<p>Hi to all: I am a mother of a rising 9th grader who needs to take Geometry during the summer next year. We will be travelling to the US next summer so we need to find a place for her in the US where she can take that course during the summer. Besides the prep schools which offer geometry during the summer, can she take college level geometry course or will it be too advanced for her?</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>Will you have internet access? Maybe one of the online high school programs would be a good solution and you wouldn’t have to worry about matching up your travel schedule with the course schedule.</p>
<p>Are you going to be in ONE place all summer? If so, see if there is a community college that offers geometry during the summer term. BUT first make sure that your child’s school will accept this as fulfilling their requirement.</p>
<p>Gotta ask…why does your child NEED to take geometry in the summer?</p>
<p>Lots of local high schools will offer geometry. College level geometry could mean something quite different - it would depend on who was offering it. It usually just means a fairly rigorous high school geo course with proofs (which are not always taught these days) and some coverage of modern geo material. But there is also very high level geometry which requires a lot more math understanding that a 9th grader would have.
I would also agree that an online course would probably work well, assuming you have internet access.</p>
<p>There are also some gifted kids summer camps which would cover geometry. JHU’s camp , which is very good, is residential and has branches in several places
[International</a> Talent Search: Grades 2-8](<a href=“http://cty.jhu.edu/ts/its.html]International”>http://cty.jhu.edu/ts/its.html)
They offer lots of math, but be forewarned that it is VERY fastpaced.
Is your child strong in math?</p>
<p>As you look for a summer course in geometry, be aware that there are two different kinds of high school classes for summer. (At least, there are in most states. Since states set their own educational policies, I can’t guarantee that it’s the same all over the U.S.) </p>
<p>There are remedial classes, for students who have failed a class during the regular school year, and there are classes for “new credit,” for students who are trying to accelerate their studies. “New credit” classes usually require significantly more classroom hours than remedial classes; they also usually have better, more motivated students.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who replied. We will be coming to the US during the summer for 6 weeks because it’s the only place we know that offers summer courses in geometry for high school students. Other options for us would be the American school in London and Switzerland but we prefer to come to the US since that’s where she will go for college.
The reason she needs to take geometry during summer is that her counsellor at her new school looked at her transcript and informed us that we should consider taking geometry during next summer otherwise she will end up taking both geometry and trigonometry courses in 10th grade. My daughter planning on the IB diploma in 11th and 12th.
I will look into the course contents of some summer schools, online high schools, and community colleges and compare them to the geo course given at some prep schools.
Thank you for your suggestions!</p>
<p>You are coming to another country for an entire summer just so your child can take a high school math course? I understand that you want the best for her, but that’s not a very effective way of achieving it (in my opinion).
Now, math curriculum has also changed, but back when I was in high school, geo/trig was normally a single year course, so I don’t see any reason for her not to take them both in 10th grade. Or, doing the work over the summer in an online course. Or with a tutor. Or, if she is strong in math, she could work through on her own and test into the next level of math in 11th grade.
If you want to spend a great deal of money, there are certainly summer school boarding programs at the preps that will do a fine job of teaching geometry. Don’t , however, make the mistake of thinking that this will impress college admissions folks.</p>
<p>You can buy something called a geometry book and work through it. Then taking geometry and trig in the same year would be no problem. </p>
<p>There are MANY interesting and enriching summer courses in the US, but I don’t think they include geometry.</p>
<p>Wow. That’s overkill to plan your summer around a geometry course. Since you clearly have money, I say travel instead – you’ll learn far more.</p>
<p>I would recommend she consider Indiana University high school on line or Brigham Young University high school on line and (if the parents have forgotten their geometry) perhaps some help from a tutor. Two semesters of geometry are offered at both of these schools. My daughter took a class through Indiana. My son took one through BYU. Both were fine.
[Indiana</a> University High School: Indiana University Bloomington](<a href=“http://iuhighschool.iu.edu/courses/highschool/departments/MATH]Indiana”>http://iuhighschool.iu.edu/courses/highschool/departments/MATH)
[Brigham</a> Young University: Independent Study - high school courses](<a href=“http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/highschool.cfm?subject=10000063]Brigham”>http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/highschool.cfm?subject=10000063)</p>
<p>If you want her to take geometry in a classroom, there are plenty of options. Here is one at a nice private school near me.
