I did not ask or suggest that anyone write a testimonial.
Everything on this page was either volunteered, or taken from an unprompted email or text sent by parents and students. As I remember to do so, I add them to this document. This page does not include any feedback from post-program surveys or other requested input. Any edits I’ve made are minor and are only to increase readability (e.g. punctuation or grammar fixes).
- Matt Benet, edRev Founder
Table of Contents:
World’s First: Mentoring Gifted Kids while they design Gifted Programming
One-on-one Tutoring for Gifted Kids
World’s First: Mentoring Gifted Kids while they design Gifted Programming
Parents
- [My daughter’s] edRev roles are growing her perspective taking, collaborative work skills, learning the practical tools of knowledge workers, sense of community, and social confidence. She’s lonely here and is grateful for like-minded community.
- What you’re doing is just wonderful, and so needed.
- [my gifted child] loved today, by the way! He is super excited about tomorrow! Thank you for creating these special opportunities for us ;)
- This is an amazing program [you and the kids] have created
- Thank you for everything. The kids are excited.
- I love this idea! Thanks for all of your dedication to [My Gifted Kid] and the gifted community. I appreciate you.
- [My Gifted Daughter] has enjoyed working with you and is so thankful for the opportunity. =)
Students
- Can I tell you something? I don’t think of you as a teacher. I think of you as a friend.
- My favorite friend other than you - because you two are my favorite friends.
- My college counselor loves you. She says you make her job so easy. She loves every time when I tell her something new about what we’re doing - about how the world’s first program of its kind; about the responsibilities I have… I’m her favorite student to work with!
- Something I like with this new program that you’ve been doing really well is it’s really organized. You give us, the kids, the freedom to do things the way we think is best but you give us structure and set clear expectations, and coordinate to make sure things don’t fall into chaos with the people we’re working with.
Tutoring and Mentorship for Gifted Kids
Parents
- You’re such a wonderful person, and I truly believe the world would be a better place with more people like you. The love and work you do for [my child] are priceless and can’t be matched by any amount of money.
- You’re amazing. Thank you for the talk. So incredibly helpful!
- Thank you for all that you do to tailor teaching to your students.
- Thank you, as always, for being such a steady presence in [my son’s] life and for all the support you’ve given him and us.
- Matt, I can’t tell you how grateful we are to have someone who understands our kid so much. Seriously. We are so truly blessed to have you as his mentor.
- As always, Thank you so much for being such an invaluable resource for my son. I cannot emphasize enough. You deserve infinitely more money than I can pay you. You are so valuable and so helpful for my son. If there is anything else at all you need.
- Thank you so much for always being there. You don’t know how much of a weight is removed by being able to talk with you
- [My 8yo gifted child] had a two-day chess tournament and he was quite focussed. He has discussed how to be more focused with you - I know. :) He is definitely working on himself and he very much loves you. He has so many ideas and things he wants to talk to all of us about, that it's like a storm.
- Thanks for all your work with [my gifted child] so far. He really enjoys meeting with you!
- [My gifted child] loves his sessions with you. He has so much fun and we’re amazed when he shares with us the things he learned.
- Thank you for your guidance on Sunday, and I’m sorry for putting you in a spot.
As I told you, we sometimes feel lost in handling things, and in those moments, we feel so helpless that we turn on each other. Talking to you helped, and your guidance was invaluable at that moment. I hope you don’t mind. - Thanks for another good session. [My Gifted kid] is enjoying the sessions. He said he likes how you have him come up with why something works. He said he learned a lot and it was way better than math at school. He likes the pace as well and said it would have taken weeks in school to learn what you taught him.
- Hi Matt [My Gifted 13 year old] seemed to LOVE his first session with you so much! He was all smiles and giggly because he liked it so much.
- I’m sure you get this all the time, but as a mom talking with you I just feel like a huge emotional weight is lifted off my shoulders because it’s clear I finally found someone who understands my 2e kid.
- Most teachers would teach the Chemistry [to my gifted son]. You’re doing not only that but you’re helping him gain the skills that are so important for him to succeed not only here academically, but beyond in college and even in life. We really appreciate you and everything you do and we understand how very important it is.
- Hi Matt! Thank you! You were incredible with [my profoundly gifted child] yesterday. And what a cool path you chose to really dig in with him. [My wife] and I were both listening in the background while we did other things and both just loved it when we heard you ask: "do you want to learn calculus right now?" What an amazing question. [My profoundly gifted son] was so engaged and had a huge smile on his face when we asked him about it afterward.
- I haven’t met many people like you. It’s clear that you care so much about helping gifted students, and are so passionate about helping them as much as you can. I can tell that helping is your priority, and it’s really commendable.
- He’s such a unique kid to people who don’t know or work with kids like this, so it’s great to know that you get it.
- So many teachers or tutors have been frustrated or exasperated trying to work with my son, so it’s a breath of fresh air to see my son enjoy it so much, and to hear that you enjoy it too!
