It sounds like they give the kids time to pursue a personal interest and do a "project" of some sort. DD asked the teacher if she can program mods for computer games (like minecraft) and the teacher said that last year that didn't go well, because the kids spent too much time messing around with the game. Anyone have suggestions of a personal project for a geek? She is in fourth grade. She would love doing something with computers. I suggested she program with Scratch (she has a book) but she said something about it not working (like the book doesn't match what's online).
