DYS Application

[MASHomeschooler]

I am filling out the application for my oldest, and I am stuck on the 2 "incidents" they request:

Please describe an incident that demonstrates your child’s ability to learn and process complex information rapidly:

Please describe an incident that demonstrates your child’s need to explore subjects in surprising depth:

 

* removed info about her specifically *

 

Any tips from people who have been accepted to DYS? What kinds of incidents did you write about?

[JenneinCA]

It was a long time ago, but I think I wrote about my daughter and the Redwall books for both. She read them very quickly and then created her own stories about them and maps and drawings and everything. She lived and breathed those books for a while. My older son was all about Roller Coaster Tycoon. He spent hours and hours designing the best roller coasters. He wanted videos and maps and books. He loved that game. My younger son was nuts about Legos and duplos. I think I wrote about the time he tried to build a duplo tower to touch the ceiling and then spent a long time figuring out how to make it work when it kept falling over. And the Lego vehicles.

[Crimson Wife]

One incident I wrote about was how I'd borrowed Peggy Orenstein's "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" from the library and DD (then 8.5) snagged it out of the bag on the car ride home. She devoured the book and then we had a long discussion about feminism, consumerism, gender stereotyping, etc.

 

I can't remember for sure whether I wrote about this or something else, but it stands out in my mind. I took DD to see the "Magic Flute for Families" at the local opera when she was 5. She *LOVED* it and when we got home, she got my CD and a bunch of her stuffed animals and staged a long and elaborate performance with costumes, props, and backgrounds she made herself. I wish I'd gotten it on home video because it was adorable.

[Arcadia]

For my oldest who reads like crazy, I just wrote that he read almost every single book in adult non-fiction in the local libraries on his favorite topics. There isn't much books on wormholes or string theory though so finishing all the books wasn't hard. My youngest finish almost all the penguin and airplane books and he is a slower reader.

 

For this part:

"Please describe an incident that demonstrates your child’s ability to learn and process complex information rapidly"

 

I forgot what I answered but their outside class teachers could give plenty of examples. Don't overthink on the word "complex". For example to me as an adult the Catalan numbers aren't complex. For DS9 who has never read about Catalan numbers before his teacher describes it, understanding it at first exposure is consider "complex" enough at his age by his teachers.

[Dmmetler]

I wrote about DD's responses to newspaper headlines from an early age-where she'd catch a quick glimpse, immediately synthesize what happens, and respond emotionally to it.

 

On the "deeply" stuff, herpetology pretty much did it. Not many kids write up field reports on their stuffed snakes :)

[quark]

Don't overthink on the word "complex".

 

:iagree: I described a code he had developed. He enjoyed pestering grown ups to solve puzzles he gave based on that code. '

 

For that second part, I mentioned how he rapidly memorized the periodic table and Hiragana.

[MASHomeschooler]

Thanks for all the quick responses, and the reassurance that they're more open questions than they seemed to me. I'm still not sure what I'll put, but I feel more confident that I will be able to think of something appropriate.