- You are an invaluable mentor and teacher for [my gifted son]
- Without you I don’t think [my gifted son] would have a chance to use his giftedness
- I appreciate how seriously you take this process. It's been difficult to find a good math fit for [my gifted son] these past few years and that makes me even more appreciative that you take the time to talk with parents and meet students to get a sense of fit and history.
- Thank you for the time you spent with me and [my gifted son] today. He talked a LOT when the two of you met! He was excited after your meeting and excited about the prospect of being able to work with you. I appreciate your patience with him and how you were able to engage him in conversation.
- I just want to say a big thank you! [my gifted son] has probably never had a conversation like that with a teacher or another adult it would seem. He came to me in the kitchen and said “wow that was fun!” He went from feeling completely defeated about 30 minutes ago to smiling and acting his normal happy self. You know we are signing up ASAP.
- “You’ve been like a savior for [my gifted son]. Seriously. Before he met you it was like he had lost all interest in learning and only wanted to spend his time playing video games. Now I see him researching chemistry things even outside of your sessions and it’s so great to see that spark come back after all this time.”
- I recognize how ineffably valuable your expert instruction has been during this school year, and we want to once again express our gratitude for all your efforts and the energy you invested into this endeavor.
- Matthew is one of the few teachers who keeps my son's attention through the entire lesson. He creates a learning dynamic that has fueled my son's interests in so many different ways! I love that he is full of obscure knowledge that ties into what he is teaching about, also. It really keeps my son engaged in learning!
- My son loves having Matt teach him because he knows he will always learn something new. There's no pretending to know what you're doing, either - Matt is thorough in his expectations for student comprehension and carefully monitors student skills for demonstrated mastery. I couldn't be happier!
- Matthew has been an amazing tutor and mentor to my son over the years. His enthusiasm for teaching has fueled my son's desire to learn!
- We would love to think through the best way that [my gifted son] might be able to work with you in the future to (a) learn something useful to his substantive skillset (that is within your wheelhouse and his quite large areas of curiosity and also is an area with expected value for his future) AND (b) against that contextual backdrop, also build a friend/mentorship relationship with you that can help him with all the usual PG/ADHD issues (Social/Emotional, Rejection, Executive Function). Our sense is that (b) is something you automatically and intuitively work into all your work with gifted kids.
Students
- I feel like your brain was like my brain when you were a kid, and I want to follow in your footsteps.
- Thank you again, so much for how much you’ve helped me this year. I know I say it a lot, but it doesn’t diminish just how much you’ve helped me.
- I feel like I get so much out of our sessions and it’s so helpful for me and I can really feel myself growing as a student
- I think I’d only gotten 1 or 2 perfect scores on writing problems before, and in the two you helped me with I got perfect on both lol - A gifted student going through AOPS curriculum.
- I love this. - A gifted student, at the end of a session
- Me: “you’ve explored so many things your whole life, learning from the large wealth of youtubers and others who understand and can convey the concepts you were exploring… but now, like many gifted kids, you’re coming to the point of learning where the youtube videos are hard to find, lacking, or just wrong!
Gifted Student: “That’s why I have you.” - This is awesome. This was really fun. -A gifted student, at the end of a session
- This stuff is exactly what I’ve been looking for. It’s not like the other stuff I’ve been doing in school that everyone complains about - it’s stuff that helps me understand the real world and I don’t have to wonder “when am I going to use this?” - Gifted Student, during a session.
- I gotta say this is way more fun than math class. - Gifted Student
- This is awesome. This was really fun. -A Gifted Student, at the end of a session
- I’m excited to get all your help and prepare for my SSAT
- I thought doing this would be so boring but we’re actually having so much fun! - 8 year old gifted Student
- This is fun!! Even though I’m actually learning! - 8 year old gifted Student
- I feel like we’re like, parallel dimension, the same person.
- Me: “I’m excited to get to teach you all of this physics and calculus in the coming weeks”.
Student: “I’m excited to just… interact with you.”
Gifted Classes
Parents
- “When you (Matt, edRev Founder) join the sessions with the kids, I always hear about it - [my gifted child] will come up to me and say “that class was awesome!!” And when it’s just the instructor, the class is great, but I can tell your classroom management - the interactions with the kids - must be off the charts.”
- Just wanted to thank you again. I think these sessions are doing much more than just teaching [my gifted child] math, they are teaching him that math is fun and what it feels like to struggle and actually accomplish something hard.
- [My gifted child] is loving the sessions, so thank you!! He thinks the pace of learning is great and says "it's way better than school." He is enjoying the content as well and loves that you are teaching him how things work (not just the formulas). It is a breath of fresh air for him to learn at this pace and have the opportunity to ask questions on things he is interested in.
- Thanks a lot to all of you for making our weekend so special. [My gifted child] truly enjoyed his weekend; after a long time, we saw a huge smile on his face. And, she saw this weekend that he was again playing with his toys after a long, long time. Thank you!
- My son enjoyed the class and is looking forward to next week. He said it was interesting and he especially liked seeing the phonetic symbols- he's never seen them all in one place before. Just before the class, he'd hit a couple stumbling blocks, so this is extremely positive coming from him.
