@redfraggle congrats on the job! Exciting!
@InfoQuestMom DDās school has semesters. Most of the classes for grades 9 and 10 are pre-assigned but math has three levels.
@SilverGrass I was wondering because it looks like your daughter will be doing two entire years of math in a single school year. Will this class meet on a regular length period or on a double period? In our district, you can do two years of math in a single year at the schools on the quarter system because two quarters equal one year long credit, but class periods are 90 minutes long. My daughterās school runs on trimesters, where 2 trimesters equal one year long credit. She has five 70 minute periods daily. Itās interesting to see how differently districts and schools handle things.
So S finally ranked his choices for his course selection sheet. The school doesnāt have any honors level classes - only AP, regular, and a step below regular. So for 10th, heāll do pre-calc, AP English Lang., Chinese 4, reg. Chemistry, AP World History as the required core classes. Electives are: AP Statistics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing. His alternate electives are: Mechatronics 2 and AP Computer Science (online). He will also do marching band, but while itās a class for credit, itās only after school, so doesnāt impact his choices of electives.
Heās leaning towards the IB Diploma, so these are classes recommended for that path. I worry a bit about the Language Arts class if he doesnāt do IB. He runs out of classes to take after 11th, unless he takes the IB English.
@InfoQuestMom Thatās exactly what this class will be: two years in one. I believe its length will be the same as the other two math classes: Algebra II and Algebra II Extended. Thatās why I hope and wonder if DD will manage well.
Looks like your daughter will be accelerated to the same level, just gradually, right?
Wow, @SilverGrass that is going to be a fast paced class! I understand your hesitation.
Yes, my daughter will end up at the same level, but the progression is more gradual. She tested into compacted middle school math at the end of 5th grade, so she finished 3 years of middle school math in 2 school years, then she did her first high school math course -Integrated Math I (A &B)- in 8th grade. This year she has done Integrated Math II (A & B), followed this next trimester by Integrated Math III A. So next year, the plan is Integrated Math III B, Pre Calc I & II.
I have no reason to believe that my daughter will not do well, but if she were to hit a hiccup, or if she decided that she needed to use more time on other academic areas, we could always reconsider and slow things down. As things stand, my daughter has no clear idea of what she wants to do in college. Music is a possibility, but so is science, so her math preparation needs to be adequate just in case.
Good luck to your daughter.
@InfoQuestMom What a smart DD you have! How lovely to hear about great opportunities to advance in math!
My DD loves math, takes a weekend class and attends mathematics summer camps. These EC math activities donāt accelerate her, but she is familiar with many topics DH and I never heard. She is most likely to study in college math or closely related fields. She is musical too and sings in and outside the school.
@SilverGrass If your daughter loves math she will do just great! My daughter does well in math but thereās no love there. She likes it enough because she does well and because she knows itās necessary for science but thatās it!
My daughter is also doubling up on math next year. Her school has an accelerated Honors Algebra 2/PreCalc class. Itās a double period, first half of the year is algebra 2 and second half is PreCalc. She is looking forward to it. Even though she likes math and does very well, she isnāt a fan of her current teacher (honors geometry). He tends to grade way too subjectively and itās very frustrating for her. The accelerated math next year is taught by the chair of the math dept and weāve heard positive things about him as a teacher.
Oh, to have a son that was acing every class, handing in his homework on time, getting great grades every week and every quarter. #sigh
Unfortunately, I have traveled a similar path with D19, and it looks as though the path will be more pothole-laden with S22. So no accelerated math program for us. Yet I am taking what I have learned and applying it to S22.
My DS22 seems to have caught on to high school well. Heās in a small, private high school in Memphis. It is an IB program only (so, thatās been a bit of a learning curve). This school starts scaling kids up in the eighty and ninth for HL classes in the eleventh and twelfth grades. To complicate it, they are on trimesters (makes things even more fun!). Heās had straight Aās all year (with a girlfriend, who, bless her soul, makes sure he does his homework). Heās been taking: HL Math 9, HL Biology, English 9, American History, Spanish II SL, and Product Design. Outside of class, he has been on the Robotics Team and working with several clubs. It looks like next year it will be HL Math 10, English 10, World History, HL Chemistry, Spanish II SL, and Industrial Design.
