We have looked into it but decided to have our high schoolers take class at our local community college for dual credit. They started at 15 and 14. It has worked out well so far. It is a good way to get the basic requirements out of the way for their bachelors.

My son turned 14 the day he started his first college class this semester. He really enjoyed it and even though all the material was new (pre calc for science/engineering majors) he just got his final grade. His final grade is a 100%. It is actually higher but for this program is that is as high as she can input it. His teacher wrote him the nicest comments encouraging him. He enjoyed his fellow students and one in his group even goes to our church. He said the class really wasn't hard but he came out many times all excited about a certain problem so for him that is a win. He was so nervous to do this (i think mainly because he has a severe stutter). We have tried to get him to go for a couple years and I am so proud of him for stepping out!

Not sure if this helps but my freshman is enjoying taking math classes at the community college and he could have started younger but he didn't want too. It has been a good way to work on study skills with minimal "mom" help. He has a 100 in the class but all the material is new to him and he is enjoying the teacher because she teaches the "why" not just "how". If he takes 1 class each semester he will be done through discrete by mid junior year so not sure what to do after that maybe statistics and some self study...either way he needed something different and enjoys math while getting dual credit.

Has anyone has success with Logic of English Essentials for EEL students? My almost 9 year old daughter has trouble with vocabulary, word analysis and comprehension. She is catching up but it is very unlike any of my older children so I am a little lost on if I am doing "enough". She was adopted at a little over 2 years of age and never heard English until then. All my EEL teacher friends chuckle and say what she is doing is totally normal. They have given me ideas of how to work on vocabulary etc. and it seems that Logic of English Essentials might be a really good fit. She is reading at a low/mid 3rd grade level but her comprehension and vocabulary is lower. Anyone used it with a similar child? I worry it is too complicated and a bit time consuming but then again I think the extra focus might be what she needs.

My 12 year old took the ACT last year with no ID. We did it through the Duke TIP program and the ACT paperwork comes with a paper that allows them to take the test without ID. ACT scores are kept. That said we just got state IDs from DMV for my kids to be able to take community college classes and it was very easy to do.

hahaha I know the medical one....Are these classes highly recommended? I keep seeing them pop up.

I looked through sticky but still can't figure out what does PAH stand for? Thanks!

strawberries-Did he like the competition? We had a home school team of 4 go to the Mathcounts competition for the first time this year and we had a blast!

That is great! Glad it went well!

We started a math club for middle schoolers and high schoolers in Jan. 2017. We had a blast. It is really neat to see how different everyone thinks and where their strengths are. We all learn from each other. I ordered the free materials for a math club here for the middle schoolers: https://www.mathcounts.org/programs/math-club but we did lots of other things too. We had a few middle schoolers ask if we could do the MATHCOUNTS competition. I truly didn't know anything about it but we signed up in November 2017 and dug into the resources they give you. We did many problems and the kids continued in their math curriculum. No one was further than the very beginning of Algebra at the time of competition (Feb. 2018) but all the kids love playing with math. Our team placed 13 out of 17 at our chapter competition and we had one kid place 35th out of 120 competitors. Not bad for just jumping into it. We learned so much! All our 7th graders can't wait to try again next year and now we have a much better idea what to expect. Another homeschool MATHCOUNTS team in a different city that just won the team state competition for our state has been giving us pointers. They sent us a copy of the MATHCOUNTS "Bible". I also chatted with the winning teams coaches at competition. Their kids have done much higher math than mine had (many already through algebra 2 and geometry). My 7th graders all have goals to get further in their curriculum while working through the MATHCOUNTS resources that we didn't get too. The top coaches also have their kids working through countdown problems in a countdown setting over and over again for practice so not just knowledge but speed. The website has problems for each round from years past plus these coaches have all the previous years problems too. We also found these really helpful too: https://www.mathcounts.org/resources/video-library My kids would watch these at home while work on the MATHCOUNTS toolkit. I started this for my mathy kid who I wanted to "slow" down in math. Didn't want the calculus trap and this allows us to really understand the why? as well as dig into fun math topics-binary, octal, Pascal's triangle, Sirpinski's Triangle, interior angles or polygon, fractals, factorials, pi, etc.... That said I am looking for ways to get my younger kids ready for these competitions earlier too. Starting Math Olympiad group was suggested as the best way to start. These books were recommend from a top coach: http://store.moems.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=4131 and http://store.moems.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MOEMS&Product_Code=4120 I am hoping to start a MOEMS team soon. My 12 year old currently is working through AOPS Algebra while doing Geometry at Aleks.com. We will continue to work through the AOPS sequence and following other math interests. When he was younger he used Saxon and Singapore. Some of our team plans to take these classes too: https://artofproblemsolving.com/school/course/mathcounts-basics and some qualified for the advanced one. I hope that kind of answers your questions. I am enjoying everyone's thoughts on this too.

