7th grader in Algebra 1

Parents Forum
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<p>My sons attended a public gifted-only middle school, where double acceleration in math is the norm (Alg1 in 7th, Geometry in 8th). Once in a while a student or two is identified for triple-acceleration, but this is very rare (those students get the equivalent of a private math class for Alg2Trig when they are in 8th grade). All students take Latin 1 for a full year of high school credit in 6th grade, too (they can then continue on with Latin or switch to another foreign language in 7th grade). All middle school high school credit classes appear on the high school transcript, and grades are figured into the high school GPA. By the end of 8th grade, most students at this school are carrying two high school math credits, three foreign language credits, and once science credit (Earth Science) into high school. Also available at the middle school is a 1/2 credit Keyboarding course. </p>

<p>However, my state allows for parents of middle schoolers to expunge any high school credit grade from the record. This is only available for middle schoolers. There is about a two-week window to do this in June, after the final report cards come out. Some students (already concerned about that final high school GPA) opt to wipe out any Bs earned, and retake the course. </p>

<p>My son is a rising high school sophomore, and will be taking Math Analysis/Pre-Calculus this school year. He claims to want to take CalcBC as a junior. We'll know more after we see how he does this year!</p>

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<p>Both my boys took pre-Algebra in 6th grade and Algebra in 7th. The older one flew through it all and took Calculus BC as a Junior with dual enrollment at the local community college. He's a freshman in college now and is able to jump to Calculus III once he takes a linear algebra class. The younger boy wasn't quite mature enough as a 7th grader to settle down to the work in Algebra and retook it as an 8th grader despite getting B's in it the first time. He's now in his third year of high school taking pre-Calculus. As long as you are willing to let your child go at his own pace and take steps backwards if necessary it should be no problem going for Algebra as a 7th grader.</p>

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<p>Mathmom
We got enough kids two years ahead on the math track that this year for the first time the school is offering multivariable calculus at the high school. And yes, I spent a year carpooling my son and a few other 8th graders to the high school for math first period.</p>

<p>My own personal story is very similar to this. I took some middle school math in 5th grade, did algebra during the year, went to the HS for alg2 starting in 6th grade, precalc in 8th, and so on. Essentially graduated HS a year early, spent senior year + gap year working FT at a software company, and then applied ED to columbia. Until I got my driver's license, I was definitely shuttled all over creation, sometimes with a carpool, sometimes in the mommobile. It became sort of a status symbol among the achievers at school, actually, of being hot *****.</p>

<p>The person who mentioned the Multivariate Calc class at Harvard Extension school - yeah, I was one of those kids in that class. I was probably the 2nd or 3rd year that it became typical (this would've been the 99-00 school year). The professor was, with the exception of one professor at columbia, the most talented and effective math teacher I have ever had. He took a subject that was intensely challenging even from a well-prepared, analytical 16-year-old mind, and worked us through basically an entire college course over 3 months. It was worth every minute of commute on the T (boston's subway/bus system).</p>

<p>Parents, I can't speak to what's universally true, but the following was true for me:</p>

<ul>
<li>My parents pushing me to higher achievement in math/science, and their emphasis on me developing my formal abstract reasoning abilities at a younger age, was one of the top handful of things they did for me growing up.</li>
<li>As a highly intelligent kid whose focus and drive was often suspect (ADD), the only thing that kept me academically motivated was a fresh challenge, one that I wasn't sure I could handle.</li>
<li>The benefits of an accelerated development of analytical abilities included (for me) a quick development of computer skills, a confidence when presented with any abstract concept I wasn't familiar with, the respect of decisionmakers at my school and (apparently) at columbia's admissions office, and a much wider range of job options coming out of college.</li>
<li>There can be some risk to development of social skills... your mileage may vary =)</li>
</ul>

<p>If anyone's interested in me going into detail a bit more about what I went through, what it got me, and why i'm grateful about it, let me know. But that's the bottom line, I think: if a kid can handle being stretched mentally in the ways that algebra and such require, it's worth it.</p>

<p>-Steve</p>

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<p>^^ "If anyone's interested in me going into detail a bit more about what I went through, what it got me, and why i'm grateful about it, let me know." </p>

<p>Steve, I'd be very interested in hearing more about your experiences. My 13-year-old son is quite interested in math and science, and our school district's offerings are not adequate.</p>

