TerriM
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Everything posted by TerriM
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Any opinions on ISEE vs. SSAT for a gifted 8th grader? He's finished up through Precalc, and is not as strong in English as Math, but still decent (his English SAT score was only 60 points lower than his math score last year). Given that any private schools we apply to will probably be on the gifted side, I'm wondering if one is better than the other for demonstrating high-level skills. Also, I read this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-mallory/isee-or-ssat-choose-wisely_b_3853168.html and thought that the risk-averse on guessing might be a consideration (although being a math-kid, he certainly understands the "I've narrowed it to two answers, therefore I should choose one and I'll come out ahead statistically." PS: One consideration might be that we could be moving across country. So far the two schools I've looked into both accept ISEE and SSAT, but if there's a part of the country that only accepts one that would be important to know.
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Yes. :) I don't know that we'll send him there, though. He'd prefer to stay with his current school which goes through high school. But I want him to understand his options. We also might move out of state. :( I'm bummed as this seems like a great place educationally for kids, but the housing market has us cornered. We didn't buy when we should've in 2011....
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We are very lucky that Canada teaches all of their math courses on campus at the high school we're zoned for. Including AP Stats, my son can go through Junior year with some sort of math class. I'm going to have him shadow at the high school to see what it's like. He's been at small private/parochials the whole time, so it would be a different experience. But I am strongly suspecting he'll want to stay where he is. I've been toying with the idea of him doing a "Junior year abroad" at the local high school so he can do all the electives and afterschool activities like theater which he can't get right now. :)
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BTW: If your son has taken the Calculus AB/BC exam, the placement should be assured. if he has, you might ask if that'll simply bump him up to classes above it. Regarding flexibility, there are issues of classes being full. You might ask whether they've had to turn away kids from the classes you're interested in, because as a Freshman, he'll probably be the first student cut if the class is full.
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deleted.
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How early has your child started high school and college?
TerriM replied to Plarka's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
High school level math at grade 6 (11yo) because that's when we found a school who would let him take Algebra/Algebra II. 9th grade he'll start college level math (assuming Calculus is still high school math). I expect that he could do community college or public university classes right now (in 8th grade), but he's happy at his school now. It's possible I'll enroll him for something over the summer. -
I have a highly social extroverted kid as well, and I absolutely think that B&M school is the best match for him. I'm glad we found one which he loves. I sympathize with your situation. It sounds like you are more in tuned to what your son needs/wants than your husband. I sympathize with the $$ issue as well though. BTW: Given what you said about how much you each work/earn, it sounds like your husband should be the one to homeschool.
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Anyone here from Pittsburgh? I'm curious about Fox Chapel, Upper St. Claire and Allderice high schools (or are there any other ones that are good for gifted kids I should look into?). Especially curious about Allderice--rated 4 on Great schools, but has kids who got amazing scores on the AMC12. Also, the Pittsburgh HS listing seems to have four courses labeled University Math (1->4). Know anything about those?
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Your son is well ahead of the first grade material. Ask your husband if he's ok with your son grade skipping. If that makes him balk, be clear that it might be necessary or your son will be bored in public school. $7K for a personalized education is a good value probably anywhere in the US. Alternately, can you nanny help with homeschooling? As for the trip to Israel, one thing that has helped my husband and I with regards to financial arguments is to each have a personal fund aka Allowance. We each have ours in a separate checking/debit account and we can do whatever we want with it. So if my husband wanted to go to Israel and I really felt it was unnecessary, then he'd have to pay for it out of his personal fund.
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If you switched your accelerated learner from b&m to homeschool
TerriM replied to Xahm's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
I think the hardest decision is when they want to go for the social aspect, but are bored of the schoolwork. They don't know if homeschooling will be better and are afraid of losing the friends they made. -
If you switched your accelerated learner from b&m to homeschool
TerriM replied to Xahm's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
BTW: The biggest problem we had was not adjusting expectations for our kid. He went into Kindergarten multiplying and thinking he would learn "fun math." We didn't prepare him for the fact that the curriculum would be learning to count. I think it would help if you have an up-front chat with her that she may already know a lot of the stuff so she's only bored, not shocked by unmet expectations. I offered every year to homeschool and he said "But I'd miss my friends." About a month into 5th grade when he realized that the "advanced math" class was stuff he mostly knew, and that nothing else was going to get more difficult, he agreed to homeschool. We never ended up homeschooling because we found a school that was a much better match, but that would have been how it ended if we hadn't found his current school. -
If you switched your accelerated learner from b&m to homeschool
TerriM replied to Xahm's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
When she tells you she's bored out of her mind, ask her if she'd like to homeschool instead. If she says yes, homeschool. If she says she'd miss her friends, I'd still homeschool. -
Given the vast number of low-carb diets, I think that these issues are not limited to AL or PG kids. Blood sugar swings are normal on a high-carb diet. Moodiness and tiredness can certainly ensue. I did Atkins for a while--the first week was crappy, but after I added some fruit back, it was fantastic. I felt really good, and my body temperature improved--no more cold fingers/toes/nose and and I was able to turn the heat down by 3-4 degrees.
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My son really enjoyed the AMC 8. He started in 4th grade.
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We're talking 25 years ago, but my recollection was that people from out-of-state paying full tuition got priority over those paying in-state tuition. I could be remembering wrong, though.
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No, it's ok. Frankly, I'd forgotten, but I'd been told this when I applied to Berkeley years ago--no one local graduated in less than 5 years, and those paying full tuition got top priority for class placement. You never knew what you would get until registration day. Coming from dual registration at a state U where I got whatever I wanted and knew weeks ahead of time, I found it to be a negative for attending Berkeley. (The procedure for changing majors was the other negative.)
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Wow! I had no clue. That is really awesome! Perfect for a kid who prefers to do rather than sit and learn. I think in the long run, this list is going to save me $$$$$$$$$$. I would never know how to find these options otherwise.
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Ok. You've convinced me. Don't bother staying for a public CA college. Flee in terror. Surprised there aren't more stories about people dropping out of Berkeley and making it big. Seems like that'd be your best option when you can't get the classes you want--go to work.
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Yeeeeeessh!!!!!!
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Thanks! I'll look into that.
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Sigh. Our experience with graduate studies has been pretty abysmal, and as far as I'm concerned a PHD in CS is not nearly as useful as the same amount of time put into work experience (and I know a fair number of people for whom that PHD took 10 years!!!). But I could see the Master's being a good balance, although one of my kids is talking about skipping college entirely, so i doubt he'll be going for a Master's at all.
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Congrats on buying something! We blew it and didn't manage to buy something before it really shot up. There are two patches of houses that might still be affordable on the peninsula, and they both have gangs and drugs. In 15 years, they'll probably be safe enough, but husband isn't willing to risk it. The nearest decent affordable areas would be across the Bay and mean moving my younger two kids to a different school. Moving across the Bay is essentially like relocating--new schools, new church, new friends, new restaurants, new doctors/dentists/etc. etc..... but we could keep #1 at his school, DH could keep his job.... Frankly, that's the only real reason to stay--keep #1 at his school. But for 1/2 to 1/3 of the price, we could go somewhere like St. Louis and buy an updated 3000 sq ft house in one of the best school districts. Obviously, job is an issue--that's on DH's list of things to investigate. It's a numbers game--either we can or can't afford the cheapest house in a great school district. I just need to know what the number is. And if I want to start a small business selling stuff online, whatever I make would be taxed less elsewhere and go a lot farther. And CA is continually trying to pass legislation that takes away parental rights. At some point it gets kind of exhausting.