Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Online course ---CTY vs TIP vs EPGY

Wonder if anybody can compare each other. The costs vary significantly. Also EPGY has school open enrollment and individual course.

Any info will be greatly appreciated

Here's a chart from the Davidson people:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10642.aspx

I really enjoyed looking at the chart that you posted in your link. Thank you! And the Kahn Academy has an Ipad link. I have been looking for alternatives for our son. He enjoys Apps on the IPAD, but he was not interested in looking at the demo from EPGY. IT was the monotone voice on the demo that turned him off. I wish the other's had demo's for preview.

That's funny--the EPGY voice has not been an issue for our DD, but others have commented on it. There was a thread here not too long ago that discussed it briefly. IIRC, the voice is actually that of a well-known and respected math educator who was involved in developing the material (??). But I agree it's not a voice you would hear on Sesame Street.

It's Stanford professor emeritus Patrick Suppes, as I explained earlier http://giftedissues.davidsongifted...._experience_with_Stanfor.html#Post124420 .

Our experience: EPGY is fun, fairly easy, and quirky. It has mental math, which is great. Coverage of subject areas is unpredictable but broad. There is NO option for practice or further depth: the software is supposed to give extra practice if you're having trouble, but I'm not sure about that. Word problems are well taught but not extensive. The coverage of logic and stats is welcome.

The EPGY open enrollment content is, as far as I can tell, exactly the same as the full-pay course. We've done both. With the full-pay course, you get access to a tutor, whom we never contacted although we could have. You also get a grade but only if you complete the class and take a final exam.

At CTY online, DS took a problem-solving class. We liked it very much except for the disjunction between the course content and the testing. The course content is something called Destination Math. Very logical, slightly geeky cartoon presentation, but clear and offers good options for more depth. The course content wasn't really very hard, but it did teach DS something. The exams were WAY harder than the course content and often required big leaps beyond what was taught. Some of the exams took 2 hours to complete, and this is a kid who tested in the 99th percentile for math. The exams at points were more like AMC-8 problems (only harder) than like a test of the material taught. We asked the teacher, who just said, hey, it's for gifted kids; it's supposed to be hard.

DD10 doesn't like the math video on Kahn Academy Ipad app because its slow pace and it doesn't have practice questions or tests. I found a paid app ($9.99) called MATH which is better. And she doesn't like EPGY demo either.

Thanks for all the details! DD does like CTY online demo as it's presented in such an efficient way.

Do you have experience of EPGY writing and LA lessons?

EPGY math is a fairly complete curriculum. By contrast, EPGY LAW (language arts and writing), although good for grammar and OK for reading comprehension, needs to be supplemented. EPGY LAW will ask a student to write a few sentences on a topic, selecting from a palette of words, and then say the response is correct based on whether it is grammatical (not whether it makes sense or "flows"). EPGY LAW is fine for topics in grammar with clear-cut answers. I would not trust any fully automated writing curriculum. There are online writing courses from CTY in which a teacher comments on a student's writing.

My son took EPGY writing. I liked it and he liked it too. It was not an easy task to get him started every assignment . But , at the end it was a lot of satisfaction when it was completed. The instructor sent us very comprehensive feedback, was available to talk over the phone as needed. We did use it several times, anyway . It is not cheap at all, but I would probably sign next year.
CTY LAW is different type of class. And I would agree with Bostonian . It is OK