<p>On the topic, my son is accelerated two years in math (and one in science). He took Algebra I (NY State Math A - a hodgepodge curriculum that is considered equivalent to Algebra I) as a 7th grader. He found that the course went far too slowly. At his request, I asked the school to excuse him from the Math B course next year and let him do math on his own through EPGY. He has done EPGY math off and on through the years (he goes through it very quickly, and the course is quite expensive, so it's mostly off) and has done all of their K-7 curriculum so far. He finds that he learns the material in far greater depth through EPGY, while at school they only learn how to solve problems. They are not going to allow this, but they will let him do the EPGY course along with the Math B course during the school day. </p>

<p>We were told at the open house that the Math A course is considered a HS course and would appear on the HS transcript. And this coming year, as an 8th grader, my son will have two HS courses (math and science). I am a little concerned, because at this point his grades are affected by his lack of organizational skills (and I assume that these will improve by the time he is in 9th grade). Although he is by far the most able student in his math course, he does not get perfect grades because of the occasional lost or forgotten homework assignment. What's more, he sometimes loses points on exams because he doesn't have graph paper and can't do a problem, because he's lost his calculator and can't get a trig function, because he does the problem correctly but puts it in the wrong place on the answer sheet, etc. But I don't see a choice - he would be completely miserable if he had to stay at grade level. I don't care that he won't have the highest GPA, I just hope that his grades won't suffer so much that his GPA will eliminate him from consideration at colleges he might like to attend.</p>

<p>The GPA issue may be moot, as he will be applying to private HS.</p>

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<p>NYmomof2, your s sounds just like mine was at that age. If it's any comfort, when he got to 9th grade, it seems like he was visited by a magic fairy who all of sudden taught him to turn in his homework on time, remember his calculator, stop skipping questions, etc. He did not take alg as a 7th grader for a variety of reasons. Academically, I knew he could handle it. However, he was switching from public to private school and I wanted the year to be as trouble free as possible. Logistically, the scheduling would have been very difficult also. Although he is very good at math, he claims that he doesn't like it. He took alg 1 as 8th grader and thought it was easy. I don't think waitng till 8th grade can hurt (he got 33 on math act as soph), but taking it earlier can hurt. If a student doesn't have a real good grasp on algebra, all higher math will be difficult or impossible. There's no one good answer, of course, to when a kid should take algebra, different choices will work for different kids/situations</p>

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<p>My son did algebra through EPGY in 5th grade (we arranged it -- his school was resistant). Each year in middle school he took the bus to high school and took math first period, then rode a bus to middle school in time for second period. (High school starts earlier so the schedules worked.) His middle school was resistant for social reasons, but he had no problems at all. It was definitely better than being bored for years sitting in classes covering math he already knew.</p>

<p>He took BC Calculus in 9th grade. Then he did EPGY for three years in a more accommodating private school. The school gave him a class period where he was given computer access for working on the program. So you see there need not be logistical problems for getting higher math.</p>

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<p>DianeR:</p>

<p>It really depends on schedules. For example, both our K-8 and the high school had rotating schedules. The only thing that worked was AP-Physics. Because it was a double period, it was at the end of the school day. So S was able to walk from k-8 to the high school to take AP-Physics. The k-8 school rearranged his schedule so he did not miss Humanities/Social Studies. It could do so because there were 4 different groups doing Humanities/Social Studies, so he attended two different groups. Still, he missed one Spanish class out of 4 per week, which made his Spanish teacher very unhappy (but he placed into Spanish 3 in high school anyway). His k-8 school has now relocated and is no longer within walking distance. Public transport is erratic and somewhat infrequent.</p>

<p>Another issue is that S did not like learning online and the school had no provision for doing so. But for schools that do allow learning online, there are many resources, such as the Virtual High School and EPGY for math and physics.</p>

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<p>Of course, everyone's mileage can vary! The school system provided the bus that took students from the high school to the middle school in our case(some other accelerated math students and some advanced language students as well). </p>

<p>It can be tough if the school can't or won't be accommodating to the students' individual needs. I ended up pulling both of mine out of public school for this very reason. My son went into a private school midway through his 9th grade year and then shortly thereafter I started homeschooling my then 7th grade daughter. Now I wish I had homeschooled the two of them from the beginning -- would have saved me no end of administrative hassles and everything could have been customized from the get go. But we don't get do-overs -- we just do the best we can given the circumstances and what we know at the time.</p>

