UMTYMP - the beginning

My kid is officially a college student. I never thought this would happen before he hit puberty. But on Thursday night we went to the UMPTYMP parent orientation at the U. It was from 5-630 pm. (By the way, UMPTYMP stands for University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program.) I wasn't nervous getting there, because I had myself a handy dandy map that I printed off of the U's website. Let's just say I was on track to be almost 30 minutes early and ended up being 15 minutes late. James was with me and was not happy. He hates being early but hates being late even more.

Anyhow, following the map looked so very easy. But it turned out notsomuch. I got caught up at Seven Corners and ended up on the East bank instead of the West Bank. Or the West instead of East. I was so confused and flustered and it was rush hour -- I couldn't remember. I don't consider myself to be bad with directions but this was ridiculous. Finally I got back on the freeway and took the exit that was labeled the correct Bank. We parked in a public ramp and ended up running like mad across campus, through buildings, over buildings, you name it, asking a student here or there if we were going the right direction to Smith Hall.

The hall was HOT and crowded. And full by the time we got there. And stunk like Doritos. I prefer to think of it as Doritos and not someone's nasty b.o.

Nothing spectacular happened, just a basic info session followed by a question and answer time. In a nutshell, it's a 5 year program. My baby will be doing high school math the first two years and college level the remaining three. One night a week he will have class for two hours, (ON campus, yuck for that drive) and in each class they will cover three weeks of a regular high school math (Algebra to start) class. The idea is that the kids in this program are able to get a concept the first or second time it is introduced, as a regular high school student needs to see it about a dozen times. He will do some online course work. He will do some traditional work. It's going to be a big time commitment on his part and ours.

The majority of the kids beginning the program with him in the fall will be in the 7th grade while some will be starting in 8th grade and a few from 6th (James' grade). He will be the youngest of the group at 11.

After he completes the five years, and assuming he does (grades need to be a B- or above), he will be able to take advantage of other perks from the university including tuition for additional classes for which the University will pay as well as for books, etc.

Whew. I am exhausted thinking about it. This has been in a way, an answer to prayers about how to accommodate him and keep him challenged. Not sure how our crazy.smart.but.very.disorganized.and.a.bit.immature child will do with it, although we have no doubt at all he will be able to do the work. I want to keep him challenged and this seems like a good way, at the same time he is just a baby who's been grade skipped and that rocked his little world for a while. I do think it will be excellent to have him in with his true peers. We'll take it as it goes, I suppose.