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    Joined: Aug 2011
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    We started doing EPGY a couple of weeks ago and it is working out great so far! I know some people say it is dull and boring but DS5 did Kumon for 2 years so this is a party for him....:-)

    I LOVE the fact that they keep moving on once he masters an area. Repetition has never been good for him and is what frustrated him the most with Kumon. They also jump around a lot which keeps it interesting. DS actually asks to do it and has spent at least 35 minutes everyday for 2 weeks working on it.

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    coveln Offline OP
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    Awesome help and will keep checking for new recs. I saw alot of people mentioning their child doing EGPY but it seemed expensive and I wasn't seeing posts really describing it. I think Dreambox might be the way to go at least for a trial but will look at all the things mentioned. I am a little concerned that the school might actually do some assessment (likely wishful thinking that even informal assessment would be done) of her math and then she will be stuck doing 1st grade math all year because she misses a couple things when I know she could blast through a couple years worth if encouraged. At home we always figured that if she was happy playing dressup and drawing then why try to give her math to do when she is already ahead. In kindergarten they never seemed to do much "learning" anyway. Maybe they did a poll on what ice cream flavor they liked and made a graph and that sort of thing but they weren't worksheet heavy. I am assuming 1st grade will move to more structured learning and she will be bored silly. Thus I figure it is time to actually show her things she can learn... crazy concept.

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    coveln Offline OP
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    Originally Posted by ohmathmom
    Many of the online learning sites you mention have course demos or free trials. Look at those and the comments about them here in the forums here to help you decide what might work best for your DD.

    Art of Problem Solving's Beast Academy doesn't begin until grade 3 and only runs through level 4A so far, and they are book program, but your DD may be more open to books by the time she reaches that level.

    You might combine an online learning system with some books and other enrichment activities. I put together a Math Enrichment Family Resource Book for my daughter's school (grades 5 and 6). You can download it as a pdf for free here:

    https://sites.google.com/site/polan...o-math-enrichment-family-resource-book-1

    Many of materials cover early grade levels as well, and a gifted child can quickly reach the point of handling upper elementary-level materials.

    You'll find tons of other enrichment resources in the forums here as well.

    Good Luck!


    Wow, what a resource. Its going to take me a while to check out all these sites. Thanks!

    Joined: Mar 2013
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    I'm working on this year's edition of the resource book now. I hope to have it available online by the end of September. I'll let you know when it's available.

    EPGY has an Open Enrollment program which is considerably less expensive than the traditional program. The tuition is $135 for ten months or $95 for five months with an initial registration fee of $25 dollars. If you renew before the end of the enrollment period, you don't have to pay the $25 fee again. I run an Open Enrollment group if you can't find one in your area and opt to go that route. Keep in mind though that the open enrollment version doesn't include instructional support, that will fall on you, and you don't receive a transcript.

    You'll find mixed reviews of EPGY because it works great for some kids and not for others. You'll see the same for all the good online learning programs. You may find you have to try a few different options until you find what works best for your DD. Checking out what others have said in various threads here should help you narrow the field.

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    I'm new here, so I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for - but my son loves www.ixl.com - it's math curriculum sectioned by either grade or skill - it does cost money but its only $75 a year I believe, and that's not too bad. The site goes from PreK to 8th grade, plus geometry and algebra, and the nice thing (for us anyway, and I'm assuming other gifted kids might be the same) is that you can bounce around to whatever skills/grade you feel like (we hover around 3rd grade, with a few dips into 2nd and random jumps into 4th-6th...it depends on the particular skill and my son's interest at the moment - It's good not to be pigeon-holed into a particular grade). They email weekly reports on progress and there are little "rewards" for completing particular skills, or working for an hour or whatever else (its just a big chart with stars that you can uncover to find fun little pictures...not much of a reward really, but my son gets excited about seeing a 'penguin' or a 'shoe' or whatever else is under the star - then again, he's 3 so I don't know how a first grader would like that part, lol.) either way, we have really found ixl super helpful, so I thought I would pass the info along smile

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    Here's a chart the Davidson people made up that might be helpful:

