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brownie

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  1. DS (17) is applying to PAN camp and I was wondering if anyone has any personal experience. I heard about it here but there is not too much info out there on what they actually do at camp. How is it run...like a course? stand-alone lectures? research? labs? projects? Variety of topics across physics or narrow in scope? Thanks!
  2. if he took all these courses, what would you expect a bm school to provide? At our very competitive HS, calc BC is the highest math offered on that math track ( we offer stats as well; some schools offer either discrete math or alg 3 but I know of no school that offers 4 years of math courses AFTER calc BC). AP comp sci A is the hardest comp sci course. Physics C is the hardest sci course to qualify for in the school in that it requires bio, chem and then Physics 1/2 be taken first. If the child can do all these things in 8th grade, no HS is going to accomodate, so using them as solid evidence of placement does not seem very purposeful. Also, Physics C is calc-based and should be taken after calculus, so I would rank these course in order from comp sci as the easiest to physics c as most advanced.
  3. yea! I'm glad there are plenty of particle physicists! Regardless, I find physics to be a good undergrad major for many future studies...if he's interested in further study. Dh was meteorlogy and the undergrad physics majors who came into grad school kicked their butts due o better foundational mathematical knowledge. I hope he's finally found something he likes....he's interested in music tech too which has some crossover with physics. His older and younger brother are both passionate about their interests and many subjects and knew what they wanted to do by 11 years old so this is kind of baffling...having a HS sophomore who is saying "it's too early to think about college" and has limited interests.
  4. So he majored in physics? I was looking through college websites trying to figure out if that was even the right major! A close friend whose dad was a physicist told us there aren't many jobs for particle physicists - that it's a really small group of ~150 geniuses, which was discouraging but our friend is in medical marketing :) Just trying to wrap my head around this whole thing so I can guide him in the right direction...gently.
  5. Thanks! PAN looks doable. Wish I'd found it earlier this year! Though he is resistant to everything so I may need a year to warm him up to it :) See I wasn't even sure how closely related astronomy was! This is out of my realm even though I'm a chem E. My physics was primarily mechanics and a little E and M.
  6. My sophomore is excited about very little...just music and particle physics. We've got music covered. I have no idea how to encourage the particle physics besides documentaries and reading. We are getting close to college application time. If he decides to study physics, demonstrated interest would be a good thing but I have no thoughts on how to do so. He's not the most passionate/motivated kid, so he's not going to take on some theoretical science project. Does anybody have a background in physics or ideas for me? He's a Davidson Scholar so totally capable of being a physics major if he wants and he's wrapping up Calc 2 as a sophomore.
  7. Giving an out of level test can be a useful way to further identify what you are dealing with. (ie give the Iowa 2 levels above). Also, Duke probably offers out of level testing but likely not until next winter.
  8. I don't know how little, but Vi Hart has videos online that address the degrees of infinity and other interesting topics. I don't think we discovered them until my youngest was maybe 9 or 10 years old.
  9. In regards to the practice time "on top of a full day of school work", I don't think as a homeschooler with a gifted kid that necessarily needs to be the case. My son practiced instruments over an hour a day and worked on competition math daily, and I wouldn't even have called them passions. He was taking algebra but it only took him 20 minutes a day to ace the course. He read extensively on his own and had no need of spelling or vocab. Really his ordinary school work was taking 2 hours a day maybe? so for us an extra 3 hours of music and math would not have been an issue. It depends on your style and your kid's speed (not just ability) and I've known families who do full school work days but also those for whom homeschool only lasted 90 minutes each morning and those kids went on to major universities with scholarships and tremendous success. You need get to know your kid and their needs.
  10. While at older ages you can avoid being redundant with school material by choosing side-topics, passions, etc...I think you are not really going to stop a gifted kid learning basic computation and reading if they are ready. My middle son (supposedly pg) read the Harry Potter series in Kindergarten...then we pulled him out along with his older brother who also was reading in kindergarten and was bored in 2nd grade . He is now back in since 7th grade (in 9th now) and while bored with the pace, the material itself was not an issue putting him back in. Grades 1 and 2 are the rough years to be way ahead IMO.
  11. I would check with the specific camps. A lot of summer academic camps will actually tell you no, you won't have time for your instrument from what I've read on websites, although I know nothing specific to the math camps. And that's where you start running into difficult decisions...
  12. I think you follow the path your child sets as long as it is practical and then you make decisions...some of which may be hard or some of which may be made for you by circumstance or changing interests or impossible meshing of schedules. My middle son spent a reasonable amount of time on math competition material in 6th grade as well as geography and music. Now in 9th grade he has no interest in math competitions whatsoever, geography has fallen by the wayside, but he devotes about 20 hours a week to music, and not even necessarily with the intention of being as good as you are talking about or pursuing music itself as a career. He does play 2 instruments with weekly private lessons and participate in 5 different musical groups. This summer we are getting him private music technology lessons as this is where his interest actually lies as far as a future career. Sometimes schedules conflict or become too full and then you drop the thing at the bottom. We've done that with my 17 year old...and we often point out the right choice FOR him because it's obvious to us where the passion lies and that he is juggling too much for his mental health. I wanted to add that both of these activities you listed are hugely beneficial to your child's development even if he quits next year, so nothing has been lost. I saw the 6th grade year with my middle son as a gift I was blessed to be able to provid; he got math and geography skills that will serve him for life because he was able to do his school work so quickly.
  13. How did you figure out who the vendor is gstharr?
  14. It's baffling. Does anyone have experience with them and want to offer perspective? We could dual enroll (a high school student) at a major local university with a live teacher on campus for the kind of prices they are charging. AOPS provides a live teacher for less than half the cost of their self-paced courses. I just don't get it. Are they that special? Brownie
  15. Lots of options in this thread. This is grea. Thank you. I have many options to consider.
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