dragons in the flower bed Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I bought an intro to quantum mechanics meant to simplify it for high schoolers and college students. My just turned ten-year-old picked it up, read it in a couple of hours, and said there was nothing new to him in it. I scanned through, asking questions from random pages. "Tell me about Boltzmann and Planck," or suchlike. He knew everything. People sometimes tell me that my kid is weirdly knowledgeable about physics, but I never believe them. "He just reads a lot," I tell them. He gets flustered when asked questions in front of a more than one or two people, too, so he messes up answers to simple questions. Tonight I'm going to go ahead and believe it for a few hours. I wish I knew how to help this interest shine through the next eight years of his education. If only I could get the boy to pass a math test! Are you ever tempted to unschool everything except your child's weak points? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Oooh, that's freaky in a good way. :D I have been tempted to unschool (except for a few subjects that he'd never delve into without leading). Honestly, I think it would lead to some major unbalance in his life. Granted, he'd love it. He'd really shine in certain areas... but I'm more interested in creating a wide base right now. Maybe in a few years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Rose - you have such an amazing crew - enjoy your moment of bragging, that's wonderful! I love reading about your children and how they are doing. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I wish I knew how to help this interest shine through the next eight years of his education. If only I could get the boy to pass a math test! Are you ever tempted to unschool everything except your child's weak points? I think this is a great approach to education of a gifted child! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 So proud for you, Rose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooblink Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 That's really neat! Lots of stuff left to discover in physics...sounds like he's got a gift. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in PA Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 That is just great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 Lots of stuff left to discover in physics... I'd love to be pointed to books or videos or anything at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diviya Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I haven't read them, so it's not a personal recommendation, but I've heard good things about George Gamow's books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiD Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Are you ever tempted to unschool everything except your child's weak points? Yes - it works really well! You're definitely doing something right - you must be very pleased! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 (edited) Is it just mechanics? Stephen Hawkings site has some great links to the Stephen Hawkings pages (under information) as well as information links to his lectures, all the way up to colloquiums that assume university level understanding. They also have links for the recent papers published in physics on the Southamptom University links. The Netrino Observatory is quite interesting I imagine all the information in his more recent series and those such as Through the Wormhole are review, although the latest episode on dark matter and dark energy were relatively up to date, especially the ongoing experiments. :) Have you looked at some of the newer Teaching Company videos, I'm not sure if they have anything new or not since Dark Matter came out? If you want real in depth then you might want to check out the Particle Data Group which you can access through the Particle Physics learning website http://www.particlephysics.ac.uk/index.html at either level. I'm a little unsure what you are looking for exactly so hopefully some of this will help. :D There is so much out there in physics. Edited August 2, 2010 by melmichigan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted August 2, 2010 Author Share Posted August 2, 2010 I'm a little unsure what you are looking for exactly so hopefully some of this will help. :D There is so much out there in physics. Most of the problem is that I don't know what I'm looking for, or what the kid is looking for. I can show him lists and websites and let him pick what to pursue, but that's as much as I'm good for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Dragons....what was the Intro book you got for him? I'd like to read it for myself. My newly-turned 10yr old loves this stuff as well. thanks, Capt_Uhura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted August 4, 2010 Author Share Posted August 4, 2010 It's this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 This is slightly off-topic, but I recently listened to Jim Weiss's CD of "Galileo and the Stargazers" with my kids. Afterward, I turned to DD and said, "You know all those guys were famous mathematicians." She was totally shocked. She said, "I had no idea science had anything to do with math!" :lol: Umm yeah, many of my college science classes were really just math classes in disguise. It seemed to help motivate her to buckle down and learn math. Here is a book that looks really interesting. I scanned through it once in college. I don't know if he's ready to look at quantum mechanics yet, but it's fascinating (and weird). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom-2-1 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 BRAG ON! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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