Yeah, I am going to have to look at the potential impact 5 years down the road myself to see whether it will be worth having DD doing Algebra I next year in 5th grade or not. Having read the Rusczyk talk transcripts and 'the calculus trap' I am not in a frantic hurry anymore to get DD the other side of AP Calculus. But... If she can cope with AoPS rigour and she can do it 'early' without external driving the so be it. She needs to be kept in her ZPD
Trying out doing the AoPS pre-alg this year during 'school hours' in the 'quiet work' time and will speak with the teacher next week to assess her feelings on how that is going. Preliminary feedback is good so far...
We are taking responsibility for our DD's Maths education and do not realistically expect nor demand that her teachers keep up with her before HS. We will provide the curriculum but would just prefer to have her do it as much as possible during school hours and not after school.
I am also wondering about whether or not to 'put the brakes on' a bit by having DD do the AoPs intro to programming with Python instead of an overt Maths course...
We are in a very rural (for NJ) area with regional high schools and I plan to meet with a friend of a friend that happens to be a former superintendent for the regional high school over the summer to get a pulse on how supportive of a mathematically gifted girl the HS is likely to be.
Worst case, my DD will not graduate HS but go to a Uni where such trivia will be an irrelevance, I suppose.
Last edited by madeinuk; 05/30/14 02:52 PM.
