Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment National Merit Scholarship and other programs

I am new to the forum and have a question about the National Merit Scholarship program. The entry quidelines seem pretty specific. I have trouble understanding how my DS would fit into this program. He is only 10 but is working at a 10th grade level. Obviously he has no plans to enter college full time in two years. But, if we waited until he was the age of a highschooler, he would no longer be doing high school work. Are there any other families with this type of situation and how do you go about fitting your child/ren into this and other programs. We contacted the Duke TIP program and were told that we could choose which talent search to do because he is the chronological age for a fifth grader, but is doing work well beyond that and would benefit more from taking the ACT over the Explore test. Help!

Corinna

Thanks Dottie.
I thought the sole benefit of the talent search was the opportunity to test at above grade levels. I'm sure I'm missing something. I'm so new to this. Are there any other benefits?

Corinna

Hi CSmith. You mentioned he is working at the 10th grade level but no intentions of entering college in two years. May I ask, what are your plans in two years?

Perhaps those options would be interesting to explore.

Ren

Ren, Definitely college expectations in two years - just not the "full time college" that I thought I understood from their website. Of course that could change. It's hard to think of a 12 year old with 15 credit hours (also because I'm not sure he would be comfortable on campus alone and I have four others younger than him to take care of).

Corinna

You certainly have your hands full. Is he a member of Davidson, can they help you with options? There was an article about the 10 year old from CA going off to some IVY school. They must have programs.

Some one mentioned that there are several US government programs for the PG. Since I have one 3 year old, it is not on the radar, but some people here must know.

Ren

Ren-
I am unaware of any government program for PG kids. I suppose if they existed, there wouldn't be as much need for a private organization like Davidson.

For the OP-
We let our kids set the pace and determine when they go away to school. Son number one went away at an age appropriate time with 50 college credits on his record. FWIW, many of the more competitive schools will use these classes as proof of a homeschoolers ability to perform, but they will not accept the credits. Son two (11) will be starting with a single college course in the next year, if we can get him in. He has a set of very competitive ACT scores, so I am hoping that we can avoid a real battle. He's thinking he may want to attend a service academy, which would mean that he would need to be at least 17.
A younger kid simply would not be up to the physical demands. We're keeping things open though, and trying to see where DS will really thrive.

I'm with Lorel--Davidson is the only program I know of for PG kids, and it's not a government program. If there are other programs, I'd love to hear about them!

I also second Lorel's approach to college. There are lots of things to do with a HSd child without sending him/her off to college at age 12. Distance-learning, studying unusual subjects that kids don't usually get exposure to, mentorships and internships to explore career options (since choosing one path can be a serious hardship for PG kids), volunteerism, and travel are all options to slow down the move to college. I would take advantage of any and all of these that interest the child before I'd start the "real" college process.

We certainly don't want to "push" our son into college. He has already shown some interest in taking some online courses at the University in our city. We have applied to Davidson and are hoping to hear good news next month. One concern I have is to have him finish formal high school studies and have little or no academic work going on for the next 7 years or so and then trying to apply for these programs. Does that make sense? Anyway, I'm thankful for the responses and discussion.

Corinna

Oh, of course you're not pushing! You're running along behind trying to keep up! I think everyone here recognizes that. Many people here are running right along with you!



Definitely, it does! Oh yes!

But I do think it's possible--albeit challenging--to balance some more unusual academic subjects with some more traditional ones or to dig more in depth into traditional subjects and slow things down a bit at the high school/college level. I think moderating speed through lateral thinking is harder to do at the elementary/junior high levels than it is to do as kids progress. Other than problem solving and word problems, how do you go deeper into addition and subtraction or handwriting? Speed is just about all you have to get past the "easy stuff" and finally get to work that requires real thought. But you can do more with calculus or science experiments or argumentative writing at the high school level. There are lots of books to read and papers and stories to write and mathematical and scientific puzzles to solve.

I guess what we're planning to do when we're in your shoes (and I thank my lucky stars that we're not there yet!) is to seek out ways to broaden and deepen our child's educational experience. I think it's easy to get into the "This is what you study in high school and then you're done" mode of thought, when that's not necessarily required, just traditional. Thinking creatively about other academic topics or disciplines or uses of his time than "the usual suspects" might keep your child moving forward without having to go off to college too soon.

I'm on my first cup of coffee today, so I'm not sure I'm making sense... Does that follow?

I don't know if you can do much lateral, once you are doing applied calculus and get into college level physics. You can slide with Enlgish and Shakespeare and head into languages, but once you get to a certain level in the sciences, you have to keep going.

How many times can you talk about Bernoulli's theorum. And you need resources to head into chemistry. I would not want to mix hydrocloric acid at home to do lab work.

There was another poster who talked about his son pushing the agenda and just getting to college at 12 and it sounds like this child is pushing his agenda to learn.

As much as we may want to choose his pace, perhaps sometimes you can't. And I think you have to be open to the fact that this child is just motivated to push to take those courses now. Not that you push him, but maybe he just needs it.

Ren