How much do the parent comments matter? I felt like some of the questions weren't a good fit for my kid even though his scores meet the criteria. Especially the one which asked about an example of your kid needing to investigate something in great detail. My kid's more of an omnivore--he's just as happy sucking information in breadthwise as depthwise.

Yeah :)........ I thought that was pretty weird, and no offense to her descriptions, but with my first, he wasn't allowed to watch TV until he was at least a year old. And then he had no interest in it.

:) I needed a good laugh.

I really appreciate this comment. I have a kid who taught himself to read, is teaching himself to draw, and is probably a musical prodigy, but he dislikes school (especially the topics covered by common core), he dislikes being coached, he dislikes doing anything in a group/doing what other kids do, he dislikes music lessons (because he doesn't want to start at the "boring music") and has until recently had trouble not being wiggly. Deep down, I wonder if he is gifted, but just not applying himself academically because the topics really aren't interesting to him. I am hoping to encourage him simply to be great at the things he enjoys and crossing my fingers that he'll be well-employed and some day he'll realize that he can benefit from mentors/coaches/teachers to help him become the best he can be.

I think maturity, birthday, and height would play a big role. If a child is going to be close to the oldest in their class, it's not as big a deal as taking the youngest child and putting them a class ahead. Similarly with height, if a child comes from a family with tall parents and seems to be on the top of the curve, putting a grade ahead is less likely to feel weird to them as taking a short kid and putting them ahead. Overall, though, maturity seems to be the big question. Some really smart kids may not be mature enough to go a year ahead, and some are. It's unfortunate that school requires multiple skills that don't seem to line up for some kids. Super smart but not mature does not make a good combination unfortunately. I'd have skipped a grade with one of ours who is very mature, social, and gifted, but not another one who was lagging in maturity and social skills and was on the younger side of his class. That said, if the latter had been the oldest in his class, I'd have wanted to skip him up, so it turned out to be a good match--youngest in his class. With my third, I'm glad she is also one of the youngest in her class because it gives her room to stretch her abilities. If she were the oldest, I suspect she'd be bored. As it is, she is appropriately challenged with room to excel.

Sometimes public schools will accept the grade acceleration if someone else already accelerated her Would they really make her redo 4th grade?

Practice practice practice. Most of these competitions have past tests online, so I'd recommend that she take one, then read all the solutions. Take another, read all the solutions.... etc. By the time she's done 20 years worth, she should have it down.

[Deleted--found the answer!]

I see! That might be what she meant.

Yeah. I was thinking the same thing as I registered my son for the SATs!!!!!

Someone had said that the Duke TIP courses were free..... Seemed a bit surprising..... Anyone know why she might've thought that?

Anyone have thoughts on Duke TIP for those on the West coast? Is it worth having SAT scores sent to them for a 7th grader?

Congrats!!!

Ok Thanks! Do you think they'd definitely be done by 1pm?

Our school specifically said that you have to ask for the grades from middle school to appear on the high school transcript even when they're regular high school math courses (Algebra I&II/Geometry/Precalc/Calculus). I'm not sure if you're allowed to pick and choose though.

Oh fount of wisdom, can you guys answer an easy question? If you are taking only the English/Math basic test (no essay) with "doors closing at 8am" when do the kids get out?

I think I'd start by asking how the grade on the report card was calculated rather than asking them to change the grade.

Oh I see..... That's a different group. They've got a lot of stuff going on! Thanks for the pointer.

I was on the Mid-peninsula Coder Dojo at one point, but I got off (I think they met at Box in Redwood City). I don't remember if I saw a Unity class, but I was looking for stuff for my 8 year old..... I'll get back on and keep an eye out! That would be perfect for DS1!

Thanks Arcadia! I saw the ID Tech one and wasn't sure how much could be covered in just a week...... Looking at it again, still looks like just a week.... Other one is just a week too. Maybe it's not too hard to learn Unity?

Since you guys are the masters of homeschooling classes, I figured I'd ask here before I continue to beat my head against my web search: My 13yo son wants to learn the Unity programming language (system?) this summer. Has anyone done this with their kid? If so, what class? Either online or available on the Peninsula side of the Bay Area is fine (say Burlingame down to San Jose). If it is relevant, he does have programming experience in Python. It looks like Unity offers tutorials online. Has anyone here used them to learn the language?

This is a great question. When I was in high school, I was told by a close friend that a math degree is good for three things: teaching, insurance companies, and accounting. So i didn't get a math degree. Now, I find that I love doing contest problems and wonder if I should be teaching math (or coaching math or tutoring math or something). My mom got a math degree--not sure what she did at the time--probably physics related simulations, but eventually got a CS degree and did programming. My dad got a physics degree, did programming (starting in the 1960s), especially of physics simulations. My friends have gotten Aero-astro degrees and physics degrees, and a lot of them have ended up in IT or software engineering. A friend of mine got a Mech E degree and ended up head of IT.... Sensing a trend here......

FYI: If your kids are into making things, there's a Techshop in St. Louis. The classes may be different in different cities, but here, one of the classes is laser cutter/3D printer, vinyl cutter (for making shirts and large stickers), another basic electronics class, and an Arduino programming class. They also have a sewing section, but I don' t know if they do a youth sewing class which is too bad. Ages 8 and up. http://www.techshop.ws/take_classes.html?storeId=22&categoryId=35

Fantastic! Boy, lesson learned. Photocopy everything of importance before you mail it off.

Totally agree with this. I don't like to the be the parent that makes waves, but there came a point where, after a couple of years of accommodation for DS1, they stopped, and i realized that I was being strung along by the principal in our old school. Having had this same thing happen to me as a kid, I was always worried it might happen--I know that the scheduling this requires is difficult for a small school. So, yeah, evaluate year by year. You might have one not-so-great year, but if you get into a second one, then explore other options.