DS- Wind in the Willows (for school). Usually has 5-10 other books he is reading simultaneously. I've seen him about with lots of Horrible Histories lately. I don't keep tabs on what he reads anymore unless it's his assigned reading. Me-picked up Doctor Dolittle the other day in an effort to go back and read lots of children's classic that I missed as a kid. Also Reading Wallace Stegner - Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs.

We did a lot of what you have done so far--so I'll comment. We did some BA. DS didn't love math because of it. He loved reading the comic part but that type of thinking made him feel bad at math. We did LOF Pre-a and most of JA to warm up for Aops. I was certain Aops was direction I wanted. I just needed to wait for some maturity. When we started Aops about 9 months ago DS was still in a mindset that he hated math. He now is doing math daily on Aops-Alcumus and doesn't want to stop. He takes the online classes through Aops. He loves the community there-other kids in the classes to talk math with. He is now doing much more math a day than I would like. He has learned tons just from being active on the forums and reading all the high school and college math forums out of curiosity. Every once in a while he still has a bad math day-where he is just struggling with a certain set of problems and I wonder if this stress is good for him. He could be going through a much gentler program. But he has grown and matured and is learning to handle it better. I always have to remind him that Aops wasn't designed to get 100% every time. They want to stretch you. You are in the wrong class if you get every problem right. But even on days like that when I ask he if he wants to switch to an easier program, he now refuses. He loves Aops and it has opened up a huge love for math. Not saying that is going to happen to every kid. But it ended up working great for us.

We too found chemistry to be really watered down. Overall the classes vary. Some are advanced but also have a fair share of fluffy assingments. There is always a ton of content thrown at you--YouTube videos, other websites, it's too much, in my opinion. DS loves the actual classes, the day of discussion and teachers are wonderful. But I'd like to see a little less fluff and a little more rigor as far as assingments go. I guess they are trying to appeal to a broad base of students.

We are doing biology this year too, for the first time ever. We also have Cells and Botany. We are also using the Great Courses Plus biology lectures along with their guidebook.

Is that 7-9 problems per day/week/class period? I know they meet twice a week. We have taken Aops Pre-A through Aops so we know what that homework load is like.

I'm still wavering between doing Algebra 1 through Aops online and taking it through the WTMA-Aops based. As I'm trying to fit more classes into DS's schedule I'm thinking the slower pace of the WTMA (taking the whole school year verses one semester) will allow us to do that. But with the slow down do they actually do less homework or are there more problems but they just don't move on so fast? From the looks of it WTMA seems to be run more like a traditional school with tests, quizzes, etc. So I'm thinking they may actually have a lot more homework. Anyone out there who has done both and can comment on the time commitment required?

Anyone used them? Feedback? Seems like they have a great selection of courses.

Depending on what side of Australia you are on and/or if you want to get up that early, she could do the online class with online book. Overall more money but you don't have to pay to ship the books and you get a teacher for it. We have used LoF, DS reads through Zaccaro Algebra for fun ( but doesn't work through it as a curriculum), and currently use Aops. I would think the Algeba would be a fine place to start. The Pre/Post tests on their site are much easier than actual class material. I think they are more designed to test if you have had the basic math areas covered, but not in the Aops way or depth. We only did LoF Pre-A, but to compare Aops Pre-A was much much harder. If I were in your boat I would probably skip buying the books for now and just do the online Alcumus-free database of problems. If she really falls in love with that style of math and wants to drop the others, then I would do it.

I'm considering doing math (Algebra 1) through the WTMA (assuming it's not too late to register). DS is finishing up Pre-A through Aops live classes right now. It's gone well, but he doesn't particularly pay attention to the text only class. Since Pre-A has been a review for him this hasn't been a huge deal. The class, more than anything, has just taught him how to set a goal and get x amount done each week. But as he starts to move into more unfamiliar math I think the instruction piece will be valuable. However, the Aops text based class is just hard for him to pay attention to. It sounds like WTMA will move slower-which is no big deal. He could take either pace fine. I just want him to have a firm footing. We are not in any hurry to finish anything as we are plenty far ahead. He loves math but not so much so that he wants to be doing assignments for hours a day. I like the idea of having tests and more feedback than he gets in the Aops classes. Any reviews of how these WTMA classes go? I guess if they spend the whole year only covering half the Algebra 1 book, then we will have to go back to Aops to do C/P and Number Theory. I didn't see those classes listed. Also it looked like they didn't go higher than finishing the Aops Algebra 1 book? How are the teachers? Any info would be great. The clock is ticking. The neighborhood kids went back to public school yesterday and I'm still struggling to decide what we are doing in the fall.

My son also needs to move constantly when his imagination is fired up. The only thing that I have found that works so far is exercise. Right before he needs to sit down and do seat work he needs to get in an equal amount of hard physical labor--Running/jogging, fast bike riding, aerobic work, etc. It does wonders for attention. If I skip it, (which I usually do in the interest of time, planning to do it after everything gets done) then little gets done. I'm just starting to clue into how this is the only way to focus his mind and body. I need the mindset that nothing in the day is as important as getting exercise in.