[Western</a> Reserve Academy: Summer School](<a href=“Page Not Found - 404 Error | Western Reserve Academy, OH”>Page Not Found - 404 Error | Western Reserve Academy, OH)</p>
<p>I’m sure she could take geometry online through EPGY or a similar program. She could even do this while travelling to interesting places, if she had a laptop with internet access. Far better, IMHO.</p>
<p>(cross-posted with midwest mom. I didn’t mean far better than her solution, which sounds fine too.)</p>
<p>That’s going to be SOME pricey geometry course. I agree with others…either have her do it online…or get a book and hire a tutor (or self study) and just take both courses at the same time.</p>
<p>OR…just take geometry in 10th grade, trig in 11th, and precalc in 12th. I’m guessing you are doing this because you want your D to be able to take Calculus as a senior…why?</p>
<p>In our U.S. School…kids took Geometry in 10th grade, Algebra 2 in 11th, and precalc (which includes trig) in 12th. If they were in the accelerated or honors track…they were a year ahead…geometry in 9th, algebra 2 in 10th, precalc/trig in 11th and calc in 12th.</p>
<p>Just FYI…DD did the NON-accelerated math (highest math was precalc in high school) and she still managed to get a bachelors degree in engineering in four years from her college.</p>
<p>There is a tendency (among Americans, at least) to view school math as a race.</p>
<p>Elementary and middle school math are a race to algebra. If you get there first, you win. If somebody else (or somebody else’s son or daughter) gets there first, you lose.</p>
<p>High school math is seen as a very similar race to calculus.</p>
<p>As a math teacher, I’ll concede that a small fraction of American students really should be allowed to race this way. They are extremely talented students, and they probably really will be the leading scientists, engineers and mathematicians of their generation. But a lot of kids who run this race are just getting nowhere fast, IMO. When they try to learn math too young and too quickly, they don’t learn it too well.</p>
<p>I have no idea, of course, whether any of this applies to Aljubail’s daughter. I just felt prompted by thumper’s post to say it. (Maybe there should be a per-post fee for expressing your thoughts on the Internet.)</p>
<p>Sikorsky…I fully agree with you. DD was offered the “opportunity” to do the accelerated math track at the end of 7th grade…we graciously declined. We were the FIRST family EVER to say no to this offer. The school was in shock. DH, an engineer, felt that the foundation for math was much too important to be “accelerated”…DD was an excellent math student. But you know…in the end she agreed it was the right decision.</p>
<p>And, it did not prevent her from getting accepted to college and getting her engineering degree (and a bio degree too).</p>
<p>Sikorsky - I agree that there is a set of parents really pushing kids hard in math. But, I also think there are a lot of kids languishing in slow, slow, slow math classes. Geometry used to be a half semester course, with rigorous proofs. Now, it’s often a year long course. The standard sequence : alg 1, alg 2, geo/trig, calc has been stretched out with ‘pre algebra’ ,and pre-calc after geo and trig.
And, the kids who can move ahead often have to fight a huge fight to get there. Shouldn’t we be helping those future engineers rather than turning them off?
I agree kids shouldn’t be hothoused into math too quickly, but I also know a crowd of kids who were very badly underserved in math. Mine was one, so it is a particular source of annoyance to me, but there are a lot of kids out there that are ready for algebra far before it is often offered.</p>
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<p>I don’t see such a tendency. I think the vast majority of students, even those who intend to be math or science or engineering majors, are served just fine by a sequence that gets them to calculus in 12th grade and I find there to be a lot of posturing on CC about oh-how-advanced-in-math-my-student-is-he-would-just-up-and-die-if-he-couldn’t-do-differential-equations-by-9th grade. (I am NOT saying the OP on this thread is posturing, or anyone on this thread for that matter, just making a general comment.) I say this as a former math major myself.</p>
<p>As long as it is the kid who is driving the pace, that’s what’s the most important. If you have a kid who is languishing at the “regular” pace, it is painfully obvious, and as a parent you know the right thing to do is to fight for their right to work at the pace that suits them. D1 was one of those algebra in 6th grade kids, and I saw it from that angle, as well as some of her classmates who were “pushed” by their parents to work at that level and who ultimately struggled. It’s a little like the people who are president of ECs that they feel passionately about vs. those who want to be an officer just so it looks good on their resume. Where is the drive coming from?</p>
<p>Back to OP, I agree with those that combining an online course with some exciting travel across the U.S…maybe destinations of potential colleges some day…would probably be a great idea. Back when D1 was in the accelerated program, there was one kid whose parents did not want him to start math early. He self-studied and took a geometry proficiency test at the end of the summer; the school then allowed him to skip the geometry class and go into the advanced algebra class with the other group of kids in the faster track. If it’s your child who wants it (and you would not have to continually keep on them to do the work), then it’s the right thing to do.</p>
<p>As a former International school parent I totally understand! Meeting the IB math requirements can be tricky - our International HS used to offer geometry in the summer specifically for those who needed it for IB. But then most expats go back to their home countries in the summer so that could also be a problem.
I would go with an online option. My d has taken Chinese this way after we moved back to the US and her school did not offer it. She has taken classes through Michigan Virtual High School and the Johns Hopkins CTY program. The MVHS is MUCH cheaper and just as good academically. </p>
<p>[Summer</a> Calendar](<a href=“http://www.mivhs.org/Courses/CourseCalendars/SummerCalendar/tabid/356/Default.aspx]Summer”>Online High School and Middle School Courses - For Students - Michigan Virtual)</p>
<p>@nemom–I don’t dispute that there is a group of students who are bored and frustrated, and who have a right to be grouchy about it if they’re not accelerated. And I certainly do agree not only that those kids deserve to be challenged, but also that it’s in America’s best interest to challenge them. But my experience has been that this group of kids is significantly smaller than the group of kids who are pushing way, way ahead in math. I have seen many more kids who take Algebra I in seventh (or sometimes even sixth) grade, because they can, but then find themselves stuck by the tenth grade when they really should step down a level in their math curriculum, but have no place to step down to. If my experience isn’t typical–if far more kids are well served by fast-paced math curricula–I’ll be happy to be wrong.</p>
<p>@pizzagirl–getting to calculus by the twelfth grade isn’t really what I meant to complain about about. In my kids’ school system, they still call that pace “one grade level ahead,” but I think it’s probably the modal, if not the majority, math placement. My complaint, as you suggest, is much more about the students (and even more so, the parents) who view differential equations, multivariable calculus, etc., as trophies to be collected. The number of students who will be poorly served if they can’t learn div, grad and curl in high school is, IMO, really very small. But, again, I wouldn’t be unhappy if I were wrong. (I might have to start teaching middle school exclusively, but I wouldn’t be unhappy.)</p>
<p>@Aljubail–I didn’t mean to hijack this thread. I apologize. I know we don’t actually get to vote on your daughter’s education, but if we did, I might also vote for geometry class online and greater ability to experience the U.S.</p>