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Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

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Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#131

Post by hemantv »

rtl49 wrote: post #22

“I will never forget the feeling of walking into the lobby of Building 7, looking up, and then touching the pillars to see if they were real. I couldn’t believe I was at MIT. My life and my ambitions moved to another level at that moment.” I think this impressive achievement is more a testament to the role that aspirations acquired during childhood play in determining a person's success than it is a reflection of thi…

The grass always seems green on another side.

There is a lot of benefit to the singularity of purpose at the same time there are a lot of side effects. To give you one example, homeschooled kid lacks good social skills, which are more important to success in life than mere intelligence or knowledge.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#134

Post by thesis »

rachelandrew wrote: post #56
mkj wrote: post #34

"two-year-old son — already an avid reader" sounds somewhat unusual?

According to my parents I could read at age 3, I can certainly remember petitioning my father to be allowed to read The Hobbit when I was 5. My mother got into trouble when I started school because the teachers didn't know what to do with a 5 year old who could read and write! I was taught by the "look and say" method, now not used in British schools at least. They teach phonics now. Interestingly my daughter is dysl…

"My mother got into trouble when I started school because the teachers didn't know what to do with a 5 year old who could read and write!"

Uh, what? Trouble?

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#136

Post by thearn4 »

Spearchucker wrote: post #16
littletimmy wrote: post #9

I don't know man, I think there's something to be said about having a childhood. Being from India myself, I know the tremendous pressure parents put on kids to succeed. I hope that this kid wasn't subject to the same.

Agree with you. My wife and I are already arguing over the future of our 3-year-old. She wants him to learn to read and write. I want him to play, have time to be a boy, get in trouble, kiss a girl, and have a care-free childhood. We're so obsessed with money, and forget all about the one currency that really matters. Time. Time to live . I'd rather he were average academically, and experience life exceptionally.

First-time parent of a 4-month old, we're thinking the same way. Me and my wife are both engineering types, and do worry about being obsessively goal-oriented.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#137

Post by thearn4 »

jazzyk wrote: post #71
Spearchucker wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with you. My wife and I are already arguing over the future of our 3-year-old. She wants him to learn to read and write. I want him to play, have time to be a boy, get in trouble, kiss a girl, and have a care-free childhood. We're so obsessed with money, and forget all about the one currency that really matters. Time. Time to live . I'd rather he were average academically, and experience life exceptionally.

Up-voted for courageously (and beautifully) expressing a potentially unpopular opinion. Stay strong - it is hard not to feel guilty when other kids in kindergarten can seemingly write essays and do calculus, but in the end, it does not matter as much as it may appear to. And sometimes putting so much pressure may have unintended consequences. I know a few kids from affluent families in my town where their "early prod…

Many early achievers burn out once they enter an environment where they are no longer the smartest person in the room all of the time.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#138

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Children can do a lot more than they're given credit for. My 4-year-old demanded music lessons when his older brother was playing cello. He started on both cello and piano.

Entering kindergarden, in music class the teacher had a keyboard, asked the children who could play. A little girl banged out chopsticks. Another little boy picked out twinkle,twinkle,little star. My son Andrew raised his hand, and played some Beethoven sonata. The teacher asked him if he knew what that was. He told her.

He's not a prodigy. Has terrible handwriting! The 1st-grade evaluation suggested he had fine-motor issues. Yet he could play 64th-note runs on the piano endlessly. Its all because of regular teaching and fun practicing.

Kids can learn what they put their minds to. But it takes 10,000 hours not only from the pupil but from the tutor. My wife put in the time; Andrew plays wonderfully.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#139

Post by rchaud »

hemantv wrote: post #132

On a side note, I am very curious how family immigrate to US. From what I know there is no good path as Indian to immigrate legally. Green card has 6 - 12 years of wait.

I have 3 friends from Bangladesh whose parents received their US green cards in 2000, 2002 and 2003. They had all applied for them in the early 1990s. I rarely hear of this happening anymore, so I imagine the process was more straightforward back then.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#140

Post by thearn4 »

ucaetano wrote: post #21

And then people wonder why there's a teenager suicide epidemic in Palo Alto and Silicon Valley in general...

I think most people have a hometown that, even if they leave, always know they can go back to and make a simple life for themselves.

I can imagine it being hard to grow up in a place where you have a pretty reasonable expectation of never being able to return to and live in on your own terms, unless you manage to stay the top 1% of the 1%.

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