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[quote=Anonymous]Not all talented kids are the same. If a child scores 170+ on a psychologist administered IQ test, I would not recommend public school. Speaking from my experience, even TJ is not good for many of these kids, as it is more about the quantity of work than the pace of the classes (at least when I graduated there in the early '90s). You need to pursue self-paced education for kids like that and consider just going straight to college instead of high school.

I sent my kids to Nysmith for a while, but I still found it lacking in self-paced work.  If a kid can learn two years of math in one year, putting them one year ahead is not going to keep it interesting for them (and kids end up trying to get tutored through another level over the summer). If a kid is reading at an 11th grade level, there's nothing in the 4th grade curriculum that will be challenging to them. When a kid is very advanced in all areas both of these things, much of their school time is wasted.

Too much focus in advanced education is on enrichment, which often just translates to more work at the same level, when a faster is pace is what is more appropriate. The goal is to help the kids become autodidacts, because, that's where we all end up eventually. Teaching is subordinate to learning.

For kids that are more in the 120-140 range, what is in the range of programs that are out there may satisfy them, but will probably still hold them back in a core area of interest or ability. As such, technology-enabled, self-paced education is likely to become the preferred method of advanced education in the next 5-10 years.  The vast quantity of online materials available, including open admission university courses with great instructors can transform the local educational authority or parent into serving more of a coaching role. Wasting that resource in the pursuit of status-oriented, brand name, traditional schooling is foolish.[/quote]

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