Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments EPGY or CTY Math - How much time does it take?

Thank you to everyone who responded. I think we could do three twenty-minute sessions a week, especially if he is able to progress at his own pace. Our homework battles occur because it is all below his level and he hates doing it. He loves to actually learn, though, so I think he would like EPGY or CTY.

Re: EPGY.
1) Use Open Enrollment option. There is no tutor available, but it is 10 times cheaper - $135 / 10 months. You'll need a volunteer group administrator - you can find one here or on WTM.
2) EPGY has 'gifted' setting which is OFF by default. Setting it to ON reduces repetition of the problems greatly. It may make a lot of difference in your child's experience (you'll need to see which is better for your child). Your group administrator will be able to change it.
3) In EPGY OE, you'd be able to move your child .5 grade up or down in each available course (Math K-7, Algebra 8, ELA 2-7) on your own.
4) EPGY math has timed drills ("car races") at the beginning of each lesson, which can be skipped. DC went from being sometimes frustrated to being ok with these over time. I take it as a good sign. (I do not care whether DC does these at this point.)

Overall, IMO, EPGY OE Math and AOPS are the best products for math: EPGY for standard math and AOPS for deeper understanding and a different learning approach (problem-solving and discovery). They both provide complete (though differing) curriculums.

Re: CTY.
CTY seems to use third-party courses for many of its science classes, most notably ThinkWell. You can get ThinkWell for a fraction of the cost through www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org. E. g., HS science courses are $150 / 12 months, and half the price during the 'group buys'. As with EPGY OE, it would be with no tutor. A few people here (HowlerKarma in particular) have posted quite a bit about CTY/ThinkWell/online courses in the past (thank you -it was useful). IMO, ThinkWell HS science courses are ok, but not great. (No definite opinion on MS cources.) I am finding other resources which I like more - e. g., Hoagland's "The way life works" (not to be confused with David Macaulay's books) and Campbell's "Biology" textbooks (there are 3) a lot. Of course, what works better would greatly depend on your and your child's particular situation.

ETA: at 7 yo, DC loved 'Great Source' math books: 'Math to Know',...,'Algebra/Geometry to Go'. These are more like reference books than textbooks - which allows the child to jump to much further topics and back - this could be more interesting for your son.

Is there any advantage in individual EPGY vs. OE EPGY?

The fact that this might - okay, probably will happen, does somewhat concern me, as homeschooling isn't in the cards for us. However, as far as I can tell, he already knows the 1st and 2nd grade math curricula, so he is going to be bored in school during math anyway for this year and next, and I am certain he will learn third grade math before third grade even if I don't teach him.. And I'm not happy just waiting for years until he finally gets to learn something new in school. It seems cruel to try keep him at the same level until the other kids catch up when he really, really wants to learn.

It's a hard decision. His school will definitely be unhappy with me when they find out he is taking online accelerated math classes at home. (And they will find out, because I am certain he will tell them. They seem to really believe that their math "challenge" sheets and "built-in enrichment" should be enough to keep his interest, or at least to keep him from being bored to tears.