Math Whiz but no other subjects or friends?

<p>Friday, Jul. 25, 2008
MATH WHIZ Boy, 8, Makes Perfect Score on Calculus AP Exam
By Carol Schorn
Contributing Writer</p>

<p>Kristin Kirby/Photo Correspondent
Magnus LaDue, center, is homeschooled by his father Dr. Mark LaDue and mother Dr. Mariana LaDue. Both parents have Ph.D.s in math. </p>

<p>On the day that many high school juniors and seniors were anxiously calling the College Board to find out their scores on the Advanced Placement exams they had taken in May, Mark LaDue was placing the same call for his 8-year-old son, Magnus. Mark was so thrilled with Magnus’ results that he called back twice more. Magnus, the youngest person to take the Calculus BC AP test had made a 5 — the highest score possible. Mark and Mariana LaDue , who homeschooled their son, say they made the decision to have Magnus take the exam after he completed instruction in calculus and had mastered the practice exams. Finding a place to take the exam became the next challenge for the family.</p>

<p>Asked how his friends reacted to his remarkable achievement, Magnus replied that he does not have friends other than his parents. Mariana explained that finding friends for the young whiz kid is difficult, and that most of his socializing takes place with her friends’ families.</p>

<p>Magnus’ remarkable abilities are not confined to mathematics. He also excels at playing the piano. He currently takes lessons with Carol Leone at SMU, and has played at a variety of public venues. Magnus practices four hours each day on a new Steinway piano. </p>

<p>Magnus’ talents were evident early on, according to his parents, who said he had learned to read and do addition and subtraction by the age of three. At that time the LaDues, who both have Ph.D.s in mathematics, decided to homeschool their son. Magnus’ father quit his job to work with his son. “Magnus is my full-time job” Mark said. </p>

<p>Mark’s role goes far beyond father and teacher. He has set up a Web site about Magnus which boasts of Magnus’ mathematical and musical accomplishments. Mark has business cards which give his title as president and CEO of Music Do Love, Magnus’ Web site. “I’m very good at advertising him,” Mark said.</p>

<p>Mark said he creates his own curriculum for Magnus. He and his wife said they follow their son’s lead, answering his questions and teaching him about whatever subjects he expresses interest in. Magnus is currently teaching himself about knots, using several books as guides. </p>

<p>Mark said his son’s current curriculum does not include English, history, science or foreign languages, as these subjects do not presently interest him. </p>

<p>Although they realize that it is unorthodox, Magnus’ parents are pleased with the results. </p>

<p>The 8-year-old has now moved on to more advanced mathematics including linear algebra, differential equations and Mathmatica 6. His parents are hopeful that Magnus can qualify for the American Mathematics Competition in February, 2009, and ultimately earn a spot on the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad team when he is 10 or 11 years old. The LaDues say they do not plan on sending him to college before age 16 or 17. </p>

<p>In the meantime, the family is looking at various university summer programs. </p>

<p>Mark says that he is also negotiating with Fort Worth Country Day School to provide a specialized educational program for his son in conjunction with Stanford University.</p>

<p>When Mariana suggested the name Magnus for their baby, its Latin meaning — great — was not lost on Mark and he readily agreed. </p>

<p>His motto, which appears on both the Web site and his business cards, is “When we combine Mathematics and Music with Love, the possibilities are endless.”</p>

<p>I’m all for interest-led learning, but I wonder if this kid is happy. It must be hard having no friends. I also wonder if he gets to go to the playground or for walks in the woods.</p>

<p>I didn’t understand how he could be homeschooled and not take anything but math. Isn’t there some requirement or agency regulating? Yes, I thought the part about him having no friends was indeed, sad. Also, note that his dad is “good at advertising him”. This left my skin crawling…</p>

<p>Even we kid-centric parents on CC don’t have websites that boasts of our kids’ accomplishments. Or do we…?</p>

<p>The saddest thing I read is that the kid has no friends. Doesn’t he do any kid things like play soccer, video games, etc.? Does he even have a dog?</p>

<p>Well, let’s hope that he’ll find some interest in the English language sometime in his young life.</p>

<p>Those parents have essentially turned that kid into a perverse experiment of math and child development.</p>

<p>But whatever. Good luck to the potential next Terence Tao; may he actually make the rest of his accomplishments through semi-normal means…</p>

<p>I guess they are prepping him in the hopes that he’ll make the US IMO team. In He may be able to do it, but it’s still a shame that his life is such a narrow one. And getting a 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam doesn’t exactly make him a mathematical genius, even if he did it at the age of 8. If home-schooled and encouraged to study only one subject ad nauseum, I’m pretty sure a lot of kids could get similar results, regardless of innate mathematical talent.</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure he doesn’t bemoan his lack of friends. We never miss what we don’t have. I’m also guessing that he’s quite happy. Happiness never seems to be a condition of circumstance.</p>

