Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Abacus? EPGY? are they good for math-talent kid?

Happy new year everyone.

So now I believed that my DS3.5 is gifted in maths.
He is now very into multiplication and he figure out the times table of 13-29 by addition. I taught him how to calculate 23x4 (i taught him it is equal to 20x4 +3x4) and find that he can calculate 54x3 by himself now. Right after that he is trying to calculate two digits x two digits (e.g.13x14), he didn't figure it out yet, but i know he will keep going on for a period of time (and for as big as his head can handle). Therefore, I am thinking to enroll him for some more formal maths class, e.g. Abacus or EPGY, do any of you have experience on those classes?

For me, I value the maths concept and thinking more than the accuracy and speed of calculation (as everything will become x, y, z in the future and everyone use calculator in university and work), so i am not very into Abacus. However, i heard that it is really fun and it seems really suitable for my DS age to learn it, so i am considering enroll him to Abacus as well. Would any of you have experience? is it really fun? will it be too focus on speed and accuracy that made the kid doesn't think about the concept/meaning/reasoning of the math? or actually it helps them conceptualize the math?

or I should enroll my son for a EPGY class to help me explain some concept for him?

At home, we always apply maths in daily life and playing, i just want sth to help me to present the concept more clearly.

Thanks a lot!

I too was a big fan of EPGY, but it is now giftedandtalented.com. The curriculum is the same as EPGY developed by Stanford, and it's very solid. My only concern would be the pace. When it was EPGY, I could offer placement tests and adjust settings for users in my group so children could start where they were ready and move through the program more quickly and not be bored by needless repetition. It seems people who were users before the switch were able to keep those settings. However, I don't know if people who joined after the switch have access to a placement test, the ability to switch from reinforcement to gifted curriculum, or to manually adjust the number of review exercises. I would ask about what kind of control you have over adjusting the pace of the program for your DS. If they reply by saying that the program automatically adjusts to the learner's pace, don't buy it--that was always the case; EPGY was always adaptive. Even so, I had to make additional adjustments to the program for many students for whom the program (adaptive though it was) still wasn't fast enough.

Just from what I've seen on the web, they seem more commercial and sales oriented, so if I were you I'd want to hear from other parents before joining. You might ask on the this board to hear from other parents who joined after the switch to giftedandtalented.com to see what their experience has been like. As I said, the curriculum is very solid. As Portia mentioned, it's good for kids who don't need or want a game-like program or a program with lots fancy sound and graphics. I'd just want to find out more from people who joined after the switch before deciding.

You could also try Dreambox online. I think there is a free trial.

Having used everything mentioned on this thread so far, I can recommend all of them for your son You cannot go wrong with Abacus, Singapore Math, EPGY, Dreambox etc. But, I will also add some more resources for your son: Miquon math using Cuisenaire rods & MEP math reception. I believe that 3 is too young for Beast Academy - my child could not understand the language used (the wording of the cartoons) at 3, but was enjoying it by 5. (BTW, my child loved EPGY, but many find the user interface and the voiceover very boring. DreamBox is more colorful and child friendly).

Not a curriculum, but since someone mentioned Cuisinaire rods, I'd also like to mention Base Ten Blocks, which have become a "thing" in math manipulatives. They're crazy useful, AND, although you can buy really nice wooden ones, I got given a set of smaller-sized cheap-o foam ones that are the identical dimensions as Cuisinaire rods. Multiplied awesomeness. We keep our cusinaire rods and base ten blocks jumbled together in one box for maximum cross-over usefulness.

My DD9 and DD10 were enrolled in EPGY through the tutor-supported program before the switch to giftedandtalented.com. We took a break before the switch and came back under the new format in the independent study (IS) program. There is no testing required for the IS set of courses. They picked up right where the left off in their old courses.

You have to talk to the support personnel, but they have the ability to set the course at the regular setting (6 questions per topic) or gifted setting (4 questions per topic). There is also a parent account feature which is basically a dashboard access of your kids classes in one place. In the parent account you also have the ability to increase or decrease your kid's level by 0.5.

We found EPGY very unsuitable for a five year old, I wouldn't expect it would be great for an even younger child.

ITA with the fun manipulative suggestions. In addition Grid perplexors might be fun, and the Flashkids ...for the gifted child workbooks in B&N are fun even to a relatively high level. I have not tried Beast Academy, but I've heard good things. Life of Fred books might be a fun read aloud.

In general I would expect that if your child is like mine you'll be doing a crash course in pedagogy to try and make things age appropriate.

Wow, thank you so much for so many good advice, i will spend some time to look into details one by one and ask you for more advice later on ^-^

My son doesn't like cartoon or something with sounds, he enjoyed watching those very boring presentation of numbers when he was 1, that's why i am considering EPGY.

I have tried dreambox for him when he just turn 3, he doesn't like it, i think one problem is he cannot understand the story/game yet (as we are not english speaker) and his reaction time is not fast enough for him to go to the next level, so the game let him to do the number rods and the rods repetitively, only go to some very simple addition at that time.

Actually i will not start him right now, most likely when he turns 4, but would like to do some research first ^^

Thanks again ^-^

Portia,
Is ZoomTools a game? or the tools for zooming?
He tested in superior range for his visual spatial index score. However, i find that he only like to play with 2D structure, not 3D, he did build some 3D structures by magnetic tiles, but sill prefer use it to build 2D (maze or game board) more.

Thanks Portia, It looks fun, I am actually also searching sth similar for him to build some chemical structure, as he is so into periodic table right now.