Looking to hear your experience or thoughts on balancing other extracurricular interests vs. interest in math.
My 4th grade son has so far focused on two main activities: cello(for 3 years) and math through math circle. My son’s cello teacher has told us that he is a rare talent and that he can go as far as he wants to go in cello if he were to put the necessary work in. Our pipe dreams include going to Meadowmount Summer Music Camp and playing in National Youth Orchestra-USA like few of the older students with the same teacher have done. I believe my son would really enjoy making music at such a high level.
But, it would take a lot of work and perhaps almost singular dedication to reach these goals. Herein lies our dilemma. My son also enjoys math and math competitions; he would like to do well in AMC, MathCounts, JMO, etc. This fall, he will be switching to a private day school that has an excellent reputation in math; a recent MathCounts national winner as well as few USA(J)MO qualifiers have attended this school. So we are about to amp up his time in math.
What do you think? Is it possible or reasonable to pursue these high goals in two separate fields? Right now, I am inclined to think that it might be possible but we would not know until we really give it a try. My son would have to really manage his time carefully and work efficiently. However, my biggest fear is that I might push my son too hard and potentially rob him of a happy childhood. Plus, I have a younger son as well who is also playing cello and showing interest in math.
Would esp. appreciate your first-hand account of success or struggles as well as any caveats or advice based on your experience. Thx. a ton in advance!
Math and music are a natural combination. I say encourage your son in both!
I don’t have any particular insights into the music side of this, but I think fourth grade is the perfect age at which to get involved in competition math. No matter how rigorous the school is that he will be attending, it will not prepare him for competition at the higher levels. Definitely talk with the school, and if possible some of the recent USA(J)MO qualifiers there, and try to get an overall sense of how they wound up where they are.
In my experience, kids who love math do not really need to be pushed very hard, only guided. If you don’t know about AoPS (artofproblemsolving.com), please learn about it ASAP. 90%+ of the competition math kids will be on there. The reality is that your son will likely want to do some of the online courses, starting with prealgebra or maybe algebra. Also, there are some terrific summer residential math camps, like MathPath or Awesomemath for kids 11-14 years old, if he remains excited about math.
At this time he can do both. But if he’s serious about Mathcounts nationals from a competitive state (which is where most recent winners are from) it takes a lot of prep time. And making USJAMO in middle school is sometimes possible, but also most students spend a lot of prep time to get there. Sometimes this prep is done with a strong math team at school, sometimes outside of school. I assume music is similar to get to a high level.
Thank you very much for your encouragement and great tips and suggestions!
Thx. for pointing us to AoPS; we are just starting to make use of this wonderful resource. My son is really enjoying alchemus(spelling?) and we will get started on prealgebra book very soon and maybe do an online course on the same subject as well.
Also, I agree as well that school math will not be enough to prepare anyone for the rigors of math competitions. I am curious to find out how my son’s new school is running math club for the lower school students (grade 5-8).
@honeyharasho - we helped our kiddo find that balance between Math & Performing Arts. We found a Summer PA camp program in 4th grade where so many kids had math & music passions…During the school search process we met many students with similar passions - this was validating for kiddo. We found Summer program opportunities…When in a lower grade, kiddo wasn’t able to take a higher math level…we were able to find resources for advanced learning at a local college. In addition kiddo did Duke TIP & CTY online courses when younger. Wish we had known @ AoPS.
Your kiddo will lead the way. Ours wanted to play an instrument after listening to kids classical played like crazy before age 10. Then math became the thing. Now math is still front and center but not competitive math ( into another stem thing >10 hours a week). I just followed his/her lead. If they have passion about something they can come back and revisit. Kids who go really far in a field say nationally ranked in math might tire of it and go into science or really anything. They run out of time as they get older and things become more intense or they ( or the parents) push too hard and they get stressed. Best to let them lead the way.