 9th. I am pretty undecided here.

Hi, My DS is in 7th grade and we are planning to go for the AP Computer Science Principles in 9th. He is already doing Python coding with CodeHS. He will also start their AP course after this. He doesn't want to switch to Java yet. He loves Python. I was looking at PA's courses, but I am still on the fence. I researched about Ms Rebekah Lang but from the course description, it doesn't sound more impressive than other, cheaper versions (without a live teacher support). Is it worth it? Is it something he could tackle on his own considering we have 1.5 years left? And this is a subject he understands easily because he likes it. He's doing Geometry for math and loves high school math. He is very logical and he learns quickly. Also, we are international (we live in Eastern Europe) and I am worried about the time difference. This is one of the reasons why I am reluctant to invest in courses he will most likely not be able to attend live. Thank you!