The High School IQ Leap

With high school four months away, it's time to outline academic goals. I only have three important ones so far....

The high school IQ leap
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Years ago when I was studying cognitive skill growth for ages 3 to 5, I came across research that demonstrated a mystery leap in intelligence at the macro level. Roughly 15% of teenagers gained 16% intelligence for no apparent reason. Since then professors have retired, websites have been removed, and I've lost the studies. In 2011, a study was published in the journal Nature that once again showed this effect with a smaller sample size.

I've found in my own research that positive effects on the population as a whole can produce a stunning impact on a population of one. In other words, there is a brass ring worth grabbing and we plan to grab it. I surmise that there is a magical time period where brain development intersects with academic work, hormones, and socio-emotional development to produce the leap. It could be that some academic sleepers wake up to their potential at this age. It could be that IQ tests are flawed. But I'm taking no chances. I'm on the quest for another holy grail.

Where to begin

What is it that produces such a big change in high school sophomores? Is it finally seeing academic material that is worthy of effort? An inspiring teacher or a really good book? Is it sports or other job that teaches hard work and the reward for effort?

I'm quietly organizing a list of things that might help. I've got to keep this super quiet. If word gets out that a PARENT is trying to motivate their CHILD, it will backfire into a big fireball of lameness.

Currently I'm evaluating adult sized books that might be inspiring and lead to endless hours of reading. That's all I got so far. I've managed to keep my son from quitting the trumpet for 5 years, and he's going to high school with a jazz band in a school districts with a deficit of trumpet players. In high school, I became very interested in sports, but I didn't attend a high school of 4,000 with world class athletes. The school doesn't have a Video Game Esports team, which will be primo college app material for the kids who start it.

Progress so far

To pave the way for this breakthrough in my child in a few years, I've done two things. First, I wrote a PC virus that shuts down video game programs every 2 minutes except weeknights from 8pm to 9pm and weekends from 1pm to 4pm. I'm really proud of this. I wrote it in powershell.

Next I set up a guest network and changed the regular network password. There are 2 phones and one computer in the house on the regular network (the parents' devices), and every day I change the guest network password. This not only regulates internet usage, but it makes PS4 playing impossible because the poor PS4 can't keep video games up to date in off hours like it used to.

Competitive?

No, this isn't competitive. This is way beyond competitive, unless you have no internet in the house at all, in which case it is competitive, somewhat.

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