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Hello everyone,

I took the very expensive plunge and signed my dd up for an online CTY class. We're doing the Young Readers: Dog Stories. When I asked my dd if she would like to read some books and talk about them with other kids who liked to read as much as she did her response was, "there are other kids?" I almost cried. The books look great and she posts her "assignments" on a blog - some original some in response to other kids comments. She is supposed to get constant feedback from a professor. We start on April 13 so I will submit a full report if anyone else has considered taking the plunge

Hi,
My DD12 took "Crafting the Essay". I think she got some very good ideas from the class, but the teacher commentary wasn't as useful to us as we might have hoped. There really isn't any back-and-forth between the teacher and the student similar to the discussion you would have in a live classroom. Instead, you read the chapter material, submit your writing sample, and wait for teacher feedback in the form of a one-time commentary.

The students do critique each other, which is most notable for the differing viewpoints you receive for the same piece of writing. And some of the student submissions were very imaginative.

In the end, my daughter felt she learned just from the process of writing, writing, writing. In short, it wasn't wildly inspirational, but it was a good experience.

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to try to stay positive but was looking forward to some actual "teaching" of writing and critical thinking!! We'll see how it goes. Maybe I can talk her teacher into letting this take the place of some classroom work.

We just sign DS7 up for 2 classes, one with CTY and one with Stanford. (We did it this way for financial aid)

He is going to take the Build Blocks writing class from CTY, and 5th/6th grade math for stanford. He starts the math on April 1st and the english on the same day as you guys April 13.

I will come and update you on both.... he is very excited, he got an email saying that we paid the tuition that was not covered by financial aid.... which for us was a pretty big deal, he knows that we can't really afford it, ..... but we are going to anyway.

On Wednesday we are going to talk to the gifted and talented coordinator for the district to see if we can use this as a curriculum replacement.

Good luck with GT Coordinator meeting! Let me know how it goes. I am leaning in that direction as well. I think once I have all the texts and the syallbus for the course I will set up a discussion.

Soup,

I take it your son has skipped a grade. My dd's score met the qualification for third and fourth grade(i think?) but I assumed we should stick with the course for her current grade which is a fifth grade curriculum whereas the building blocks is middle school. I was tempted by the Young Readers: Magic class but again it was for 3rd or 4th grade. Whew so many choices and so much information!

good luck!

Yea, last year he skipped 2nd grade. He placed in 5th grade for both math and ela. He is ready for the building block... he needs it. I wasn't sure what to pick so i called CTY and told them all of his scores and what he is doing at home and school, and they suggested he take that course since he can only take one class.

I am worried about the math though, he placed strongly on the SCAT in 5th grade, but there are a lot of things he doesn't know...... I had to pick either 3rd / 4th, or 5th /6th.... so we went with 5th / 6th. Because of the way the financial aid works, we only have one shot... this is it for the entire year, 2009. He's doing 5th in his computer class at school and is really bored with the 3rd grade math in class. So hopefully he'll do ok.

Next school year the gifted program at his school kicks in and they are in the process of revamping it. So I can only hope!

We are thinking of having him take the SAT. If he scores a 700 then he can become part of a study through CTY...... this is what I have been told? We may give it a shot- if he becomes part of the study, then I think he'll get some classes free.....

"There are other kids?" Ouch!

Keep us posted!

Wow free classes. You should go for it!! My dd does not have the math skills for any type of advancement though I might have her retest to see if she can qualify and take science courses next summer.

we didn't think ds7 did either... then he kindergarten and BAM.. there they where! the same thing happened this year with creativity... all of a sudden he's Mr. Creativity! He blooms like a flower! :P

Maybe she'll suddenly blossom them under everyone's nose!

DS4 is doing the same thing, Soup. Nothing that even looked especially GT (except OEs!), and then WHAM! He's crazy with the math! In the span of a month, literally!

It's almost more like an explosion than a blossoming!

Thanks Dottie! Maybe is he does it, we can get the district to pay for it....lol will need a truckload of house shoes for that....lol

I printed the curriculum for the 3rd/4th epgy class for a teacher friend of mine. She went through it and according to our state standards it covers material all the way through 8th grade! I'm going through the process of enrollment now. But I think I'll opt for the 5/6 class as well.

Update on CTY:

We are officially half way through our Young Reader class and the verdict is a big thumbs up!! My dd is getting so much out of it. She is really enjoying the books and is learning how to read closely and critically. She is making connections in the text and thinking deeply about the characters and what motivates them. The teacher has been very responsive and thorough in her evaluations so all in all we're thrilled. Just as a P.S. my dd was accepted into the gifted program so we're happy about that too.

Thanks for the feedback on the Young Reader class. DS7 was working on math through CTY, which is really EPGY for the lower grades. He's in 4 now but we put it on hold while we deal with school issues. I'm curious to hear how you like the math.

I was thinking about the Young Reader class for part of the summer but I'm not sure about the writing component. DS7 reads at a higher level and would like the 4/5 books but I'm not sure he could handle the writing component. I do not want it to be a chore but I would like him to have [more] practice. Does DD enjoy writing every other day? Did she enjoy writing before the class? Thanks!

Hello VolcanoMom,

We have not taken any Math. My dd did not qualify. On the writing it can be a chore if she is having a busy week. I sit at the computer and discuss the questions with her so she views it as an activity we do together and that helps. She enjoys the discussions and trading ideas with other kids.

I have experience with Northwestern's CTD and Stanford's EPGY online courses, but would like to hear about any of JHU's CTY online courses that allow kids to interact with each other online more for 3rd graders. Glad to hear about the Dog Stories course, thanks.

I also have experience with the summer courses at CTD and EPGY, which are of course more interactive but both allow students who have submitted a portfolio instead of test scores, so there were some students who were not highly gifted attending the courses.