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Jackie

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  1. Actually, AMC allows disability accommodations on their tests, roughly in line with whatever is in a 504/IEP. The problem is the same as all the other tests - you have to find someone to proctor. Plus, most places aren’t even aware that the AMC allows accommodations, so you have to start by educating whoever is offering the test in hopes they will then proctor.
  2. I haven't been around here in a while. Just checking in. Both the kid and I had some major mental health challenges last spring, causing us to completely ditch the last 1/4 of the school year. It sucked, but it was needed. We’ve always learned unschoolish/heavily child-led, but we’re not sure if we will eventually call this year 8th or 9th grade, so there’s some more structure. Kid does love learning, so the year is pretty packed. Math: finish AOPS Geometry, play with Zome Geometry, play with the Make: Calculus book, decide if there will be formal math after Geo is done (and, if so, what) Science: Clover Valley Chemistry, a guided Marine Bio research class at Athena’s, and a weekly discussion group on current marine bio research at Athena’s English/History: using the Exploring America in the [Decades] series as a base FL: dropped ASL 2 last spring, will likely pick it back up this spring Plus: A new Learning Effective Teaching Skills class at Athena’s, Destination Imagination team, circus arts
  3. My kid LOVED the Dragonology class and still (2-3 years later) refers to parts of it. They really wish L would add more classes for them to take! At this time, they’re set to take what I think is their 4th year of Marine Bio with Emma. We laugh about this because this kid has no interest in pursuing marine bio as a career, but has probably put more time into it than most other subjects because they love Emma so much. Plus, we live a few miles from the ocean, so they’re able to explore and put what they learn to good use!
  4. As far as I have found, the terms Concurrent Enrollment and Dual Enrollment are defined by state legislatures and differ somewhat from state to state. Homeschoolers tend to call it all Dual Enrollment and only sort out the terms if the language is causing a barrier in understanding.
  5. In my opinion, a subject (any subject) begins to become a waste when it is both (1) more that the person needs for life/career and (2) exceeds the person’s interest. Other than that, it’s about finding optimal learning and enjoyment. Show your kid the books in question, or at least samples online. What piques their interest? What would they like to learn next?
  6. Until my kid was 7, they were 100% a “language kid”. Super early reader, talked in full sentences and paragraphs before 2 years old, tested at adult “reading level” and 8th grade comprehension at age 4. They were strong in math, but maybe 2-3 years advanced, and no notable interest. Then they learned about Epsilon Camp. They had been pretty isolated in a smallish town. They hadn’t found other kids “like them”. And they didn’t care what subject they had to embrace to get to those kids. They threw themself into math like nothing I’d seen, moving from mid-4th grade BA through the end of Algebra 1 in about 14 months. They now define themselves as a STEM kid. They still test stronger in English. They’re globally gifted, with hindrances due to 2e-ness. All that talk to say: lean in. Lean in for now. Lean in if it changes. Provide inroads to math that respect the love for reading (I can rec some book if you’d like), but I’ve had the best luck just waiting for a glimmer of interest and then leaning in.
  7. And now that the thread has been derailed, I'll come back to the original post to say that a lot of mathy kids really enjoy EMF. We haven't used it, so no personal experience, but AOPS, RSM, and EMF have all been strongly recommended by parents at Epsilon. It is online and self-paced.
  8. She LOVES Epsilon Camp. This is her last year here, as she will have completed their highest level and graduate from the program in a couple days. It's been an amazing experience for her and she's said that camp is ending so soon. How old is your very mathy kid?
  9. calbear is correct. We used RightStart Math levels A, B, and a little bit of C. That's when we transitioned to BA3, which was the earliest book out at the time. The online version didn't even exist up until just as she was wrapping up BA5. We never stopped to practice math facts. With RightStart, the games are the practice, but she hated the games - even while very young she could see right through them as thinly veiled drill and refused to do them. We played lots of actual games, though. Things like Yahtzee, Dragonwood, and Zeus on the Loose, which are actually fun. When we got to multiplication, I hung a multiplication chart above her desk and allowed her to use it all she wants. Memorization came with use, not drill. As for learning formally, depends what you consider formal. I bought RightStart A when she was tiny because I found it at a good price. When she was 3, I would look through the instructor manual and see what they were teaching and how they were teaching it. I would then incorporate those concepts into play. Once she had those, I'd go back to the book and do the same thing. When she was 4, most her friends went to kindergarten and she said she wanted to start "real school, even if the school is at home" and part of her definition of that was "trickier math, with big numbers". I pulled out level B and we worked on it here and there. She picks up math intuitively, so often times one 15 minute lesson could cover the material in 2-4 lessons. I would say the first "you need to do math today" didn't come until we started BA, and that was only 3 days/week. Once we started BA/AOPS, it was the only actual curriculum we used. However, curriculum has only been maybe 1/3 of her math. We found so many resources - fun math books, apps like Dragonbox, piles of games, good YouTube channels, and so on. This is probably her greatest strength with math - not that she is advanced or taking X class at Y age, but that she is exposed to a *huge* variety of math at all different levels. She reads books by mathematicians for fun. Last time we attended Epsilon Camp, I came out with an extensive resource list and she loved all of it. I ended up at a lunch table today with two of her instructors here and they casually talked about all sorts of math resources, so I started taking notes.
