Indeed, kids are all over the place in math.
At our local charter K-12 school, eventually-calculus-bound kids do Algebra 1 (6th, 7th), Proof Geometry (8th), Algebra 2 (9th), PreCalc (10th), Calculus AB or BC (11th), Diff Eq/Multi or AP Stat (12th).
So my DS2 at a BS took Algebra 2 in 9th grade together with mostly sophomores. There were more kids in the beginning but half the class, about 8, dropped down to Algebra 1 or non-Honor class within a couple months. DS did fine.
In 10th grade, he is taking PreCalculus (the only 10th grader in the class). He is planning to take BC Calculus in 11th and then Multivariables in 12th and Linear Algebra if he is allowed to double up.
So @sadieshadow, if your child is strong in math, he/she should have no problem taking Algebra 2 in 9th grade.
Just have DC refresh Albegra 1 foundation during the summer. I had mine review Art of Problem Solving Prealgebra book between 7th and 8th grade summer and I think that was very helfup for him.
It is true that kids ARE all over the place in math at BS, but I’d like to add another consideration to this conversation:
You can trust your BS to place you where you will do your academic best. Listen to them, and don’t stress about where you land. I wish you all a wonderful, happy first year. You’re in for the ride of your life.
I can’t stress this enough. Every year come July/Aug, the new students will come here and moan that should have been placed in this math class or that level of foreign language. The schools have been doing this a looooooong time; they want the kid to succeed, and almost always get the placement right. On those very rare instances that the kid needs to move up (or down) a level, most schools recognize it quickly and adjust accordingly. But really, there is no competition among the kids as to who is in what class.
Our school put kids on the cusp in the higher class but scheduled classes so that if you wanted or needed to move up or down, it was in the same time block. I think close to a third of the kids who were in the fastest math class had dropped back a level by Halloween. Virtually nobody moved up.
DS stayed put as the weakest of the survivors, largely because he loved the teacher, but it is one of the things I think he (and definitely i) would do differently if we were starting all over. That was an unnecessary and counterproductive challenge. He was always chasing the train as it kept picking up steam.
I’ll echo what others have said. Schools are good at placing students, so trust them. At my kids’ school, in rare instances kids do move but it is usually down not up.
Nico; What did you wear at NMH’s revisit day? What did the majority of girls wear? Were you outside much? I believe that it will be raining most of our revisit day. And we are not accustomed to cold weather.
@hardy8635 I wore some casual-ish pants and a striped longsleeve shirt. Outfits ranged from full-on suits to sweatpants. A lot of the girls were wearing jeans and sweaters with jackets. Don’t worry about being formal: nearly nobody was dressed formally
Tempkid1 was probably placed in a math class that was too easy for him when entering 9th grade. He must not have performed well on his placement test and was placed into Algebra 1 for his 9th grade year (repeating after having taken it in 8th at his LPS). We discussed this with his teacher during Parents’ Weekend and were told that his placement test suggested gaps in his learning in particular areas that would be taught later in the year and if he skipped that it might be a problem for him when he got to Algebra 2. That did not prove to be the case and he sailed through the year with straight As with little effort. We were concerned but in the end it turned out well. The easy math class gave him confidence and allowed him a bit of extra time to focus on other subjects during his 9th grade year. The school then suggested that he take both Honors Geometry and Honors Algebra 2 during his 10th grade year, Honors pre-calc during 11th and ending with AP Calc A/B senior year.
Perhaps update the official prep school stats/ecs thread… With the likely attending changed to ‘attending’ or ‘definitely attending’…
Which school @bc12345 ?
@momof3swimmers I’m all of those things depending on which second of the day it happens to be! We’ve bought a few dorm room items and DS insists he has plenty of clothes (except pants, which I’m hoping we have time to get). This next month will fly by, I’m sure.
@momof3swimmers, I am not so much nervous about DS going to school, but it’s really hitting me that he is old enough to be in high school! And then college! (He’s the older sibling.) He’s away now for a few weeks and it’s giving me a lot of time to mull these things over, which is not good. We’re in pretty good shape shopping-wise, but when he gets home we really need to focus – I’ve been stocking up on clothes on sale in multiple sizes, but I’m not sure what he has that fits now. We’ve got a nice selection of blue and grey sheets and towels…DS, of course, has not a nervous bone in his body. He’s ready to go.
