Hello everyone,
I have found so much valuable information on this site. I have been lurking for a while and just joined yesterday. This is my first time posting to a discussion forum. My DD9 is in 4th grade at a private school. She loves math and is bored with the pace of her school's program. She has always been very quick with learning new math concepts. After something is explained once she gets it, then hates having to do repetitive worksheets on "easy" math. She scored in 99th percentile on the Quantitative Reasoning and Mathematics 1&2 sections of the ERB CTP 4 standardized test last may. In first grade she had the WISC IV and scored 125 on the Perceptual Reasoning Index (95th percentile) but quit a bit lower on the Verbal Comprehension Index. I have enrolled her in the NUMATS and JHU CTY talent search programs, so she will be able to take the SCAT and EXPLORE in January. I was also considering the EPGY online math courses. Her school does not offer any acceleration at all. They do allow me to work with her at home after school, but she is not keen on the idea of doing extra work during the week. She is working with a tutor one hour a week out of a 5th grade math review book and is progressing quickly. Does anyone know if the EPGY group formed here is accepting new students? Thank you for all of your helpful posts.

hi chkitchens welcome! I'm so glad that you are addressing your daughter' s needs for harder math. Lots of schools say that they never do acceleration and then change their mind once they grow to understand the situation. best wishes grinity

Welcome chkitchens!!!

I wanted to get some clarification on what you meant by


Great job advocating your DD and feeding her love of math!

Hi Dazed&Confused,

Thanks for replying to my post. When I approached the Head of the Lower School this past summer she discouraged me from teaching my DD any concepts they had not yet learned in school. She told me this would only confuse her or make her bored in class and that there was no benefit since she would learn it at school eventually anyway. I thought this was definitely not in my DD best interest. When I spoke with her current math teacher a few weeks ago she was fortunately supportive of my teaching her accelerated math at home, after school, or on the weekends. She even gave me some resources such as the Aleks website and suggested the Saxon Math homeschool series. Recently, my DD has been meeting with a tutor once a week and is quickly progressing through a 5th grade math review book. When I tested her with the Saxon Homeschool Middle Grades Placement Test she scored well enough to begin their Math 7/6 book which is their 6th grade math book. I wish her school had a gifted or pull out program for subject acceleration. I have heard that in Middle School (6th, 7th and 8th) it would be a lot easier for her to take math with older students since they change classes for all subjects. I think that if I can work with her at home this year and next year she will eventually be able to work at an advanced level at school and not have to do extra work at home. Do you think the EPGY accelerated math course would be a good fit for her? I can register her through the Northwestern CTD program but it is expensive. My plan is to enroll her in the the EPGY course instead of her tutor since he is very expensive. I have just sent a PM to melmichigan to see if I can join the EPGY open enrollment EPGY group that was started by other members a few weeks back. If it is full I will go ahead and enroll her through CTD. Any input from other members is greatly appreciated!

CFK, how did you go about finding said tutor?

My daughter did EPGY in 3rd Grade when the school was refusing to offer her anything in addition to current math programming. She was allowed to do it on some occasions at school, but 95% was done at home. It is a good program. Daughter enjoyed it, repeats only content that she didn't know. They are good about accelerating as needed to appropriate content. We went straight through EPGY (as opposed to through CTD). In 4th, our school offered an a small accelerated math group, so we really just needed it for that year. Sounds like accelerating will be easier from a logistics standpoint next year. Hopefully administration will be amenable. You will also have tons of reporting from EPGY on what she has covered, as well as end of grade level test results. Administrators love that kind of thing. PROOF, not just my word that she is there. Good luck!

Thx, CFK.

I especially like the approach of letting the child guide some of the direction.

Our school regularly brings up the question, "But what about the gaps?" From the constant review (spiraling) between 3rd, 4th & 5th, I'm not too worried about that.

Too their credit, the school has even contemplated bringing in a tutor to help with math when he goes beyond the elementary offering, acknowledging that the 5th & 6th grade teachers really aren't in a position to crack into to algebra & beyond.

Dandy

i was wondering if you could tell me around how much the grad students usually charge for tutoring?

hi

[quote=chkitchens]Hello everyone,
I have enrolled her in the NUMATS and JHU CTY talent search programs, so she will be able to take the SCAT and EXPLORE in January. I was also considering the EPGY online math courses. Her school does not offer any acceleration at all. They do allow me to work with her at home after school, but she is not keen on the idea of doing extra work during the week. She is working with a tutor one hour a week out of a 5th grade math review book and is progressing quickly. quote]

NUMATS - what is this?
Is the JHU CTY talent search something separate from NUMATS?

I'm not sure I get your math situation is Your DD doing Math with her 4th grade class, then she does 5th grade at home? Are you compressing and accesslorating the work for her? Will you have her do 6th grade next year with a online course at school?

My DS9 in 3rd grade is doing 3rd & 4th Grade Math at school this year he is skipping some of the work because he doesn't need so much review. I'm hoping to bring a online Math course into school so he can work hard at something he loves. Most of school is too easy.

NUMATS stands for Northwestern University's Midwest Academic Talent Search. It is separate talent search from the JHU CTY talent search. Students in the NUMATS program take the EXPLORE test instead of the SCAT test that the JHU CTY students take.

My DD does 4th grade math with her 4th grade class. They do not have a gifted program at her school and from what I can tell, they keep everyone doing the same course work in their classes until 6th grade. I think for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade they do a much better job meeting the needs of individual students. For example, I think they would allow an advanced 6th grader to take a math class with 7th or 8th graders.

Outside of school she has been working with a tutor once a week just going through a 5th grade review book. I want her to start the EPGY 3/4 accelerated online math course at home, see how she does, then move on to their math 5/6 course. With the EPGY math she can just move at her own pace but I am not sure yet how fast she will progress. Her school is not going to allow her to do online work at school next year. It will all have to be at home for now.