If this question had been asked before the end of the first quarter grading period, I might have a different answer. D20 is a “mathy” kid - always has been - and tested into Algebra 1 in 6th grade. We declined and she took the class in 7th. For her, it was the right decision. She was bored in her 6th grade math class (and ended up bored in Algebra 1, geometry and Algebra 2 with very high As in the classes); she was one of the older kids in her grade so that, combined with the fact that her school had a curriculum that focused on understanding concepts rather than memorization, gave her the cognitive abilities to handle it, and there were enough 7th graders taking the class so that she wasn’t the odd ball out. Also, her school was K-12 so we did not run into the problem of not being able to keep the progression. So now she is a sophomore taking a honors pre-Calculus and continues to do well. But she has no desire to major in anything math related, so now she is trying to figure out where to go next as there is no real reason why she would need AP Cal BC. During her junior and senior years, her options include two of: AP Cal AB, AP Cal BC, AP Stat, and something called “quantitative literacy.” Her school mandates that AB be taken before BC (but she doesn’t want to take BC anyway so that’s a moot point).
Said all that to say this, if you have a child who enjoys math, is good at math, has the cognitive abilities to handle the class, wants to be in it, and has the support of the school, then I would say go for Algebra 1 in seventh grade. HOWEVER, in this case, the student is halfway through the year. That is why my answer would be different. Let him finish the year where he is. It won’t hurt him as even if he doesn’t take Algebra 1 until 8th grade, most high schools will let students double up with Algebra 2 and geometry. D20 has several students in her class who did this and will go on to take BC. Maybe he can even supplement next semester with some Algebra 1 work and take that class in summer school.
It’s not a race and you don’t win a prize if you have the most APs. At D’s school, good students go to good schools, and the ones who take a few APs in core classes that interest them (one or two in each of math, science, history, English, and perhaps a foreign language) end up at the same schools as those students who take full schedules of APs.