MY DD24 is the family social butterfly (the rest of us are introverts). She is doing as well (though she does better at foreign languages and as well in the rest of the subjects). She is on the middle school soccer and track squads. This summer she will head to BVI to become NAUI scuba certified.
The funny thing is the my DS22 has attended summer camps at Auburn and loves the school. My DD24 has toured Alabama and loves it. Things are way off, but may have a future house divided.
So S22 has decided to start studying the DMV driving manual so he is ready to take his learnerās permit test in three months (when heāll be the requisite 15 1/2 years old).
So proud of his decisiveness and commitment to studying - but can you hand in your World History II homework first?
Itās 10th grade course selection week at S22ās high school. One thing thatās come up. Heās currently in Alg 2/Trig, has a high A. His teacher said that if you have a high A, you might want to go right into AP Calc A/B in 10th grade. Sorta cool, but Iām not sure about this move. Why?
(1) His high school tops out at Calc B/C (separate from A/B). Heād exhaust his Calculus options by junior year. He could do advanced calculus at a local community college, but then scheduling will be something of a pain. (2) He wants to do comp sci, which means engineering departments at colleges. Iām not sure what doing more than Calc B/C ābuysā him in terms of admission for those schools. (3) Math Analysis (pre-calc) has lessons that will be useful for the engineering classes inevitably heāll have to take. But perhaps Calc A/B covers that material first quarter (since A/B and B/C are separate full year courses at his school). SAT Subject Math 2 is based on Math Analysis (engineering schools like to see that test score).
My inclination is that he does Math Analysis. But Iām open to changing that position. Anyone have thoughts on this?
@sfSTEM , our schoolās math progression is similar, except after Analysis students elect to take either Calc A/B or B/C. B/C is about the same as A/B except that B/C goes much faster, covers much more, and is more like a college level course. Given that, I do not see the advantage in taking both A/B and B/C, as B/C will cover everything in A/B anyway. Maybe your schools teaches the course much differently.
@vistajay I checked, and I made a mistake. B/C is actually a single semester class. So his school does A/B as a full year class, B/C as a semester class. A/B is required before you do B/C.
One other 10th grade scheduling item. Iād said before that my happy STEM warrior would probably do regular World History next year. Well, heās decided to the AP plunge. Heāll be doing AP World History after all.
D22 was handed a certificate in her honors Algebra 2 class today for the 3rd highest score from her school in the AMC 10. Her picture is going up on the top-math student wall! Pride.
S22 had no problems with his coursework 3rd quarter except for Spanish. The teacher asks a lot of test questions that S22 thinks can result in several interpretations that are equally correct, but to her there is only one correct answer. If the word or phraseās meaning is supposed to be evident from the context or a preceding phrase, then she is not doing a very good job of teaching the students the distinction. This culminated at the exam, which was rife with such interpretations. To make it worse, the proctor spent the first 10-15 minutes of the exam period handing out detentions for uniform/grooming infractions and generally upbraiding the students, and most did not have enough time to finish the exam. We complained about the proctor. She could have given out all the detentions she wanted, but after the exam. First time in 6 years with two kids at this school that weāve ever complained about a teacher to the administration. Anyway, S22 got an 86 on the exam, but just barely kept his A. He spend the exam review class arguing with the teacher about the correct answers to many of the questions, LOL. I feel bad for his friend, who got a 78 on the exam and earned his first B in a course. Oh wellā¦lifeās obstacles.
My d22ās only complaint about her 3rd quarter interim report was that the English teacher didnāt make a personal comment and instead used the space available to warn parents that most kids grades are going to be negatively effected by the upcoming essay. Guess it wasnāt the warm, encouraging support d22 would have preferred.
S22ās big audition for 2019-2020 orchestra is next week. This year they are scheduling auditions during class time; there are four orchestra levels in high school and each musician must audition for a seat in one of the orchestras. He has been practicing his audition piece since November. He is trying to move up one level of orchestra yet the competition is tough. He does love it, though, and I never have to remind him to practice. 