KJP, that is excellent!

Thanks, aeh! You’re such a star on these boards. I’m just now looking into it and finding it overwhelming. DD already scored really well on the SCAT a few years ago and qualified for CTY (yet to use.) I think I would like her to take the ACT or SAT in 6th grade.

I gave her the reading portion of the SAT practice test and she missed the exact same number of questions. 8/40 missed on ACT and 8/52 SAT. So maybe a little better on SAT. But I did notice she was quicker on the ACT. She had to think more on the SAT. I’m a little shocked! The reading passages seem so boring and the questions tricky! I feel like I wouldn’t do much better. It is making me feel less worried about her getting nothing at her level. Doesn’t seem to matter.

I haven’t really looked at the other sections of the tests yet. I should see how she does on those. I don’t want it to be a negative experience so I’m still apprehensive.

DS5 has been struggling a bit for the past few months with social anxiety, especially around entering groups of children he doesn't know. We've been working on it with him, and he overcame it last weekend to participate in his first-ever chess tournament! It was a friendly tournament run by our local chess club for about 20 kids, so not too intimidating, but we were very proud of him.

He also did well in terms of chess. The other participants ranged from 7-13 years old, but DS5 still managed to come in 4th overall and 2nd in the under 9 category. This is despite spending a good deal of his time looking around the room, observing other kids, and basically paying attention to everything but the chess board (after all, he is 5!).

That’s great Emigee! Awesome if you to set up an opportunity for him to get out of his comfort zone.

I just got word that DD14 has been accepted as a co-presenter at her first professional conference! Along with her AT specialist they will be presenting "Assistive Technology Tools for the 2e Learner" to an audience of teachers and administrators.

More and more her passion is helping to pave the way for other kids and helping teachers gain a better understanding of 2e kids. As she says all the struggles will be worth it if it means another kid won't have to live through what she experienced. Proud mama moment...

Good for DS, Emigee! I have one who was very, very reluctant to engage with new children at that age, so I know it took courage to step out of his comfort zone.

That is amazing, Pemberley! I think her compassion impresses me even more than any of her other gifts.

9th grade daughter took the AMC10 math exam and qualified for the American Invitational Math Exam (AIME) - meeting her goal for the year (and by a pretty decent margin). Based on previous years' results, she's probably one of about 70 9th grade girls to qualify across the US.

She competed at the Princeton Univ. Math Competition (PUMaC) last fall, and her application is now in for the Math Prize for Girls competition at MIT later this year.

Good job! She's well on her way to being an excellent role mode.

DD8 took a second prize in the mathematical kangaroo competition, and took the school prize for greatest kangaroo leap (meaning greatest number of correctly solved problems in a row).
Which doesn’t sound that impressive unless you know that she competed as a fourth grader. However, as an August born and grade-skipped kid she is not only the youngest in her grade in school, but would also be one of the youngest in the year below. There are second graders older than her. It is not only a grade based but also a criterion referenced competition, so second prize means she is in the lower half of the first percentile of fourth graders in the nation and would be in the top half of the first percentile for her actual age group of third graders, and since no one took a first neither in fourth or third grade, she had the best results in the school.
She also looked very cute walking up to the principal in impeccable traditional dress, but with her cardie slung around her hips. Great mama bursting with pride moment!