Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Starting out with EPGY

Hi -- we are just starting out with EPGY for math as an afterschooling activity for DS5. He is in K, working at a late 1st/early 2nd grade in reading, and somewhere between 2nd and 3rd grade in math. I am trying to figure out where to start him for EPGY.

We just started trying the program yesterday, and so far so good -- he LOVES doing it. He had finished his math homework and wanted more math to do, so we started it up. Before and after dinner, he did several 20 minute sessions. He wanted to stay up even later last night to "please do just one more session".

My real question is whether there is any way to pre-test, to figure out what level he should start at? I started at K for a few exercises, then switched him to 1, then 1.5, then 2 within the first day. I am concerned about him missing some lessons that he might not know (e.g. measurement of gallons and quarts), but didn't want to go through every area that he *does* know. I started grade 2, and he hasn't yet missed an answer. I want to make sure he really gets things, though, so I was thinking of just letting him work through grade 2 at his own pace before going to grade 3. What do you think? His teacher at school is working with him one-on-one with mathematical reasoning and calculations from a 3rd grade workbook.

Thanks in advance

Susan

Hi Susan,

My 7 year old boy started EPGY April this year (when he was 6), and worked from K to Grade 4. He only did Math. We stopped at Grade 4 because I wanted him to have a few months' break. We then registered for LAW and he finished Grade 3 after 5 weeks.

For Math, he worked from K to Grade 2 in a week or two, 20 minutes a day. So if you are worried that he misses something, then I think you should not skip anything and just let him go through the materials quickly, like my son did. We did not skip anything.

I have another son who started at Grade 4 Math March this year, and now doing intermediate algebra (Grade 9). He also does 20-30 minutes a day. Only at grade 8 have we seen the pre-tests. This son did LAW Grade 2 to 6 in 3 months. All his sessions were 20 minutes a day, and he still does only 2 or 3 days a week. We do not skip anything for him as well.

Hope this gives you an idea how the system works, and that you can really go through the material quickly if need be, without skipping anything. If you choose to skip, you can check the strand to see if your son already knows the topic to be covered. If you skip something and that knowledge is required for certain topic at a higher grade, it can be quite frustrating for the kid - and parents.

My 7 year old started EPGY math mid September - he's in 2nd grade, goes to 3rd grade math at school. I started him at 2.5, so he could get used to how EPGY worked - it's hit and miss when he does it, I think he's done a total of about 15 hours, and he's now at 3.6. I could have started him higher, but he's happily worked through the easier parts, and is enjoying it, so I can't complain

If you're doing the individual OE, and you think he can handle 3rd after a brief review, start him in 3rd.

The program is broken up into chunks, with 3rd starting a new chunk. Because it's an expected entry point, there's a ton of review at the beginning, even if you got there by working your way up from 2nd. If you're in the group OE, and have the gifted setting on, you get less review of the stuff your kid knows. My kid was annoyed by the amount of review in the non-gifted setting, and you don't have the option in individual OE.

As a data point, it took my DD something like 13 contact-hours to do half a year of material in the individual OE.

(Reading what other kids are doing in 4-5 hours, if I had it to do over, I'd have done the group enrollment - even though I knew we wouldn't need it for the year. The pacing really bummed her out.)

I am part of the group enrollment program through a local group here in Orlando, so the facilitator is changing his setting to gifted. (Thank goodness -- I think that will really help get him to where he needs to be without having to worry that we skipped over something that he still needs to learn.) I think with the gifted setting we will try to go through all of the 2nd grade material, just to be sure that he isn't missing anything. It doesn't sound like it will take too long, and he is very interested in it.