My 12 year old just took the ACT in February and he had a special form that said no ID. Did you get one of those? I would follow whatever instruction they sent you. They did announce across the room this is a no ID kid which he found a bit embarrassing but he survived. The lady just hadn't seen the form before and wanted to double check with the other teacher. It ended up being no problem.

Any updates on the families that had children attend DUKE TIP summer programs specifically for the Center. My son would be 12 and I am wondering if it is worth the cost. We would have to fly from Arizona, etc. Thanks!

Did you end up getting this? If so what do you think.

Heigh Ho she missed the cutoff by a month and a few days plus she is very tiny for her age. She went to private school for Kinder and 1st. It is the right grade for her. She just finished 6th and is going into 7th.

Thank you both! That confirms what I had been thinking! No advantage while homeschooling and possibly several disadvantages! I wasn't just considering it based on test scores but I didn't put that in the OP. Thanks!

Thanks dmmetler! I don't have to test in our state but we have every other year. So you are recommending not to skip him? He would like to start college as soon as possible and is already looking at requirements.

My son is 10 (11 at the end of August) and finishing "5th" grade. He went to Kindergarten at 4.5 at a private school but has been home schooled since then. He works at a higher grade levels and the standardized tests are always 99% and above so this year I gave him the 6th grade test-ITBS. He had a composite of 97 but finally it didn't show 99 on everything. My oldest is 12.5 and was finishing 6th grade this year also. I have hesitated in the past to talk grade levels much because she struggles with him passing her by in everything despite him being 2 years old. Anyways I just have them work at their levels but should I say he is going into 7th grade and have him take the 7th grade test next year? I guess I am asking if there is a disadvantage of moving him up? Or maybe no more standardized tests until he finishes algebra then let him take the SAT and go from there?

Thank you so much!

I am so glad I looked on this board because I had never heard of AoPS before. My 10 year old is very very bored with Saxon 7/6. He only has 20 lessons left and he has always picked up math quickly. Actually anything academic quickly. He read very young, etc. etc. I just don't want him to "miss" anything so I have made him go through the books. It seems like AoPS might be the answer for him. He is definitely ready for the Pre-Algebra book. AoPS seems to not be as repetitious and more challenging when compared to Saxon. Am I correct in that assumption? I have looked through the sample pages that you can see. I am having trouble jumping to another math curriculum. My son did Singapore for his early years but I went to Saxon because it covered things that he was going to be tested on when Singapore didn't. Saxon also makes sense to me and I find it easy to teach. My son is very different than me. I would call myself a high achiever while he fits all the gifted descriptions. I think I am holding him back with it though and he is very bored. He gets 100% or close to it on every assignment. I feel like he is always ahead of me and I am holding him back. Any thoughts?

I am curious to hear others responses as well.

I am thinking about doing this as well. My 10 year old is very math oriented though. I am curious on the thoughts of others. Saxon is too repetitive for my son but he doesn't complain.

I am thinking about doing this as well. My 10 year old is very math oriented though. I am curious on the thoughts of others. Saxon is too repetitive for my son but he doesn't complain.