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<p>Accelerated math can be stupid. I took calculus in 9th grade, but I've only taken three quarters of math in the last three years. I'm super rusty.</p>

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<p>The point is not to let yourself go rusty. There are plenty of options available for students who want to go beyond calculus.</p>

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<p>My oldest son took Algebra I in 6th grade. The middle school staff warned us that his grade would be counted in his H.S. GPA and tried to have him take 6th gade honors math instead. We insisted and he got an A. In eight grade he had to either take Algebra II online, or get bused to our local H.S. He opted for the online class. As a senior in H.S. he was able to take numerical analysis and differential equations. It was absolutely the right decision for him.</p>

<p>Last year our twins took Algebra I in 7th grade. They both got a B+. Neither one is sorry about taking the class even though they didn't get A's. They know that the B+ will be on their H.S. transcripts. They both agreed they would rather be challenged and get a lower grade than to suffer through the boredom of a class that wasn't interesting.</p>

<p>Some children are ready to take Algebra I in 7th grade - or earlier and some aren't. If a child wants to accelerate - then that child should be able to go ahead. Especially if your local schools offer higher math options and you think your child would want to take advantage of those options.</p>

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<p>My younger son got a B+ in algebra in 8th grade. It will be on his transcript. I don't think his grade would have been any different if he'd waited a year.</p>

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<p>bump ..........bump</p>

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<p>Condor, do you have a child that you have specific questions about? I noticed you bumped up this thread and the one about advice for high school/college for "gifted" students. You'll probably have better luck finding opinions on the subject you'd like to see by posting your own thread instead of bringing up very old ones.</p>

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<p>thanks corranged.........maybe will do that another time........getting late now tonight :)</p>

<p>found both threads to be very interesting and helpful.</p>

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<p>my D took algebra in 8th grd- geometry in 9th advanced algebra in 10th- precalc in 11th and I guess stats in 12th
wasn't an advanced track by any means though-she actually has a significant math related disability
algebra is standard to take in 8th grade, so a 7th grader is advanced, but I didn't think it would be considered a high school course</p>

<p>none of the classes she took in middle school were on her transcript I don't think, although just by looking at subsequent classes you can guesstimate the preceding classes.</p>

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<p>Ugh, I disliked EPGY immensely. I had taken EPGY from 5th grade to 7th grade and it was awful for me. I learned the material, but it was presented to me in an awful fashion and I ended up teaching myself most of the material from a book instead. I took independant study for the last two years of high school (DiffEQ, linear algebra, multivariable calculus) for no credit after I finished Calculus, and was far more satisfied with it. I got to have the same teacher for all 4 years of high school and got a superb recommendation from him.</p>

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<p>I confess to not having read this whole thread, but among bright kids in this area Algebra in 7th grade is pretty standard. WashDadJr2 (my younger son) is doing Math Analysis in 10th grade next year, and he is -- just between you and me -- nothing special in math.</p>

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<p>I didn't read this whole thread either... :)</p>

<p>I think I took alg I honors in 7th grade...I had this AWESOME teacher who made the class really fun. With her rec I took alg II honors the next year in 8th, which I did not particularly enjoy as much (in retrospect, that was because it was so early in the morning at the local HS that I had to go to before showing up for the middle school classes :) )</p>

<p>I don't know how I feel about EPGY. I took pre-calc in 9th through them and I liked it, though I then did the first week or so of Calc I through them and quit because I didn't like it at all. I then just self studied for the rest of the school year and ended up getting a 5 on the calc BC anyways.</p>

<p>If anyone above was concerned about "skipping" math classes and missing learning important stuff(dunno since I didn't read :) )...doesn't matter so much. I later went on to take partial differential equations, number theory w/ proofs, theory of computation, etc in college and did just fine.</p>

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<p>I know this thread was started long ago, but I have a concern. My son took Algebra in 7th grade and went on to finish 2 years of AP Calc in hs. He did great. My daughter is on the same track, but I'm not sure if she will love math like my son did. Here's the problem. Since she took so much math so early, what if she doesn't want 2 years of AP Calc? Then how does she take 4 years of math in hs? We don't currently have AP Stats as an alternative.</p>