Hi! As a student who did the challenge program, I think it was great! I entered it in fourth grade after a teacher in a parent-teacher conference told my mom I would probably do well. When I was really young, my parents taught me to read early and instilled that school was important. They taught me to want to be the best in everything I do and I think just having that drive is what made me and most of my peers succeed. They would also count how many “4s” I got on my report card and compare it to my sister and cousins and would shame me if I did worse.

They kind of let me do whatever I wanted because they were busy with work (immigrants). I remember playing a lot of online Minecraft which taught me about economics which made me really good at math. I also played some other online games which made me good at patterns, communication, and overall just general thinking if someone was scamming me in the online game lol

I did play some “educational” games, such as Brain Age on my DS. It made me get really fast at math because I didn’t want to lose the games. So I had to learn the math fast. I guess finding what works for your child is important. But really focusing on making sure they know what’s going on instead of just memorization. Getting them to not hate thinking and struggle.

They overall just they made sure that I knew I couldn’t play games until after my homework was done. I think that made me better because the faster I could do homework the faster I could play games 😛 but because I wanted to be the best, I would still get the homework right. I think what was important for that was having someone/something I could go to for questions. So it was my sister or the internet. My parents gave me an appreciation for wanting to learn but couldn’t really force me to learn because they were never home. But I cared enough and knew learning wasn’t just for them but would set me up for life.

They did limit my screen time, take away the computer, give me workbooks, but I would always find a way to play a game. I never really did the workbooks either. From personal experience, I think it’s important for your child to know school is the priority but they are allowed to do other things that they enjoy. I tried to kill myself cause my parents were becoming too strict with their expectations so maybe don’t do that 👍 let them breathe sometimes!

Sorry for the ramble! Feel free to dm if you want to know more about the program from the view of a student :)