Jump to content

Menu

TerriM

Members
  • Posts

    352
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by TerriM

  1. 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.

  2. I've always chuckled at the idea of six month olds having favorite TV shows... I mean the kid was in the room for several seasons of Veep, but she was asleep and nursing!

     

    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.

  3. I might know exactly which organization that is. :unsure:

     

    I am bolding the word academics because unlike "those" folks, I have so many parents that I counsel/ work with tell me that there is no way their kids can be gifted let alone HG or PG because the child has no interest in academics. I have a hard time explaining to these parents, and I want to explain because it really helps to give them an idea of what it is all about (the sense of understanding is so huge right?), that gifted is not just about academics. I have met some really outlier kids in areas like empathy and fine arts for example. And others who are so outlier even intellectually but academics is actually hard because of how much their brain makes them overthink!

     

     

    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.

    • Like 2
  4. 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.

    • Like 1
  5. 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.

    • Like 1
  6.  

    (The College Board has become really quite excellent at maximizing income-generating materials.  I'd expect PSATs K-12 any time now.  :glare: )

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

    • Like 1
  7. 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!

  8. 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?  

  9. 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?

  10. 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......

    • Like 1
  11. What great news!  I just wish we lived closer.  We are right dab in the middle of fly over country in St. Louis.

     

    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

    • Like 2
  12.  So far this school is pretty great, but you never do know what next year will bring. 

     

    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.

×
×
  • Create New...