Never mind. Just figured it out with son tonight. He misunderstood what we were asking him to do. He thought he was supposed to mentally flip the letter if it was reversed and identify any errors with the way it was formed- like bad handwriting analysis. Haha. He had us all stumped there for awhile. He flew through a workbook we were given to work on it to prove to me he can do the task just fine. He was like, Jeez mom, give better directions next time. Haha.

The other day Ds was evaluated by COVD for second time after 8 weeks VT. First time Ds was given a test that the assistant botched-administered wrong on one section. It was a paper that had random letters and numbers flipped right or left and you marked the incorrect one. He got 50/50 first time because she first said circle the incorrect one. Then said circle or cross out the correct one after he started. I was confused which it was supposed to be as well so I took his results as meaningless. 8 weeks later same test was given and I watched as he really struggled to know which was which. Does a 7 face left or right? Same with S, 4, and a couple others. How could he not know? He has only ever reversed 2 letters-b and d but recognizes it and fixes the second he does it-and always has. But he still does it at 8 yrs old. He has never reversed other letters or numbers when he writes, even when he was 3-4 yrs old and new to writing. I don't think it's all muscle memory because he doesn't have consistent form. He reads perfect, doesn't transpose numbers when writing down math problems. I see no evidence of this issue in day to day work. He knows left from right, not super fast, but not terrible. So this issue only seems to come up when asked to pick out the incorrect symbol. He had no issue reading different fonts, cursive, etc. What in the world could this be? Eye Doc was stumped too and was going to call some colleagues. I should add he is profoundly gifted so his brain is wired different on a lot of fronts and his giftedness could be masking this strange deficit.

The is a Great Courses Plus lecture series from Jeremy Sillman that is wonderful. You can get a month free trial and in that time watch the whole series.

Periodic Videos YouTube channel The Royal Institution chemistry lecture series--can find on you YouTube. go React - app The Disappearing Spoon --maybe as an audio book or to read in print. Short History of Nearly Everything-also as an audiobook or print. Has large Chem section. Uncle Tungsten-audiobook or print

Mine finally came in the mail today. :)

I'm still waiting. Tested through Numats. Don't know if that matters because results come directly from ACT, right? Maybe the late mail run this evening will have them.

Personally for us, recorded would not be worth it. DS likes the interaction. He would find it rather non-engaging if he couldn't be on live. But we do know someone who does it recording only and they are fine with it that way. It depends a lot on your child's personality and if they like to participate in discussion or just listen.

Just wondering if anyone whose child took the test in February has gotten results back yet? I'm really excited and curious to know how DS did. This having to wait five weeks has been hard. I don't understand in this day and age why things can't be graded almost instantly. When I took the GRE 15 years ago-I walked out with my scores then and there. So this is just a wait with me thread for all those who are checking the mail daily now.

We are doing the AoPS Pre-A right now. I have been thinking of trying the Wtm for Algebra, simply because DS doesn't love the text based portion of class. He'd prefer to have it at least audio if not video based. And it is not because it moves too fast, it's because the text based moves so slow for him.

I agree with EoO about having a run through of pre-a before doing AoPS, especially with a younger crowd. It has made the transition so easy. We used JA for that and even though it was easy (and personally I didn't feel like there were too many problems at all--to me it felt light on problems) I feel like it made a great Pre-AoPS intro. I also wouldn't go from the JA series into AoPS algebra. I think it could be done and has been done. But with younger kids I think letting them have that soft intro to AoPS where they are already familiar with the topics and really just have to learn to stretch in the way AoPS stretches, it is best.

I would imagine any day. We took the test Feb 2oth and were told the last week of March.

My Ds feels he is bad at everything he is good at as well. For him the problem is that he sees what a master of that subject is doing and figures that because he isn't at that level he must be terrible at it. It doesn't matter for him that he is six years ahead, or whatever, of age mates--to him it matters that he hasn't mastered the subject perfectly. It's a terrible case of perfectionism coupled with a very unrealistic viewpoint. I have no idea how to deal with it.

I would edit out the exact test questions from your post. It is not looked on kindly to leak any info that is on the IQ tests. I have heard that gfired programs sometimes just run certain subtests and not the full thing in order to save time and to narrow it down to the "type" of gifted kid they are screening for. I think gifted programs tend to cater more toward verbal giftedness more than Visual spatial--which may be why they didn't bother with those subtests? And yes, information is part of the VCI and part of what they call crystallized knowledge and it is heavily "g" loaded.

Okay we are registered for the final time slot ever for the Explore. Sad they are retiring it. :( Now, I will have him practise with a bubble sheet before hand so he knows how they work. But for those of you doing this with young kids..do you have them do an actual practise test? Or is the idea to see how they do without test prep? If the question is why are we doing it---the answer is because it is now or never and I want to know where DS scores. Ideally I would like it to track through the years how he grows But since it is discontinued that may not be realalistic depending on what they replace it with? So, do we test prep or take it cold (beyond bubble filling prep).

Thanks so much. Any thoughts on how younger kids taking it do with the scantron. DS will have never seen one before and I can't imagine it being easy for him to fill I the bubbles--he is very pencil averse. :) Any chance they will be coming out with a computerized version in the next few years. How about the ACT--I hope by the time he takes it it will be available on the computer.