My daughter enjoyed and was challenged at MathPath.

My oldest did math only at home until last year. When we applied to Davidson, they asked for 3 recommendations - 1 from an English teacher, 1 from a math teacher, and one other teacher or coach, etc. Since she hadn't had a math teacher, they did allow us to ask another teacher instead (the only classes she'd taken online besides English were history, so that's the teacher who did it, but he still got the math recommendation form, so he had to put that he didn't know for the math-specific parts). This summer she's going to MathPath, and they also required a recommendation from a math teacher (and 1 personal recommendation). Since she's at school now, she did have a math teacher who was happy to recommend her, so I don't know if they would also accept a substitution. Partly because of my daughter's experience, we did have my son take a couple AoPS online classes (and fortunately he did more than one, because the first teacher he asked said they were too busy!). He did enjoy the classes, too, and preferred it to just working through the book, although I don't think he learned the material any better. But, yes, if she might want to apply to selective high schools or camps, she may need a recommendation from a subject-specific teacher. Another possibility, though, may be if she attends any math club, circle, or competitions (or equivalent for other subjects), the person running those may suffice.

Thanks, everyone! We will be sure to track them. And thanks to those that mentioned the Congressional Award; that looks like a great program, which I was not familiar with.

My oldest will be going to a high school that doesn't require volunteer hours. Should she still track them? And if so, should she be having someone "sign off", or just track them herself? Basically, at some point will colleges (or some other entity) want to know exactly how much volunteering she has done, and will they want it verified, or will just listing it be fine? Also, are there any online site commonly used for tracking, or do you just track in something like Excel?

Thank you! That is very helpful!

Great; thanks!

Thanks. Any particular ones? She did use AoPS for Pre-Algebra, Intro to Algebra, Intro to Number Theory, and Intro to Counting & Probability, but she doesn't feel that she really knows how to write proofs well. Maybe she's thinking it's more formal than it is? She is in a school now, so not using AoPS for Geometry. Is that the one to look at?

Is there a good resource for proof writing? My oldest is on an ARML team, and one of the rounds involves proof writing. It's a team effort, and there are some on her team who have some experience with this, but she would like to contribute more. She is currently taking geometry, but they haven't done much proof writing.

Apparently not, and my daughter even knew the term (anacrusis?). My music theory is not that good, so when I'm catching these things, I am not happy, so, yeah, we're done.

The first time he asked if she knew what the time signature meant. She said the top number is beats in a measure, and the bottom number is the note that gets a beat. He said no, a quarter note is always 1 beat, the time signature just means (top number) (bottom number notes) per measure. I've heard it referred to this way as well, but her way is I think more accurate and definitely not wrong. I can't remember the second. The most recent (this week) was he pointed out that the last measure had a missing beat, and she said, "Oh, because of (name of this, which I don't know), the missing beat is in the first measure. He said no, it was a mistake. He said the first measure could be missing some, and you just take it as starting with rests, but the last measure always needs all the beats, so they had to decide to either add a rest or extend the last note. Oh, and he also once mis-corrected my son about vocabulary. He asked him if he knew what contemporary was, my son answered, "From the same time," and he said no. I can't remember exactly what he said it did mean, but it was like the first incident, where it worked, but my son's answer was actually more accurate and he told him it was wrong. Thanks, everyone. I won't mention it. I was leaning towards that anyway (especially since I hate conflict), but then started wondering if I had an "obligation" to be more honest. Glad I don't :D

We are preparing to switch piano teachers. Our current teacher is one we've been seeing about 6 months, since we moved to the area. He is young (college student), which I thought would be a positive for my kids, but his inexperience has been a negative. The main reason we're quitting is I've noticed 3 times he's given incorrect music theory info to my youngest. Since I've noticed them, I've corrected the info with her. But I'm concerned that he's likely also teaching my other child some things incorrectly (and I don't know, since his level of music theory is above mine). The new teacher we're going to try is much more experienced, with a music degree and decades of teaching (and performing) experience. She will also come to our house, which will be more convenient and comfortable than going to the current teacher's house. So, when I tell the current teacher we're leaving, should I mention the music theory inaccuracies, or just say the new one will work better for us logistically?

OK, thanks

What level is this targeting? Not that I know how to quantify levels, but my son was really disappointed to not learn anything in the local school-based chess club after we moved and I haven't had any luck finding any others. I guess he's intermediate - would he get anything out of this?

Thanks, all! Looks like we'll keep them.

If your child scored 760 Verbal/780 Math on the SAT at age 12, would you have the scores kept? What are the upsides and downsides?