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Cricket,

In Colorado, you may enter your child in extracurricular activities even though he or she is homeschooled. They can be in band and other activities with their peers.

I am aware of that. We did that with dd13 when she was younger and we were homeschooling. The reasons we aren't homeschooling with dd11 right now have more to do with finances (my p/t job pays about 1/3 of our bills and has our family health insurance) and dd and I having some difficulty working together. Right now, dd11's school set up is working pretty well for her. It isn't perfect, but not bad.

It occurs to me that you are maybe referring to dd13. She really isn't a kid who does a lot of the school extracurriculars aside from drama in years past and honor society. Her extracurricular interests tend to be outside of the school realm: she's open water scuba certified, does some rock climbing, volunteers at an animal shelter, etc.

Flower, did your dd decide to apply to EEP or not? I think that we're going to pass b/c the move is just too much for us right now.

We're trying to figure out a way to make dd13's high school experience better. She's taking nine courses/semester with most of them being heavy academic subjects. One of the non-academics, photo, which was supposed to become speech in the spring, she traded out for a study hall, which should give her more free time to join some clubs, etc.

Switching to another local school doesn't seem to be a problem solver as they all seem to have the same approach of quantity=rigor and not enough intellectual peers for dd. There are some alternative high schools but their test scores are quite poor and a good chunk of the kids in those schools seem to be troubled, so not necessarily something we're willing to take a chance on.

Dd may just be in a wait and see spot where she's going to have to try to make where she's at work.

Your answer may be Mary Baldwin College's Program for Exceptionally Gifted. It is a women's college that offers a peer group of about 100 young women who have left high school to enter college. My daughter will graduate in May with her bachelors degree. It was a perfect fit for our family. It was residential so we did not all have to move to Virginia, it had a true peer group of young women her age and ability, and the was able to pursue her academic challenges. I can't say enough good things about this program!

Thanks. I am familiar w/ Mary Baldwin's program. I do understand that it is quite pricey. Did it wind up costing you a ton if you don't mind my asking?

Dd is quite set on a marine bio B.S. or something very similar. That, and uncertainty as to whether she really wants to be away from me full time, would be other things we'd have to consider. She is going to stick it out at her current high school for at least her sophomore year and then we can reevaluate if it still isn't working for her.

Hi Cricket.. I missed this..We also did not apply. DD did not make the cut on the ACT that was required. I think that she does better on the SAT and she is going to take that in May but she also was less interested after her course at the local university. We made a mistake by putting her in a class that had a lot of discussion about issues that DD has convictions and thoughts but no real first hand experience. (Single parenting, poverty etc.) She felt that she could not talk up against grown women who were either single parents or had received food stamps etc. We are going to try a local gifted program within a high school for her in the fall. Many of the students have really enjoyed the teachers. Have you decided for the fall yet?

Dd didn't take the SAT or ACT at all this year, so I have no idea how she would have done. It has been a pretty high stress year, unfortunately. She's doing a couple summer programs through universities that I hope she'll like and is going to stick it out at the same high school for next year at least b/c we don't have any better options.

There are no programs here like you mention your dd doing next year. GT is really a moot point by high school b/c it makes no difference in placement; anyone can take the pre-AP/AP/IB classes and there are no GT classes or programs.

If she's still unhappy by the end of next year, I don't know what we'll do. I did request info from PEG with that as a possibility in the back of my mind. I don't know if she'll want to go that route or something else.

Thats amazing that anyone can take those classes. You pretty much have to be in the GT program to access those classes easily. Not for math but for social studies and sciences. This program allows them to take an AP social studies and AP Biology class in tenth grade. You can't do that without the program...So we will see if it does as it says it does on paper. If nothing else it has a bunch of 98% and above kids grouped together. Dd's ACT scores were completely backwards to her SAT scores. She got an 80% in the math, I do not remember the number as we needed 85% but her reading was lower than her last years SAT score in percentile. Not sure what happened if anything. She easily gets off on numbers and filling in the right letter choice...not sure if that occurred or it was a bad test for her... who knows at this point. What is PEG and is that at the same university as the early entrance program? Good luck!

No PEG is at Mary Baldwin College: http://www.mbc.edu/early_college/peg/

When I talked to them, they said that they are generally looking for around a 27 composite on the ACT.