Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Khan Academy as a Curriculum?

I have a question about Khan Academy because, while everything will be great for this school year, I'm looking ahead to next school year. Clearly, I like to plan ahead, LOL!

Next year my DS will be in 5th grade but will be doing 6th grade math. One of the options would be for me to drive DS to the middle school at some point during the day for him to take his math class there. Another option would be something like EPGY, that he could do either at home or at school during math time.

But I'm wondering about Khan Academy. I know that there are a gazillion videos to watch on a gazillion different topics, and that the math ones specifically are arranged by topic. But is there a way to do an actual sequenced math program that would start out with basic 6th grade math skills and move in a laid-out order through all the 6th grade skills into 7th grade math? Are there just videos to watch or is there a section that provides problems to work on. In other words, can Khan be used as a self-directed curriculum?

Thanks for the help!

The answer is "yes, sort of," but in my personal opinion, for the vast majority of PG kids, it's just never going to be what we'd consider "meaningful educational experience" for them.

The problem is that it lacks the Socratic/didactic component. Without interaction, my daughter feels that such programs are inherently rather boring because they lack any dynamic instructional component.

We have this problem with the math offered by Connections Academy, honestly-- it lacks a live component unless you are fortunate enough to have a teacher that CHOOSES to do things that way. There is no real impetus for teachers to do live instruction, so most do not. They record their lessons. More Khan academy or "video tutorial" stuff.


I'd pursue EPGY instead. That's me.

EPGY was very good for beginning algebra for our ds; this is part of what is available if you are doing it via a co-op group, so not as costly as other independent epgy offerings.

Thanks for the input. The idea of a flipped classroom has been mentioned, where DS would learn at home and then do the associated work at school so that he could ask questions at school of his teacher while the rest of the class was working on their regular math stuff. It sounds like EPGY would be a better option for that than Khan, although not free. That was exactly what I needed to know.

Now, to figure out if that would be better than driving him to the middle school every day to learn in an actual classroom. I think I'll wait until the spring to figure this out!

Are there any other students who are going to take middle school math next year? If there are, you might be able to carpool. If it was my child, I'd lean toward the middle school class even if it was inconvenient simply because (in our school district) school staff wouldn't have any wiggle room to question whether or not my child had completed the course successfully once it's over - our staff tend to question mastery through outside curriculums, even when they're through a program such as EPGY.

Is it only a one-grade level bump? And what level of math is it a bump up to - first year middle school math or pre-algebra or higher? If it's just a one-year bump and especially if it's only a bump up to first year middle school math, I'd suspect there would be other children in the school who could also handle the coursework... and it would make sense to try to come up with a way to handle it as a small group rather than just one student going to the middle school or working individually (?)... just curious!

Good luck with your decision!

polarbear

DS is the only child in the district in his grade level who is subject accelerated for math. In fact, he will be the first child so far to be in 5th needing 6th grade math. I would actually have no problem logistically driving him to and from the middle school, I just am not sure how awkward that will be since the drive will take about 10 mins each way. It really wouldn't even be a problem if he missed stuff in 5th grade since he's ahead of the curriculum in general, he's just hoping to miss as little as possible of any specials or fieldtrips or other fun activities that would be inevitable.

MON, I, too, was thinking that it might be best for him to take a 6th grade class so that it was clear on his transcript that he'd completed it and no one could make him repeat it. For the last few years it's just been reported on his transcript as "he is doing well in X grade math," X being the grade up. This, I think, might be particularly important if he switches from the school system he's in now to the private one his siblings are in like we're thinking he might.

Haven't looked into Thinkwell - thanks for calling my attention to that, as well!

Even though our school district offers accelerated math, some 5th graders still need to go to middle school for math, and some 8th graders go to high school for math. The solution is pretty easy if middle school starts earlier in the morning than elementary. Our district just holds the math class during first period. The 5th grader takes the middle school bus in the morning, then the district transports him to the elementary school. Due to the difference in school start times, the 5th grader doesn't miss much of the elementary school day.

If the district doesn't see this situation much, then maybe they haven't thought about how to handle it - maybe you could suggest the above?

I was just about to reply the very same thing as NotSoGifted outlined -that's the situation where we live - we have 1-grade level acceleration in same-school but also have multiple kids in elementary who are 2-years accelerated for math and they used to take math class at their closest middle school (this I schanging as our district has started offering an online course taught by a district teacher so that more students can participate). Prior to the online option our students' families were responsible for transportation to the middle school for class, but the class was held during first period of the day, and since the middle school start earliere than elementary there wasn't an issue with kids missing any class work in their elementary school.

polarbear

Ah, alas, middle school here starts just 5 minutes before elementary school. I was thinking it would be best to have the math class first thing in the morning or last thing in the afternoon. I'm not sure the ms math head is the most flexible person, though, and I'm not sure this is an option. So that's why I'm trying to research and figure out what my other options might be.

Thanks so much for the help!