Tiger Parent Alert: Summer math program?….

[Coronita]

So, what (if any) have you tried to do with your kids over the break regarding math online, regarding keeping retention during the break?

The traditional add/subtract/multiple/divide type questions from *cough* chinese enrichment programs are kinda dry, and while it drills in the mechanism, I’m looking for more problem solving skills.

Two choices i was entertaining was
1. IXL

http://www.ixl.com

or

2.Noetic learning (which does the bi-annual math competition)

http://www.noetic-learning.com

Thoughts, tiger parents?

Or should I just throw my monthly rental income, property taxes, HOA cost, insurance cost, and mortgage payment on a piece of paper and make up math problems for little FLU to solve and then hire little FLU to do basic bookkeeping? (Yeah, that would work really well)

[spdrun]

Take a few weeks off and take the kidlet to an interesting foreign country or three (road trip to a part of the US where he hasn’t been also works) rather than forcing him to take “summer school.” Ideally, a situation where you both disconnect from the Intarwebz entirely for a while.

There’s more to life and learning than online classes. But yeah, having him help with bookkeeping wouldn’t be a bad idea.

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]Take a few weeks off and take the kidlet to an interesting foreign country or three (road trip to a part of the US where he hasn’t been also works) rather than forcing him to take “summer school.” Ideally, a situation where you both disconnect from the Intarwebz entirely for a while.[/quote]

We already are taking time off…

[UCGal]

Hi Flu –

We’re having our kids do 3 things to keep their academic chops up during the summer.
1) 30 minutes a day of Khan Academy.
2) 30 minutes a day of Code Academy (one is learning python, the other Java – they both want to learn swift – as well.)
3) 30 minutes a day of Rosetta Stone Spanish.
(Their middle school, since it’s IB, has a foreign language requirement – so this will give them a jumpstart.)

Other than Gateways and 1 week of sailing camp – they are “free range” this summer… so I want to have their brains involved in more than just video games and shooting basketball.

[Coronita]

[quote=UCGal]Hi Flu –

We’re having our kids do 3 things to keep their academic chops up during the summer.
1) 30 minutes a day of Khan Academy.
2) 30 minutes a day of Code Academy (one is learning python, the other Java – they both want to learn swift – as well.)
3) 30 minutes a day of Rosetta Stone Spanish.
(Their middle school, since it’s IB, has a foreign language requirement – so this will give them a jumpstart.)

Other than Gateways and 1 week of sailing camp – they are “free range” this summer… so I want to have their brains involved in more than just video games and shooting basketball.[/quote]

I forgot about Khan.. Maybe worth checking out….

Gateways Program?

[moneymaker]

I always took summer school classes voluntarily, but that was a time before internet. Now I would probably rather write an AI program, you know the kind where you just write the kernel and the rest writes itself.

[Essbee]

There’s a place near us called “Mathnasium”. The logo is kinda cute/clever in that the letters “at” in “Mathnasium” form an “A+”. The place also has a clever slogan: “catch up, keep up, or get ahead.” Besides this, I know nothing about the place, though.

[ocrenter]

[quote=Essbee]There’s a place near us called “Mathnasium”. The logo is kinda cute/clever in that the letters “at” in “Mathnasium” form an “A+”. The place also has a clever slogan: “catch up, keep up, or get ahead.” Besides this, I know nothing about the place, though.[/quote]

My totally math challenged daughter just had her first session Monday. This is a girl that is still throwing tantrums daily over her math homework. She absolutely loved it and can’t wait to go back for the next session. Originally we thought she would only be able to handle an hour, but ended up going for an hour and a half.

[UCGal]

[quote=flu]

Gateways Program?[/quote]

It’s a “fun” summer school program for kids grade 1 and up. It’s taught mainly by teachers on their summer break.

http://www.gatewaysschool.org/

But talk about tiger parents…. It’s VERY challenging to get enrolled. You have to enroll on exactly the right day at the right time slot. They’ve improved their servers – but it used to be impossible to connect, and by the time you got into the registration site most of the classes were booked. (This year was much better.)

[Coronita]

[quote=UCGal][quote=flu]

Gateways Program?[/quote]

It’s a “fun” summer school program for kids grade 1 and up. It’s taught mainly by teachers on their summer break.

http://www.gatewaysschool.org/

But talk about tiger parents…. It’s VERY challenging to get enrolled. You have to enroll on exactly the right day at the right time slot. They’ve improved their servers – but it used to be impossible to connect, and by the time you got into the registration site most of the classes were booked. (This year was much better.)[/quote]

Ok…..We’re talking about the same thing…..Yeah, tell me about the registration days…

[UCGal]

It’s too late for this year – but the registration is in April. You need to sign up for a family account ahead of time and they email back with when your registration slot is. The slot is determined by the age/grade of the student as well as whether you’re a returning family. If you have more than one kid – in different grades, you’ll get different registration date/times.

