Tara,
A tangential point � you wrote:
>The most important thing to me is not that he is ready for calculus by age 10 (although that will probably happen)�
I feel like I am inviting an angry response if I ever mention that I think bright kids can learn calculus around ages ten to twelve.
Can I impose on you to fill us in on how you are handling math and how you plan to deal with calculus when your son gets there (if you�ve already posted this, a link please)? Are you acquainted with W. W. Sawyer�s �What Is Calculus About?�? I myself found that very useful to get the basic ideas (I think I read it when I was fourteen), but you cannot really learn calculus from it.
Even though I�m very good at math and, as a physicist, know a lot of advanced math, I find math one of the most challenging things to teach in terms of engaging the kids.
All the best,
Dave
I'm not what you'd call a math person, but my husband is highly gifted in math and all things analytical. Even though I am the primary homeschooling parent, he tends to do ad hoc math work with our son in the evenings and on the weekends.
At the moment, DS is using Teaching Textbooks, Life of Fred, Aleks, and a smattering of Zaccaro books to learn algebra. He really loves math and LOF and Zaccaro are what he'd call pleasure reading. He probably spends 1-2 hours working on math each day, by choice.
I'm not yet sure what we'll use for calc when it's time. It might be a traditional class (AP Calc at the local high school, or maybe at the community college--or maybe one-on-one with a mentor). One of the reasons I was excited to get the DYS acceptance letter is that I hope they can be of help when that time comes.
Tara
edited to add: Our son is doing high school work pretty much across the board right now (at 8) so it's not just math that I am dealing with in terms of advanced subject matter. In fact, I find that math is one of the easier subjects to handle when dealing with such extreme asynchrony.
