The answer to the title question: don’t worry about whether the +3 math track (precalculus in 9th grade, calculus in 10th grade) is “enough” to be competitive. Let the student direct the math directions beyond the normal math offerings of precalculus and calculus. There is no need for the parent to press the math accelerator to the floor (indeed, parents doing that seems to have resulted in many cases of over-acceleration, as evidenced by posts here of students on the +2 or higher math track not getting easy A grades in math).
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Getting easy A grades in Math is not a desirable outcome, is it? There should be some challenge. Otherwise you would be bored, and you are not stretching enough :-). That A needs to be hard. Of course not impossible.
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This is very true. I distinctly remember our local elementary school Principal telling us that if our kid did not read by the end of 1st grade, we should not worry, and that every kid catches up by the end of second grade. Expectations are often set very low. This is a serious problem. I am sure this doesn’t abate into middle or high school…
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@3catsforme I sent you a DM with information about an option you might find useful. Note that I edited it after I wrote it, so you may need to re-check it if you’ve already seen it.
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I don’t want to hijack the thread, but that is actually mostly true, not just low expectations. Obviously, not every kid catches up- b/c not every kid can catch up, or can catch up without help. But it is true that the dominant view in education circles is not to worry unless reading hasn’t sorted itself out by late 2nd grade- not because of low expectations, but because there is a lot of physical & neurological development involved in reading, and many kids don’t have all the pieces put together until about 7. The Nordic countries don’t even ‘teach’ reading at all until age 7- and their rates of reading difficulties (eg dyslexia) are a fraction of those in countries who push reading early, while their reading comprehension scores lap the US.
We told the Principal that the kid was already reading. I don’t know what he hoped to convey to us by mentioning this 2nd grade statistic even as we told him that the kid was reading. I think low expectations are pervasive. This is a problem. I think it is fair for the OP to ask what is the math level that other kids are at. The school’s guidance is not necessarily always the best.
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Again, focus on OP. This thread is not the place to yet again debate the general topic of math sequencing or acceleration. If users other than the OP have questions about their own situation, they should start a new thread and not hijack this one.
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Yes. Has to be kid driven, parents have to find resources, help the kid find their interests and not push. But be supportive. It’s a challenge for parents. Not every school is a fit, not every program is a fit. Sometimes kids move ahead then pause and then move again. Some go so fast they run out of options.
I think some were a bit hard on OP. Seems like OP is coming from a great place to open doors for their child. It’s a journey especially if the parents haven’t done this before.
Re: CTY and AOPS. We found teachers hated CTY and all the rest. We never mentioned it. The math club teacher used AOPs though and all the mathy kids knew about it/had done it or something similar.
Agree. But it can be hard. Some kids have more/less resources. Covid has made it worse. I once spoke to someone who was an educator. We were talking about what to do with kids who run out of classes because they are SELF motivated. He told me a number of stories about kids he knew doing some awesome things. Gave me some ideas. But not every kid finds their extra-curricular mathy thing. Some of the math things my kids stopped during Covid. It was tough.
I agree there is a mania in STEM. It’s unreal. I have stories. But there is mania in general, in society. There is no winning only learning and finding one’s own path.
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A friend is looking at math enhancement for his kid. There are competition paths and non competition paths through middle school and high school math. Parents tend to be careful in trying one or the other path for the kid based on the kid’s personality etc . My own kids did some cty when they were very young, but did not do anything structured outside the school. No competitions and no AOPS type activity. The school let them do whatever they wanted. One of them did calc bc in 10th and the other got to bc by 12th. The one that did in 10th had obvious advantages both in high school and subsequently in college, although college math is more along the lines of analysis etc. We also did not think doing bc in 10th was acceleration. It seemed normal for that kid. The school also was not very troubled when he told them he’d register for bc. The school is very loosey goosey about this. Subsequently even the college is loosey goosey about kids taking courses :-). You just go and talk to the prof for 30 minutes and register for whatever course you want. I strongly discouraged speeding up in summer though. I think the kids will be happy if you just let them do whatever they want. Just don’t hold them back. If someone wants to accelerate the kid though, the best time is really pre-k. At that point the kids don’t think they are accelerating. And that headstart will likely stay with them for a long time. Also strong reading skills go a long way with kids accelerating themselves in math — all these disparate skills sort of hang together in ways that are hard to describe.
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We just had a family chat about this. I read a lot. So do a couple of other family members ( more than 50 books a year let’s say). Some thought watching videos was a better way to learn information. I completely disagree. I can scan info quickly. I also write quickly hence my grammatical errors.
Kids who read learn so much outside of school. Plus, it’s a huge benefit to them as courses get more difficult. My 22 wanted an iPod many years ago. We set a reading goal. I think it was 2,000 pages in the Summer. After that Summer, it continued. The kids buy a large stack of books and read them all Summer. I know it works because after two years, I no longer had to invent them with things. Hard to get my youngest out of the reading chair, even when I want it.
The best part of being a reader is, kids get multiple points of view at an early age. They learn to think for themselves. And they learn from books that life experiences are vastly different.
Some say the wheel was the best invention, I’d say it was the Kindle.
I told my son I couldn’t afford a kindle because there was a time he was churning through 3-4 books a week. The library is better. Why pay for the stuff again? He’ll skim through a math journal paper and or other science papers rapidly and will get the gist of it in 10mins. Reading is an immensely helpful habit. Develops cognitive ability. Also helps in math acceleration if that is desired.
I will assume that @Htas and @neela1 will take their conversation to PM if they wish to continue the dialogue, as compliance with my earlier posts should not have been construed as optional.
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@3catsforme There are some online math competitions that dont require school participation. Purplecomet.org has signups for April. My kid did that a while back. No pressure, no fee. For an AOPS kid, it may be fun!