Exam/contest based year?

[Dmmetler]

I've been looking at competitive exams/contests, and I'm wondering if it would be reasonable to give DD the prep materials for the ones she says she wants to do (Basically ALL the ones by Continental Math League, Exploratory Latin Exam,and National Mythology Exam, plus our regional science fair, spelling bee, World Education games, and anything else she sees. What can I say-the kid LOVES contests) and saying "OK, here's what you asked for-let me know what else you need", standing back, and seeing what happens?

 

It's way different than the structured curriculum I'd planned and I've done in the past, but she really seems into the idea of preparing for contests and competitive exams with "other smart kids"-and she's 7, and mostly working on a middle to high school level, so it's not like she doesn't have time!

 

Has anyone done anything like this? How did it go??

[acurtis75]

If it were me I would let her give it a shot. I find myself leaning a bit more towards student led learning lately. Maybe it's because out schedule has been hectic but we just haven't been getting to my "list" of curriculum stuff to do but she seems to be learning more on her own at times. Last week she pulled out the kit that goes with her science book and told me I wasn't getting around to doing the experiments so she was just going to do them herself. She did and probably got as much if not more out of it on her own than if I led her through it. It almost seems like some of what we are doing in the way of structure is holding her back. This entire year I've been struggling with balancing work, home & her schoolwork so I might be just looking for a way to delegate some responsibility but if she's capable, why not?

[quark]

If it were me I would let her give it a shot. I find myself leaning a bit more towards student led learning lately. Maybe it's because out schedule has been hectic but we just haven't been getting to my "list" of curriculum stuff to do but she seems to be learning more on her own at times. Last week she pulled out the kit that goes with her science book and told me I wasn't getting around to doing the experiments so she was just going to do them herself. She did and probably got as much if not more out of it on her own than if I led her through it. It almost seems like some of what we are doing in the way of structure is holding her back. This entire year I've been struggling with balancing work, home & her schoolwork so I might be just looking for a way to delegate some responsibility but if she's capable, why not?

 

:iagree:Looks like she could easily fly with it and do well too. It just seems like another version of PBL or unit study type learning to me. Since she seems to really love learning, it's not like she won't be learning anything other than the contest topics during this "contest year". We have done something similar but not for an entire year. We did something similar for the NME for a couple of months and one other time (again, a couple of months) when we were gently prepping for EXPLORE. Both times, it was late winter or early spring and seemed a natural finale to our school year. Now that we school/ independent-learn all-year-long, we do things like this frequently when we feel like it even without contests.

[Julie of KY]

It sounds like a great plan. If you find that she needs more structure or you feel she needs a specific subject taught more, then you can add that in.

 

Student led learnging is fantastic.

[Beth in SW WA]

It sounds like a great plan. If you find that she needs more structure or you feel she needs a specific subject taught more, then you can add that in.

 

Student led learnging is fantastic.

 

:iagree:

 

Your dd sounds like quite the go-getter. My dd8 would fall apart during a competition. Her anxiety would kick in and it would NOT be pretty. For anyone involved.

 

The stars need to be in perfect alignment for dd. No stress. On her terms only.

 

She is napping now because of overstimulation. I just found her in bed sound asleep. And today has been quite relaxing from my vantage point. Dd just experiences life at an exhausting level. We all scratch our heads. A contest would never happen here. For dd7, yes. Dd8...no way. :tongue_smilie:

 

It will be fun to watch your dd knock off the competition. :)

[acurtis75]

:iagree:

 

Your dd sounds like quite the go-getter. My dd8 would fall apart during a competition. Her anxiety would kick in and it would NOT be pretty. For anyone involved.

 

The stars need to be in perfect alignment for dd. No stress. On her terms only.

 

She is napping now because of overstimulation. I just found her in bed sound asleep. And today has been quite relaxing from my vantage point. Dd just experiences life at an exhausting level. We all scratch our heads. A contest would never happen here. For dd7, yes. Dd8...no way. :tongue_smilie:

 

It will be fun to watch your dd knock off the competition. :)

 

It's interesting how children with similar ability respond differently to competitive environments. We did our first spelling bee this year and dd was completely oblivious to the fact that is was a stressful/competitive environment. She skipped to and from her seat and giggled. She wanted to win (even told me she was shocked when she came in second instead of first) but didn't feel anxious about it. Dmmetler, does your daughter have a carefree attitude while you are in the competitions or does she get stressed out? My dd is SOOOO emotional about everything I expected her not to do well in competitions but she loved it. I'm curious about how others react as well.

[Dmmetler]

It was kind of interesting, because DD is a worrier normally, but she's always risen to the occasion-on stage for dance and the like, she's nervous until she gets out there, and then shines. Spelling bee was much the same-it was like "Mom, I've got this", and she was definitely playing with the judges and audience, putting on a show as much as anything else. I figured that maybe it was because she wasn't challenged, but in the world ed games, where she didn't have an audience to play to, and where she invariably ended up high on the leader board as soon as she finished, due, I suspect, to her doing the challenges while a lot of other kids were either not awake yet or at school depending on where they lived, she was, if anything MORE excited when she saw her name move down the leaderboard. It was like it was very gratifying for her to see that she was in the company of a BUNCH of smart kids her age, and that in many respects, she felt better about ending up in the top 100 or top 50 worldwide than she would have at winning. She was most nervous, actually, during the event where she ended up being the highest scoring US participant for her age group until right at the end (and where she still ended up #2 in the USA)-it was like she didn't want to accept being THAT good.

 

One reason why this appeals is that, while there aren't likely to be any kids who will join her for ALL the competitions, we have a couple of kids in our local homeschool group who are good enough in splinter academic areas that I suspect she can find a study partner for things like Continental Math league (although probably not in her age group, I suspect she'd enjoy working through the practice problems for the higher age group as well as her own) and National Mythology Exam- maybe some of the others, too, and I think that if this would work out, it would go a long way towards her feelings of isolation that she's been verbalizing lately-she's stated, not only to me but to several adults who have been willing to provide listening ears, that "NO ONE ever wants to listen to MY ideas-I always have to do their things". No one, of course, meaning "no one anywhere close to my age". I expect that's one reason why she's embraced the idea of contests. After all, if there are 47 gold awards in the Exploratory Latin Exam for 3rd grade, that means that there are 47 other 3rd graders out there who enjoy Latin as much as she does, right?

 

Anyway, I think we'll try it-or, at least, leave it as an idea on the table when registration begins for many of these things in the fall-and see what she wants then. It certainly won't hurt her to play around with the practice activities, and maybe try to get some group study sessions together, over the summer.