Blogs

It is exciting to see the proliferation of online courses from universities across the country and around the world. The most recent offering was announced last week, with course selections beginning in the fall of 2012, which is a collaboration between Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). You can read more about "EdX" at http://web.mit.edu/press/2012/mit-harvard-edx-announcement.html.

At least one of these open courses offers a certificate upon completion, although none awards a degree. But if you're interested in some in-depth knowledge about a particular subject, this is the way to go. For more information about which universities offer open courseware, a good start is with the blog DIY Learning, which has posted the top 50 collections. http://onlineuniversityrankings2010.com/2010/open-edu-top-50-university-...

We have often directed our readers to the Mensa For Kids websites. And now Mensa for Kids (www.mensaforkids.org) and the Mensa Foundation www.mensafoundation.org) are offering Bright, the smartest monthly enewsletter for kids ages 6-10.

Every issue is full of fun games, puzzles, activities and factoids specially selected to encourage children to learn, explore and think in new ways. Regular features include games of logic, math, spatial relations and word usage; science features; activity ideas and “edutainment” programs; and feature stories courtesy. (For example, March’s issue includes brain bending trivia from American Mensa’s annual CultureQuest® event, tips on how to become a mad scientist, comics and word games.)

It’s easy for all your favorite young people to subscribe. Current Mensa members can subscribe at www.us.mensa.org/enewsletters, and nonmembers can visit www.mensaforkids.org/bright and follow the links under “Bright Newsletter” (parental permission for nonmembers under 13 is required). The most current 90 days of issues are available on both sites, and PDFs also are available for download and printing within each email issue.

Support the Mensa Foundation and programs like this at www.mensafoundation.org/donate.

When our friend Leslie Schultz was first homeschooling her daughter, Julia, she said she could not find any realistic fiction for kids where at least one of the characters is homeschooled. Although that has changed over the past five or six years, she decided to write a book of her own. The result is "The Howling Vowels," published by Do Life Right, Inc. and illustrated by Heather Newman.

The story centers around Alexa Stevens, a 10-year-old homeschooler who has moved with her family from New York City to Sundog, Minnesota. Her growing circle of friends include Eduardo, Isabelle, Otto and Ursula.

Read more about this book on Schultz's web page at http://winonamedia.net.

Is real progress is the U.S. education system virtually unobtainable? After WWII, the U.S. had the highest high school graduation rate in the world. But now we rank 18th out of the top 24 industrialized nations. And every year more than a million students drop out before graduating from high school.

In the article Collective Impact (Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011), John Kania and Mark Kramer look at some of the barriers that impede progress in our schools. http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/collective_impact

Regarding this article, Dr. Ruf says: "Like many of the people I know, I am an educational crusader. But slight differences in pet causes, belief systems, viewpoints ... can lead to a disorganized and ineffective approach. We all read the interviews and recommendations and start to disagree with one point or another and wonder why no one asks us what we think. This article is like a template as to how to do a better job by working more effectively together. I’m going to read it and reread it. Thank you!"

The Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented (MCGT) and the MCGT
Homeschoolers Chapter will host a joint event, the eighth annual MCGT
Gifted Education Resource Fair and second annual Gifted 101
mini-conference. The event is this Saturday, March 10, at the Edina Community Center.

There will be three workshops available during the Mini-Conference, each presenting at 9:00 a.m. and again at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Ruf will speak on levels of giftedness; Thomas Greenspon will speak on perfectionism and how to deal with it; and Teresa Boatman will speak on young gifted children. The sessions will be geared to parents who are new to the world of gifted.
For more information, visit the MCGT website at http://mcgt.net/2012-resource-fair.

In her many years of working with the gifted, Dr. Ruf has seen many families where a teacher has suggested that a child has some form of Attention Deficit Disorder and recommended medicating the child with Ritalin. In the vast majority of cases, what we find is that the bright child in question just didn't have enough to pay attention to. Changing the environment to one that was appropriately stimulating often solved the problems of disruptive behavior!

L. Alan Sroufe, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development, has recently published an article in the New York Times calling into question the efficacy of Ritalin on children's ability to focus. In Ritalin Gone Wrong (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/childrens-add-drugs-don...), he discusses issues that should be considered by anyone debating whether medication for their child is the right answer.

This article was posted in our February 2012 Newsletter. To get our free newsletters delivered monthly to your inbox, go to http://talentigniter.com/resources/talentigniter-newsletters and subscribe.

Imagine students from all around the world spelling the same words, solving the same math problems, and answering the same science questions. That's what will happen on World Spelling Day (March 6), World Maths Day (March 7), and World Science Day (March 8). Each official competition runs for 48 hours, for as long as it is March 6, 7 or 8, respectively, somewhere in the world.

Students (including homeschoolers) play at home and at school against other students around the world in live games. Each game, whether in spelling, math, or science, lasts for 60 seconds and students can earn points for up to 100 games. There are 5 different levels of play, 20 games on each level. The students who answer the most questions correctly appear on the Hall of Fame.

Registration begins February 1 on the site, it is quick and easy, and participation is free of charge. Visit the World Education Games 2012 website at http://www.worldeducationgames.com/ for more information.

Why do so many bright and gifted kids think they don't like math? Experience and the reading of lots of research leads me to believe that boredom, under-instruction and poor instruction throughout elementary and middle school lie behind the problem.

My best girlfriend since high school is a math teacher north of Philly. We've talked about this a lot. She and I are both aware that our own math instruction lacked a lot. As I give IQ tests, too, I see something that I thought many people would be interested to know. As those who have read the work of Benbow and Lubinksi, among others, know, math-reasoning ability has a huge ability spread among individuals of the same age. Even when kids are ability grouped, there tend to be outliers—people who are truly math geniuses compared to other really bright kids—in the top group. My friend Pam and I were not math outliers but we were 99th percentile people in math. Having an outlier in your class is a problem for self-esteem and confidence related to math. What I see really missing in math instruction for high ability kids who aren't outliers is twofold: