Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources EPGY group forming?

I heard back today regarding the EPGY Open Enrollment. I was told that the program is available if there is enough interest. It is $135 a year for access to K-6 Math and English. The only thing needed is someone to volunteer to be the go to person with any technical issues. 20 families must be willing to provide the parents name, zip code, email address, and number of children interested for the group to be formed. Once formed and approved then the individual parent would be responsible for signing up and paying on the EPGY website. There is no obligation in signing up on the interest form according to the literature. It is an interest only form. Once the group is formed then parents may sign up anytime for that school year which runs June 1 thur May 31. There isn't a limit to the number of parents who can sign up once the group is formed.

hhmm tempting!

Melissa,
I read your last thread about this with great interest!
I'm interested in signing up for one or possibly both of my kids if they will accept a virtual group. Are you forming one?

Please let me know if somthing moves forward, we are looking at John Hopkins, but its a little costly

I am looking into the possibility. I'm not sure about becoming the SSA or the go to person because I homeschool all my kids and am not that computer literate to begin with. First we need to see if there is enough interest to bring it to the table. I explained that I homeschool and that I also participate in an online forum of parents that might be interested and the response I got was:

Yes home school groups are welcome to join the Open Enrollment Program. Just fill out the Interest Form found at epgy.stanford.edu/district web page. List your group as the school name and list your county and state as the district.
Best regards,

Marie

Marie E. Pfeiffer
Assistant Director of School Marketing
Stanford University EPGY
(650) 714-3108
(800) 372-3749 ext. 481
mariep2@stanford.edu

original message:

I am writing to ask more about the EPGY Open Enrollment. I currently homeschool as a non-public school in the state of Michigan and am listed as the a Home Education Program by the state. I also participate in an online forum with many parents of Gifted children and advanced learners. My question is whether we may register for this program if all the families are not from the same area?

There is someone posting at the WTM Accelerated learners board about this....don't know if it's someone from here or not so there might be others there as well.

Mel,
Thanks for looking into this. My DD has used EPGY for math acceleration for 2 years, although once we hit Algebra I, the program wasn't suiting our needs (quirky CD-ROM lectures that were boring and confusing).

I think EPGY math K-7 is a very comprehensive program. I can't speak to the language arts or other programs. I would consider doing this for DS, but I'm not clear on a few things - are you saying "we" (i.e. this forum) would qualify essentially as a homeschool group? Is the fee for each family, or as a whole group? Either way, it is clearly a bargain. I want to say we paid $400 every 3 months for DD!

The SSA (technical support person) is a necessity. The program has some glitches at times, as well as some idiosyncracies to get over (e.g. inputting the answer sometimes takes some trial and error).

The difference between signing up as an individual and as a group seems to be the level of support. For K-7 math, we had an advisor at Stanford, but we never used her services - DH is an engineer, so he worked with DD. If we signed up as a group, each child would need his/her own supervising teacher. other than that, it looks like an interesting possibility.

The main differences are listed here:

How does the Open Enrollment Program differ from signing up with EPGY as an individual?
There are several differences. The most significant is the application and enrollment process. With the traditional EPGY program for individuals, students must first apply. With the Open Enrollment Program, no application is necessary. A second significant difference is that while anyone, anywhere can apply to the individual program, the Open Enrollment Program is open only to students in participating districts. The final difference is the level of support received. Students in the traditional individual program receive a comprehensive set of support services from EPGY Instructors. Students in the Open Enrollment Program work with their parents, who in turn receive support either from support clinics held in their district or from their school support associate (see below for more information on the school support associates.)

The cost is per child per school year.

I posted on the WTM board as to what we are trying to do here. The parent who posted there doesn't have children who could use this right now.

Melissa,
I saw your note on WTM and I am interested. Are you collecting the names and emails now or waiting on Marie to confirm?