- He said it went well and he is good now. Thank you so much for your investment in [my profoundly gifted son]..
- My daughter loved the class! Looking forward to next week. Thanks Matt!
Students
- I liked Cooking for Experimentalists because it made me feel like i was in an episode of Good Eats
- "I struggled on a problem and with Matt's help I solved it. It was really satisfying and fun to struggle and then solve the problem."
- I [the parent] then asked him “have you ever felt this before?" He said, "not really, I have struggled on a math Olympiad problem but because no one helped me I didn't solve it and just felt stupid but in this case, I struggled and with help solved it so it felt really good."
- "Matt makes math fun."
- "I had a lot of fun in today's session."
- (from a voicemail) “Actually it’s [gifted student]. I’m calling because I wanted to tell you thank you. I’ve been working on geometry, and everything you taught us in the Heart of Algebra course has been showing up a lot, and everything you covered has been really useful and helpful, and I’ve been using it a lot. So thank you.”
Gifted Socialization Groups
Parents
- Thank you for doing these Puzzle Hunts, Matt. [my gifted daughter] enjoys them SO much!
- I was so excited to find your program because we’ve been looking for some way for [My Gifted Child] to have socialization with gifted peers, and he loves it. He was glowing after the Youth Education Council meeting.
- My son had a lot of fun
- Thank you! [My gifted son] seemed to really enjoy it! - Board Games
- Thank you so much for having [my gifted child] on the board games group. He has been enjoying playing with you a lot and we truly appreciate your patience and style in working with him. The online aspect of this interaction seems to be working for him as well.
Students
- Wait a minute… are you helping us grow as people?
- You’re like… either Merlin… or Dumbledore… or Obi Wan (mostly episode 4, kind of episode 5, a little bit episode 6), or Yoda.
- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THAT WAS AWESOME - Avalon
G.T.ed Programs
Parents
- One of the benefits of G.T.ed for us is socialization with other kids like [my profoundly gifted daughter], which we don’t have around us right now, so I definitely appreciate the D&D, Activities, and the upcoming kid chat opportunities. I also know she’s looking forward to the student teaching opportunities.
- Thanks a lot to all of you for making our weekend so special. [My Gifted Child] truly enjoyed his weekend; after a long time, we saw a huge smile on his face. And, as [My Spoud] noted, she saw this weekend that he was again playing with his toys after a long, long time. Thank you!
- Your program is wonderful.
- Thank you so much for all that you do for the gifted community. You’re doing such good work.
- [My gifted son] had a lot of fun
- Thank you for all of your support. [my gifted son] has been happier this first week of G.T.ed than I have seen him in years.
- Your classes are fantastic - so many places have classes that only teach what my G&T student has already learned everything about, but your classes are so much deeper and more fascinating - I wish I could take them!
- “I was so excited to find your program because we’ve been looking for some way for [my gifted son] to have socialization with gifted peers, and he loves it.
- [My Gifted Child] was glowing after the Youth Education Council meeting.”
- Your program is wonderful.
- I would highly recommend this program! My son has flourished within this program.
- We have nothing scheduled [for my gifted daughter] except G.T.ed. The kids really appreciate you!
- Thank you for all you do for my son and the gifted community. We appreciate you.
- Student teachings was a great idea. Such an important skill. Thanks for giving [My gifted child] the opportunity. He seemed to be enjoying the other presenters as well.
- I was in a discussion around gifted kids hiding their giftedness, and I know I’d mentioned to you before how [my daughter] will disclaim her intelligence. This blog post came up. https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/gifted-girls/ and I wanted to share it with you, but also share what I’d said about the G.T.ed classes/activities [my gifted daughter] is involved in: “She’s also taking part in G.T.ed/edrev classes, mostly, but not all, fun focused (the rest academic), and all of the other students are also gifted, and the social interaction she has there is a huge part of her not hiding her intelligence, in my opinion.”
- I think it’s critically important that she be involved in social activities with other gifted / highly gifted kids, and your classes are an important part of that for us.
- I was so excited to find your program because we’ve been looking for ways to socialize [My G&T child] with others like him for years.
- A big thank you! [My G&T child] has probably never had a conversation like that with a teacher… He came up to me and said “wow, that was fun!”
- After meeting with you, [my g&T child] went from feeling completely defeated 30 min ago to smiling and acting his normal happy self. You know we are signing up ASAP.
- Your classes are fantastic… your classes are so much deeper and more fascinating than most classes I’ve signed my G&T child up for
- I wish I could take your classes!
- Your program is wonderful!
- I know everything at G.T.ed I could sign my kid up for will be engaging and enjoyable for him.
- [My gifted son] is interested in the student teachings class. Truly, he's been asking to teach other kids for quite some time now, so this opportunity (Student Teachings) is a wonderful fit.
Students
- I think the pricing decisions is one of the best decisions on earth.
- Thank you for offering student teachings and listening to our ideas ([other G&T student] and me). I can tell you are really interested in our ideas and thoughts and I love that.
- The class was awesome
- I am excited to do student teachings!