Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Common Core question for accelerated Math learner

I would love some suggestions with this situation. We are are military family with two middle school students, DS11 and DS13. We are currently in the Virginia school system which does not use Common Core but also have great accelerated math programs. DS11 has been able to take the "extra" accelerated math track and is taking "Pre AP Algebra 1" in 7th grade. This is the equivalent of high school Algebra 1 with some additional skills/ rigor. DS13 is taking the same course this year in 8th grade.

We have orders to move to California next year (Summer 2018) to a pretty remote area. If we keep the kids in public schools, we are having trouble (even with good communication with the schools there) figuring out what would be the proper placement in Common core math courses to keep them challenged and on track without too much repetition of learned content or holes in learning. The schools out there use the Integrated Math 1, 2, and 3 as their math courses.

I'm wondering if I should have them do some online course work this year to help them fill in any holes they might have transferring into the Common Core system? Math comes very easy to DS11 and he thrives on challenge so I want to advocate for the correct placement rather than see him struggle with boredom if the math content is not challenging in 8th grade. Any recommendations for online courses they could do this year?

Its surprising there isn't more material online dealing with this type of transition. There's not really a single common core integrated math sequence so you probably need to ask the district what's in their version and correlate. Chances are you'll be missing a bit of geometry, and stats and have gone over quadratic equations which will be repeated if going from Algebra I to Integrated Math 2.

The way to think about it is that Integration does not really change the general order of Algebra topics but is instead threading Geometry and a small amount of statistics into the 3 years. (This generally has the effect of further de-emphasizing Geometry in favor of Algebra)

Filling the holes will probably be a piece meal activity rather than a full online course but if you're strong in math should not be too time consuming.

In case it may be useful, here are links to the Common Core Math Standards, and Math Practice.

Would your children's current school work with these standards as a checklist to indicate skills which your children have acquired?

I am new here. My DD10 and DD6 are in CA public school so I can answer your question.

My DD10 is happy self-studying Algebra 1 at home. In Grade 4, she self taught prealgebra in one summer and can answer 90% the AoPS exercises correctly. I have not enrolled her to any of the AoPS online courses so far due to our inflexible schedule.

Her school uses the California Math Expressions Common Core textbook.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/math-...oftcover-grade-2/9283814/#isbn=054782452

Here is the CA Common Core math resources page:
https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/mathresources.asp

These common core textbooks teach different math procedures from those in traditional math, in a way that they emphasize a lot of *inexplicable* intermediate steps instead of direct mental calculation. DD10 does fine with math at school as she adapts herself well between the two systems.

However, my DD6 is a bit struggling with the school math. She is an over achiever at her age as she can do long multiplication and division with remainder already. She scored 100% in her exam, but as she calculates results mentally she is considered not fully grasping the math concepts at school, while the school teaches addition up to 10.

Many CA private schools adopt Common Core as well, but they use different textbooks and often are one year ahead of math curriculum of public schools.

I won't recommend anyone to enroll an online course to integrate into the Common Core system. If your kids are strongly interested in math, that's another story. You mentioned math comes easy to your DS. If he is used to mental calculation, he might need some time to adjust. Honestly I do not quite understand the math procedure of Common Core myself as a STEM PhD, and I couldn't care less. No matter what core it is, math is still math.