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

    We've been doing EPGY; DD started with I think the 6th grade math, which she did pretty quickly, but really slowed down with algebra. She was working her way through algebra this past year but still isn't finished--she wants to learn math (in theory) and picks things up quickly but then is resistant to actually sitting down and doing the work. I got her an AoPS book (Intro to Counting and Probability) to work on independently in school this year and she told me she was really excited because she had started it and "they found a way to make counting interesting to me--impressive, huh?" The AoPS stuff seems to emphasize understanding in a different way and their site says it was designed by people who were good at math as kids and would have liked to have books like this. So I'm hoping DD will be more enthused about it, but we just started. I have to say EPGY seemed a little dry but I am not mathy myself and don't know how you could really make algebra fun; it seems almost like math facts to me. Maybe we'll have to look at the AoPS algebra book and see if it can do better. Somebody posted here on another thread that even if you've seen a subject, the AoPS treatment may still be useful and interesting, so I am optimistic.

    Anyway, good luck!

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    Thanks everyone for all the advice. I know our needs will change as she gets older. We started with a 2 week trial of Dreambox which has been perfect so far. The first time she tried it she wasn't so sure. The second time she liked it ok. A week went by before she used it again since she didnt request it and I wasn't around much to suggest it. The third time she was completely hooked and moving fast into obsession. I could hardly pull her away from it. It starts you back half a grade to be sure you don't have gaps so not sure if that is why she wasn't sure at first or if was just getting the hang of the mouse and games etc. In the next 5 days she flew through 95% of first grade and started on 2nd. It has been really fun to see her enjoy this actually since I never thought of her as that interested in math. To be fair, she never plays video games normally so perhaps that was some of the appeal as it is more like a game than a math program. I am worried though about comments that it changes after the early grades (not sure when) and no longer has the adventure park and fun missions and prizes etc. She will be crushed then.

    I can see her moving up quickly for a while in the levels and then I am sure she will slow down. I alternate between enjoying her delight in learning something and my apprehension about what we will do later as she moves quickly ahead. I'm trying not to stress. I agree with other posts that have mentioned making sure of full mastery and speed/ease of basic math facts and I know some extra time can be spent there and on problem solving.

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    It will switch to the new environment when she finishes the 3rd grade curriculum (or starts hitting some 4th grade units, not quite sure).

    The units themselves will still be presented in a similar format, but the story threads in the adventure park go away and you switch to a simpler lesson picker -- a bunch of lessons you are working on will show up, with names (open number line, fractions...), and you pick from that, and you get checkmarks when they are completed. Every once in a while you unlock a movie with some upper elementary humor that is actually a mini-lesson -- I really liked the one that compared algorithms for doing additions, trying to show different techniques work best with different numbers.

    The little game park goes away, and there is a space where you can unlock less obviously mathy games. I found that part pretty meh.

    DS7 was very happy when he switched to the new environment last year toward the end of 1st grade, but he had been watching his brother play for a while and is very competitive, so part of the attraction was feeling grown up.

    We have been using Dreambox for a few years, starting before the new environment. With my eldest we did hit a point in the 2nd or 3rd grade curriculum when we had to stop/slow down for a while and drill on math facts, because all the mental math units were becoming very frustrating without automaticity.

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    For fluency (addition/subtraction, multiplication and division facts), my kids love Big Brainz. They have a free version and deluxe version (deluxe version only for mult. and division). It is like a real video game where they run through a dungeon, ruins, volcano, etc. beating monsters by typing in the correct answers on time. My 6 year old, who had no interest whatsoever in flashcards, asks to play the game a few times a week and he has almost mastered division. He has been playing for a few months so it's not like he was into it for a couple days and then lost interest. My 7 year old daughter likes it as well, but isn't quite as into it.

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    Does anyone know of any specifically fact/fluency based programs which are not BigBrainz? We managed to force our eldest through Timez Attack in grade 4, and it was of great benefit to her, but it was also extremely hard going for a child with 2E issues. My second child clearly needs help with basic arithmetic fluency, but also has ADHD and often hasn't even a) noticed the question is there to be read and b) read it before TimezAttack has moved on, forget answering and then hunting the keyboard for the correct number keys...

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