Posted on 01/26/2008 9:36:35 AM PST by wintertime
Martin Camacho taught himself to read about age 1, his parents said. By 3, he was doing multiplication. As a 5-year-old, he tested into fifth grade, and at age 10, he started classes at Central High School in St. Paul.
Now 12, Martin is tied for fourth in the state heading into the final meet of the high school math-league season.
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"It's an unusual talent," Roberts said. "We're going to hear a lot from him."
It may seem odd to picture a 12-year-old walking the halls of a big city high school, but "it's natural now, after three years," Martin said.
"It's my normal environment. They're very supportive," he said, referring to Central students and staff.
At first, principal Mary Mackbee was apprehensive about enrolling Martin, she said. She had never had an elementary student, and she was concerned he would be out of place among teenagers. But, she said, "The older kids kind of took him under their wing."
At 5 feet, 2½ inches and 115 pounds, Martin could get lost in the crowd of 2,000 students at Central. But to him, the jump to high school "was never a culture shock."
His parents, Patty and Fred Camacho, were concerned about how he would fit in, but they knew he could socialize well with older students. "That was extremely crucial to the whole thing," Patty Schools: Central High in St. Paul, home-schooled, University of Minnesota.
(skip) Martin only takes three classes at Central - advanced history, Spanish and literature. Officially, he's an eighth-grader, and he supplements his Central classes with home-schooling and gets math instruction at the University of Minnesota.
Achievements: Tied for fourth in state math league. Scored a perfect 800 in math on the SAT last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Huh? The author of this article, Doug Belen, is an IDIOT! ( probably a government school grad!)
Hm...And did a government school teach this kid to read at age one, or his multiplication tables as a pre-schooler? I don't think so.
Although not mentioned in this article, I bet this kid was homeschooled until age 10 and his few high school courses are only a very small part of his total education.
Having a foot in the government school door though probably opens up a lot of free courses at the university for this child and will allow him access to scholarships in a few years. My own kids who finished Calculus III at age 15 were ineligible for scholarships because they were forbidden to take the GED because they were too young.
< \SARCASM>
A very good reason to homeschool!
Not sure when your children were 15 but times must have changed. You can take the SAT and use that to make your way to the Universities along with home school transcripts for full scholarships including National Merit without getting a GED or ever stepping foot into a Public School. We are thankful for that.
I had a friend with a genius IQ, belonged to Mensa, homeschooled her children and they did extremely well; but...kids will be kids. Wait till the 12 year old hits puberty and watch him make the same foolish errors everyone else does, IQ doesn’t make for a wise course of behavior.
Homeschool achiever ping!
One child did get a private scholarship ( at age 14 ) through her private university,,,but,,,all government based scholarship and loan aid was blocked because they were not high school graduates and were forbidden from taking the GED.
The article is mainly about how he fits in with a high school setting, so I don’t see it’s a problem that they don’t stress the homeschooling angle.
But it sounds like you have some very impressive kids.
when i was in high school 25 years ago, i never used my locker... i might have had one class near it... there was never enough time between classes to go all the way to my locker to get my books... i carried a big leather book bag that held all of my big fat books... this was before backpacks really hit the scene... one time my heavy bag came in handy... a guy walking passed me grabbed my behind. so i got my bookbag and swung it at him with both hands, hitting him in the shoulder while yelling very loudly, “you pig!” everybody around stopped to see... he felt very stupid and embarrassed...
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Homeschoolers, in general, don’t seem to be having these problems.
The abnormal and excessive peer-dependence behavior seen in children who are institutionalized for their education doesn’t seem to manifest itself in homeschoolers.
Personally, we never had a minute’s problem with any of our homeschoolers. My children are adults now; married with kids; responsible parents; and highly successful in the home, church, community; and ( where appropriate) their professions.
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They aren’t impressive.
They are merely normally bright, and not any smarter than the children of the posters on this board.
It is the institutionalized child who is socially and academically retarded by being placed in an abnormal environment.
I would have to disagree with that statement. We homeschool and our oldest is 15 and shows no sign of making these "foolish errors" that "everyone" else does.
Not to say he won't make errors in his life, but a lot of homeschooled kids don't succumb to peer pressure and make those errors.
Minnesota has something called “Post Secondary Option” where kids can take some of their high school classes in college and get both high school and college credit with tuition paid by the state of Minnesota.
It is a good program.
The aberrant, destructive behavior that is now considered “normal” for adolescents (assembly-line fornication, self-medicating to dull the agony, etc.), does not exist except in America and in those places that have adopted the American model of High Schrool.
punchline from an old joke ... God gave men 2 brains .. but only enough blood to engage one at a time.
You may not know ‘all’ your child is doing and he’s only 15. Smoking, drinking, sex, drugs, porno all around him, don’t kid yourself, your child is in the ‘public school system’ of the good ole USA.
I take that back, if your kid is being homeschooled that’s not what I’m talking about, I’m talking about when that kid enters our public schools.
Best of wishes for yours.
Then of course there are the true geniuses...
I have 2-14ys olds and a 17 yr old in public school, and I can say the same thing.
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