The classes range from pure fun, to educational. I try to mix it up for my kids so they don’t hate the program.
I’ve got my soon-to-be 8th grader taking
– Magic (fun)
– Rocketry (fun)
– Engineering (less fun but he’s excited)
– C++ (less fun but he’s excited.)

I’ve got my soon to be 6th grader taking:
– Fencing
– Chess (he loves chess – this was his choice.)
– Engineering
– Architecture.

Classes they’ve taken in the past: The physics of roller coasters, quizlets (math/logic puzzles), cartooning, debate, guitar, sumi drawing…

You can see descriptions of the classes at gatewaysschool.org – and select “programs” then select the grade level.

For future years – make sure you have a family ID ahead of time – it stays the same through the years… then they’ll email when it’s coming time to enroll.

[Coronita]

[quote=UCGal]It’s too late for this year – but the registration is in April. You need to sign up for a family account ahead of time and they email back with when your registration slot is. The slot is determined by the age/grade of the student as well as whether you’re a returning family. If you have more than one kid – in different grades, you’ll get different registration date/times.

The classes range from pure fun, to educational. I try to mix it up for my kids so they don’t hate the program.
I’ve got my soon-to-be 8th grader taking
– Magic (fun)
– Rocketry (fun)
– Engineering (less fun but he’s excited)
– C++ (less fun but he’s excited.)

I’ve got my soon to be 6th grader taking:
– Fencing
– Chess (he loves chess – this was his choice.)
– Engineering
– Architecture.

Classes they’ve taken in the past: The physics of roller coasters, quizlets (math/logic puzzles), cartooning, debate, guitar, sumi drawing…

You can see descriptions of the classes at gatewaysschool.org – and select “programs” then select the grade level.

For future years – make sure you have a family ID ahead of time – it stays the same through the years… then they’ll email when it’s coming time to enroll.[/quote]

I meant. Yeah, tell me about how crazy registration was…. I was only able to get the afternoon sessions, so the morning sessions are open, hence I was thinking of backfilling it with something…. I just wanted to make sure you were talking about the same thing….

I think they have this priority based registration based on previous year participation….

[cvmom]

We really like the Art of Problem Solving online classes. No boring drills. Aside from the paid classes, there is also a free online system called Alcumus that kids can work through, as well as “For the Win”, a speed race based on the Mathcounts event. http://www.artofproblemsolving.com

[treehugger]

Over-achieving, smart kids, I can’t relate. My 14 year old step-daughter failed 9th grade freshman geometry. I would prefer she take the course over during the summer, am in process of tracking down the high school to figure out an approved course, likely on-line.

We are having a tough time trying to explain to our over indulged, spoiled little white girl that soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse are GONE until she proves she can keep her grades up. Plus her mom has filled her head with visions of UC Davis and Berkeley, now I the bad step mom am trying to explain that in a overachieving world even a B knocks you out of the running, let alone a D!

Anyone have kids that took geometry for high school over the summer, on-line or other?

[joec]

[quote=treehugger]Over-achieving, smart kids, I can’t relate. My 14 year old step-daughter failed 9th grade freshman geometry. I would prefer she take the course over during the summer, am in process of tracking down the high school to figure out an approved course, likely on-line.

We are having a tough time trying to explain to our over indulged, spoiled little white girl that soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse are GONE until she proves she can keep her grades up. Plus her mom has filled her head with visions of UC Davis and Berkeley, now I the bad step mom am trying to explain that in a overachieving world even a B knocks you out of the running, let alone a D!

Anyone have kids that took geometry for high school over the summer, on-line or other?[/quote]

Yeah, I believe UCs (the “tier 1/2” ones) are pretty hard to get in now…

I’ve read especially UC Berkeley and UCLA being the toughest…(probably depending on if you want to live in nor cal or so cal…)

Then, I think UC Davis and UC San Diego are just a step below those 2.

For the people with HS kids, maybe they can share if they applied/were able to get in. It seems much harder now though from all I’ve read.

I agree that dealing with over indulged and “entitled” kids (and adults) is the worst thing since they view the world and everything in it as something that’s just supposed to be given to them while in reality, a lot of “things” / “stuff” are extra/luxuries.

Perhaps another depression to the scale of the 1920s-30s is in order for these people.

In a way, it’s not their fault that they think this way. I blame it on the mass market media, companies and over sensitive parents…

[Author]

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