  10. In the BA books as well. If she could do the starred and challenge problems, there seemed little reason to make her do the rest. She had read Murderous Maths and some other mathy books on her own. She had watched some of the YouTube stuff like Vi Hart and Numberphile. Turns out she actually learned stuff from all that and could apply the information when a problem was put in front of her. She actually skipped prealgebra altogether and went directly from BA5 to AOPS Algebra. We did look at the Prealgebra book, but the topics are all covered within BA and she detests repetition. I did give her the option of a less intensive Algebra 1 program, and was able to get my hands on several other options for her to look over - Jacobs, Forester, a couple others. If she had chosen this, we might have gone back and hit at least some selections from AOPS afterwards. However, she looked at the other books, and most are of the "teach the kid how to do X, then have them practice doing X". She loves the discovery-based method that the AOPS books use, and decided she would rather power through AOPS. As for Epsilon Camp, it was the knowledge that there would be a group of kids her age working at the same level as her in *any* subject. If I had found a similar camp in science or literature, she probably would have thrown herself into that. (Not writing, though. She would have drawn the line at writing.) She had met only a couple kids who were bright and actually liked academics and were into some of the same geeky things as her, so a camp full of them sounded like paradise. If math was the way to get to this paradise camp, then she would learn more math.
  11. Honestly, this is the reason that we almost-unschool. Our entire household is ADHD. This means that DD doesn't focus well on things she doesn't like/choose, and I'm not great about following through on boring stuff myself. However, when she does choose to learn something, she can learn so much so fast that it more than makes up for the time she spent not doing the thing. She takes fairly few formal classes, often prefers to self-teach, and is still academically well ahead of her age group. And that is with everyone in the household being medicated. Without that, we probably wouldn't really be getting anywhere.
  12. My daughter did AOPS Algebra A in 3rd grade. While it is not common, she is not the only one by far. We're currently at Epsilon Camp. Their main program is for 9-11 year olds, and campers must have completed Algebra 1 before attending. In her case, once she found out about Epsilon Camp, she was determined to go and she had one year to get from Beast Academy 4B through Algebra. She put in some extra time, I allowed her to test out of topics she felt she already knew by doing only the challenging problems, and she stuck to her goal. Every time it got hard, I simply said, "This is your goal, not mine. You can stop any time you want to." She'd usually kick something, grumble under her breath, and go back to doing math.
  13. She dislikes how directed/lecture-based it is. She wants exploration of interesting math, which can absolutely include contest prep, but this past year was sign in, listen to someone with very little interaction.
  14. Haven’t been around here in a while, but DD12 does have plans for fall. Math: She’s currently about halfway through AOPS Geometry and will continue. She prefers learning from the book and working on Alcumus, and has been 95% independent with the Geometry book. This summer is her last year with Epsilon Camp. She doesn’t like the local Math Circle, so she’s going to return to piecing together interest-based math using some online stuff from MoMath, and a variety of math books. She’s been carefully reading through Symmetries of Things because one of the authors taught her previously at Epsilon Camp and will be back this summer, so she wants to pick his brain about some of it. English: she’s taking a class on personal essay writing this summer (meant for high schoolers writing college app essays, but she wants to try for a CDB scholarship and has never written this style essay before), next year will just be the SEA Tween book clubs sometimes with the writing supplement Social Studies: she still reads nonfiction for fun, so not doing formal stuff. Will have a subscription to The Sweary Historian and regularly watch CNN10. Science: high school level Marine Bio through Athena’s Foreign language: ASL at the CC EC: Destination Imagination team, flying trapeze, various circus arts classes This past year, she put hundreds of hours into learning how to custom craft lotions, lip balms, and a few other body products. All just for funsies, but now that she has the knowledge, she’s going to try her hand at launching it as a business by the end of summer. After having put some of the time in, she learned she is allergic to the vast majority of body products on the market and further learned how to play with ingredients so she can custom make for herself and others who need to avoid any given ingredient. So we’re keeping academics especially light (by her standards) so she can put time into further product development and learning some marketing and bookkeeping skills.
  15. If he doesn’t need a class-type setting, he could self-teach with the AOPS books and work problems on Alcumus. That’s actually my daughter’s preference at this time.
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