<p>The parents are probably pretty unorthodox themselves. What kind of ordinary adults would name a kid something as absurd and archaic as Magnus?</p>

<p>I think I’m going to be ill.</p>

<p>Okay, I am going to play a little bit of devil’s advocate here. A child who is profoundly gifted like that boy is not going to be even remotely happy in a traditional school setting or any private school setting that I have ever heard of (except maybe someplace like Davidson that specializes in profoundly gifted children). Those one-in-a-million kids often have a thirst for knowledge (sometimes just in 1 or 2 specific areas) that is very difficult to fulfill, and there is really no other option except homeschooling (for the record, I do not homeschool my kids, nor is either one anywhere near as gifted as that kid - - although one of my kids has a knack for math, a pig would fly before she passed the AP Calc test at 8). Kids who are that gifted also often have great social difficulties; they just don’t have anything in common with other kids their age. It is often only when they get to college (or attend programs like the JHU or Northwestern programs for profoundly gifted students) that they meet people near their own age that they can connect with. That said, I do think the web site and the comment about “advertising” doesn’t show the best judgement on part of his parents. And even if they want to feed his deep interest in math and music, if I were them I would have at least some mix of English, science, and social studies. But basically I think it is hard for any of us to really relate to what it is like to have a kid who is that mind-blowingly smart and the issues and challenges that go with it.</p>

<p>What I can’t help wondering is how do the parents know he has no interest or talent for other subjects if they’ve never exposed him to them? </p>

<p>He could have the ability to become a novelist, a biotechnology researcher, an archeologist, or a politician. But since the parents are only exposing him to their narrowly defined definition of what matters, he - and they - will never know what else he might be capable of. His parents, mathematicians themselves, have only deemed math and music as worthy of his attention, so they’ll never know what other talents he might have to offer the world.</p>

<p>That to me, is the sad part. Setting your child’s future path in stone so early in life before he has even realized he HAS a choice.</p>

<p>By the way, here is little Magnus’ website: [MusicDoLove</a> - Magnus LaDue’s Home Page](<a href=“http://www.musicdolove.com/]MusicDoLove”>http://www.musicdolove.com/) You Tube has a number of videos of him as well.</p>

<p>Apparently, the parents do let him bicycle. :)</p>

<p>He’s so cute. And he’s good at the piano. I wonder if he likes it, though. If you watch the video of his Le Leggierezza, he plays with the technicality of a teenager but the emotional depth is revealing… it is still that of an 8 year old :)</p>

<p>What strikes me about these types of articles is that we spend way more time discussing parents who have very high expectations for their kids, and run with any indication of intelligence, than we do parents who have low expectations, who don’t come to parent-teacher conferences, don’t even come to IEP meetings or their kids sporting events or other performances.</p>

<p>Who look at parents who are trying to increase rigor in schools as " elitist" and discourage their kids from excelling in school because" you think you are going to college?- you don’t belong there".</p>

<p>I have run across way more of the latter, than I have the former.</p>

<p>The big question is whether he will end up like John Stuart Mill or William James Sidis.</p>

<p>Give the kid a break. How many expressed interest in foreign languages at 8? We have a thread from a parent worried that her son is not interested in reading at 9 and are very supportive, as we should be. But here is a kid who excels at math and all we can say is “poor kid?” And, pace some posters, even doing math for 18 hours a day will not guarantee a 5 on the BC Calc test.</p>

<p>I also think it must be very hard for a kid that gifted to be able to relate to age peers. I don’t know ordinary 8 year olds who could understand, let along discuss derivatives, integration, functions, and other math concepts that surely this kid must be thinking about a great deal of the time.</p>

<p>“For further information about Magnus LaDue you may contact his parents.”</p>

<p>Slap me speechless!!!</p>

<p>Yes, creepy stage parents. THEY need to get a life beyond little Magnus.</p>

<p>The kid’s biggest problems aren’t his lack of friends, his interest in math, or his homeschooling. It’s his obsessed, obnoxious parents. The website made me want to throw up.</p>

<p>Why not put him in boyscouts, or something like that? Its a structured environment, its doing something, gee, out of his comfort zone, get dirty, build things, do service work, camp, and expand his horizons.</p>

<p>He would connect up with kids - some are smart, some are sports minded,
etc.</p>

<p>its sad his parents have such a narrow view of success.</p>

<p>I think the article in the OP is also laughable in how it refers to a 5 as a “perfect score” (and, of course, the extent to which the parents laud the achievement). It’s entirely possible the kid only got a 60% point-wise!</p>

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<p>So? All 5s on APs are also based on a percentage. How should that detract from the kids’ achievement? Every single other student who took the BC Calc exam that same year was scored on exactly that same curve. </p>

<p>I can’t believe the mean-spiritedness of some of the comments. No wonder why Americans are trounced at math by other countries if this is the reaction a math whizz gets.</p>

<p>My kid was not in that league. He did not play sports. If I confess that he liked to ride bicycle, will it make him and us into monsters?</p>