schoolmarmABC

Thanks to everyone for their input and ideas. I will investigate these camps and try to find a job shadowing experience or two for my D.

Lkf725, my theory is that people for whom math is a strength don't necessarily like reading. I have seen this occur several times. Some do, some don't.

If you have a young child who loves to build, it is possible you have a budding math type on your hands. The way to encourage fiction reading in that type of child is to present them, when they are in 1st or 2nd grade, with the series by David Sobol, The Encyclopedia Brown detective stories. 6 pages of story, then the question, "How did Encyclopedia (the young boy detective) know that so-and-so stole the jewels?" The reader has to review the story to find the clue. Then the solution is in the back of the book. There are several mysteries (6 pages of story) in each book. This is a very good way to attract a math type to fiction. Then move on to Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators series. The main character, Jupiter, is a science brain youngster and I think science/math types identify with him. Anyway, after the child has read some of those, you are well on the way to having a fiction reader. Then the Redwall series would be a great series. Then Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.
Once you have a child firmly entrenched in reading fiction, and they do it a lot at home, hopefully the English class reading won't have that bad effect that you, and many others, have spoken of.
Don't know the age of your kids currently, but if still in high school, present them with The Day of the Triffids. An older book but a great read.

mrego

Similar profile here.
She can read to her hearts content at St. Johns (Santa Fe or Annapolis)... they have required science/math courses too.

How is her writing aptitude? A career as a science writer perhaps?

Sounds like Chemistry or CS might be of interest.

There are also plenty of colleges that allow undergrads to design their own majors... perhaps that might be an option to consider?

schoolmarmABC

Mr ego, are you an engineer? If you have a similar profile--well, what does that mean? You are also very talented in block design? If so, what field are you in and do you think this talent is of help to you in your field?

Yeah, I know about St. John's College. My niece had a summer program there in high school. She did love that school.

Science writing? Hmmm. She thinks no writing for a career, but she was thinking of creative writing.

Thanks for your response!

notre dame AL

How interesting that this topic has come up! Our student (now heading into his JR college year of engineering in the fall) attended a more liberal arts HS with heavy emphasis on writing, reading, languages and such. Yes, he had great exp with chem(took it as a fresh and soph in HS) as well as the usual Calcs and Physics. He did however become an excellent reader and writer! In fact, he has effortlessly written 10+ page research papers for the few liberals arts courses that are required for his eng degree, all the while complaining as he wrote the papers and then ended up with excellent grades on those papers and commenting that he really did not think they were "very well-written". Go figure! Then there comes the engineering/physics/linear/mechanics/dynamics/calc III courses that he has had to fulfill up to this point. He works extremely long hours on these courses and deep down I feel that he works almost too much for these courses (Oh, I know they are difficult!). When asked why he wanted to continue in engineering, his response has always been that the liberal arts classes just weren't challengining; too boring! Personally, I think that he likes that fact that for the most part there is only one answer when he walks in to solve a problem on a test and that the answer is not totally dependant on a TA's opinion. I think he likes finding a solution to a problem and feeling the success in doing that. Writing a paper to him means many (too many) interpretations! He has been quite successful so far in pursuing his engineering degree, at the expense of perhaps a less than stellar social life on campus. But, hey, he is with other engineers and I guess misery loves company. The headmaster of his school used to say that given his writing skills and the six years of Latin as a foundation, he will be one of the more literate engineers walking around! We hope this is true.

Treetopleaf

^ I agree about your son's preference for objective rather than opinion-based grading.

The high block design score would indicate her natural ability in math or science or engineering.

Block design test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There aren't as many girls as guys in engineering, and I think one reason is that many girls are also successful at many other subjects, like reading and writing, so they opt to pursue these other options. A little extra encouragement is in order to expose her to career paths in science and math and engineering.

By the way, I did a lot of writing as an engineer, and those of us that could write used to take a little pleasure in watching the agony of self-proclaimed hotshots, but non-writers, once they were required to come up with something coherent.

One more thing - I think that writing large bodies of software made me a better English language writer. In my experience, there are strong parallels between composing a large written narrative and composing a large software program segment.

Matt H

Reading these types of things makes me feel really out of place. I've never really been GREAT at any one subject. I've always gotten A's in everything, but i feel like none of it has just come naturally for me, i've had to work for every grade. I chose engineering because i like to build things and i believe that i would be good at design and innovation. However, calc and physics weren't too kind to me in high school. I would say to you that natural talent needs to be looked at less than desire and want. College is going to be much more personal than high school to every kid. Their major is what they WANT and what they need, not what they're told will be a good idea. You can help by supporting her decision, but I would let her do what she truly WANTS to do.

schoolmarmABC

Oh, I will let her do what she wants. I just want to make sure that engineering is on the table, too. natural talent shouldn't be overlooked.