Saturday, March 01, 2008

EPGY and miscellany

Speaking of IDL, I need to order a copy for Iris' use. At AGU, one of their sales reps said that she could set Iris up with a student version of IDL because we are partially homeschooling/unschooling her. She has also been taking on-line math from EPGY (Educational Program for Gifted Youth).

When Iris found out about EPGY, she was resistant. The first reason was kind of cute. She saw on the EPGY website that they were affiliated with Stanford University. She was worried that, if she became a Stanford student, she wouldn't be allowed to go to Lair of the Bear (UC Berkeley alumni family camp) anymore. I reassured her that she would always be welcome at Lair, so long as she joined the Cal alumni association.

The second reason took longer to resolve. She had to do EPGY on top of all the classwork and homework that her classmates did. She felt like she was being punished for being smart. However, having joined the third grade in the middle of the school year, she needed to demonstrate mastery of the curriculum she had missed. This led to frequent temper tantrums each evening. As she progressed ahead of the classwork, her school allowed her time during the school day to do EPGY. (Parents and the school, if the school is paying the EPGY tuition, receive weekly progress reports.)

She passed the third grade math final exam today. We promised her one month of Club Penguin membership for each grade she completes. I thought that would make CP membership an occasional treat. I hadn't realized how fast she can progress when motivated. A promise is a promise. I will write more about CB as I learn more from watching her play.

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