The homeschooling year may not coincide with the regular school year, but this seemed like a good time to pass along this helpful website, the Hand in Hand Homeschool Curriculum Reviews. Because no curriculum works well for everyone, this site gives lots of information to help the homeschooling parent find the best teaching tools for their children's learning styles. Besides being able to see what publishers say about their products, the website visitor can also see how those products worked for other homeschoolers.  

Registration is open for the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. This is the nation's premier science research competition for high school students, and winners may be awarded college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 for original research in team and individual categories. Regional competitions are held at six leading research universities. Winners of the regional competitions are invited to present their research at the National Finals in Washington, DC, to nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians.

Registration and submission instructions are available online at www.collegeboard.com/siemens/. The deadline for entries is Monday, October 3, 2011.

Things are happening for gifted children and their families all over the world. Our friends from Perth, Australia, with whom Dr. Ruf worked during her trip to Australia in February 2010, will be presenting an Unlocking the World program October 3-7. This program will cover Gifted Education and Higher Order Thinking: Improving Learning Outcomes for Every Student, and its aims are to increase knowledge about giftedness, broaden understanding about gifted students and their learning needs, promote reflection on beliefs and attitudes towards giftedness, and lead to enhanced classroom practice and skills that develop the higher order thinking of all students.

All Unlocking the World teacher professional development programs are based on a 'train-the-trainer' model. Programs are delivered around the world to small groups of 10 to 20 teachers. Once trained, participants are licensed as Tutors to deliver the program's associated Teacher Development Course to others.

For further information please download the PDF brochure. For more specific information about the sessions in Perth, please contact stewart.wendy@bigpond.com  or admin@moerline.wa.edu.au.

"Whether it's improving our health or harnessing clean energy, protecting our security or succeeding in the global economy," says President Barack Obama, "our future depends on reaffirming America's role as the world's engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation. And that leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today, especially in math, science, technology, and engineering."

It is more and more critical that the United States have a talented, well-educated, highly skilled population if we are to foster innovation and growth. Unfortunately, we are falling behind many other nations of the world. As state after state cuts funding for schools, that trend is not likely to turn around soon.

Here is a thoughtful article in EducationNext, Teaching Math to the Talented, by Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson and Ludger Woessmann.

About a decade ago, block scheduling began to show up more often in public schools. And then it began to disappear with the increasing focus on standards and testing. Now some schools are taking another look at the idea.

While there are still some fairly substantial issues to work out with this schedule, educators at Calhoun are seeing the benefits of spending more time to delve deeper into subjects.

If you have a gifted child, or even if you just wonder if your child is gifted, Gifts for Learning is a good website for finding appropriate books and toys.

The site is nicely divided into four useful categories: The Books Pages, The Toy Pages, About Gifted Kids Pages, and For Parents Pages. Each category is further divided to help you find what you need. You will even find some tips for making the most of the toys and books.

The Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented Fall Conference has been scheduled for Saturday, November 12, at the University of St. Thomas in downtown Minneapolis.

During the conference there will be breakout sessions on a variety of topics for adults, including a presentation by Dr. Ruf on Levels of Giftedness. In addition, there will be a keynote session, the usual full day and half-day classes for kids in kindergarten through seventh grade, and an array of interesting exhibits and information.  

Watch for more details about the event on the MCGT website.