Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Accelerating math 2 years!

I'm looking at a gifted program for DD for next fall (going into 4th grade), and they take test scores and put kids at the right level. I talked to one of the teachers and told him that DD's current computerized achievement test scores for math are somewhere above the 99th percentile. He said she would need to be tested again but she would be most likely placed into a group doing 6th grade math, so she would basically skip 4th and 5th grade math. The gifted program includes grades 4-6 and they mix all the kids up depending on their level. So she would be doing 6th grade Holt. What is that, Pre-Algebra? I have no idea. They also had textbooks for Algebra I and Geometry, so I assume those would be for 5th and 6th grade.
I asked him what about the gaps? She is currently in third grade in a ridiculous school that does not give any accelerated work, so she is doing the third grade math curriculum. She tests so high on the computerized testing (like MAP) because of the little I do at home. For instance let's spend 5 minutes learning about equivalent fractions. Got it? Good. But I am not doing any special curriculum in any order. He said he expects there to be gaps and he will figure out what they are and quickly accelerate through the 4th and 5th grade curriculum. He said Holt spirals so it will come back to that stuff anyway. I guess I'm just kind of skeptical, and wondering if I should maybe get the Holt textbooks and go through the 4th and 5th grade levels with her this summer. Or what else should I do? I'm thrilled that we found a school that will do something for gifted kids but also wondering if it's too much. Since she was already grade accelerated she will be 8 years old doing pre-algebra.

Oh, yeah, I also need to add that DD is twice exceptional with ADHD and they said that's fine, probably 20 percent of the kids there are twice expeptional and they will do whatever modifications they need. I mentioned that she's slow with writing and they said they have another kid who types his work, they will figure it out. I practically hugged the teacher, couldn't believe it. I'm wondering what I'm missing because it seems almost two good to be true. My only concern is that they admitted that there aren't really good supports at the Junior High or high school for these kids, there's no real progression (although I think they will bus Junior High kids to the high school for math if needed), and they would be thrown right back into the mix with not much gifted support. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

My DD is in 2nd and has just tested into the gifted program for next year, where they will be doing 4th grade math, which means she'll effectively skip 3rd. Which is fine, conceptually, because she's already up to 4th grade math in Dreambox learning and other math software, so I know she gets the concepts. But, she doesn't necessarily know how to work the numbers on paper and she doesn't have her multiplication and division facts memorized--she could work through that, except that she's easily frustrated and a perfectionist so I know she'll panic instead.

So long story short, I just went in this week to talk to her teacher about her starting 3rd grade math now. They're being a PITA about real accommodation but at least they've finally agreed to let her do 3rd grade in the classroom after she finishes the regular 2nd grade worksheets. They started her on the 5th unit which she says is still dead easy, but better than 2nd grade math. I bought the homeschool version of the 3rd grade curriculum the district uses off of eBay, so we can finish the rest of it during the summer.

It's awesome that your program has a lot of 2E kids. My daughter has ADHD as well and the program in our current district has almost no 2E kids at all.

Speaking from experience, have her learn multiplication facts over the summer. It isn't as hard as we all remember, and really helpful.

Seems exactly as good as it should be for all kids; it's really what schools should be about.

As you mentioned you pop a concept out in five minutes and done. I wouldn't be concerned about gaps at all. I think the greater bulk of K-5th grade math could be covered in the first few months of third grade for many highly gifted kids if presented at their pace.

Exactly! The last year has been somewhat of a nightmare with my having to remove DD's younger brother from her toxic school, and DD was stuck there. Her teacher at least isn't hostile but the overall school environment is just no good for either gifted or special needs (or worse yet 2e). So anything where people actually sound reasonable and nice really shocks me, like it just can't be possible. DS's new IEP manager and teacher for first grade told me that they need to build off DS's strengths (he's also 2e) and I about fell out of my chair. The teacher told me she asked for a day off from teaching and for the class to have a sub because she wanted to do academic testing on him and needed a whole day. I thought she was kidding but she showed me a huge pile and she wasn't. After reading this forum for so long and all the bad experiences of people I had pretty much given up. But there are good teachers out there.

Anyway, DD does know the multiplication and division facts but definitely needs to brush up and get faster so that's one thing I will be doing with her.

You could go to Aleks.com and have her take the assessment and see what she needs to work on...it is a paid site but very good for filling gaps.

FWIW,

We are in a tiny rural district and so given the pace of Maths learning in such an environment we elected to let DD work with the SM books outside of the classroom and she finished level 5 over a year ago. This is a girl that told DW and I that 3^2 + 4^2 == 5^2 about 6 months into her 6th year after being shown how cool squares and square roots are.

Even with the skip from 2nd to 4th she is still testing at advanced proficient - she tested like that back in September so continues to get 90s with a sprinkling of hundreds.

We are blessed with a tremendous teacher that provides DD with 7-9 grade challenging problem to work with but she has chosen to sometimes just read her book which I am fine with.

Her VCI even without extended scoring is 150 versus a PRI of 145 without. We are letting the LA stuff lie for now as she has learned things like RACE this year.

Compared to a lot of kids whoseparents frequent this she is a dullard!

At home she completed Lure of the Labyrinth and seems ( after a transition to the more rigorous AoPS style) to be holding her own and will work through the pre-algebra book on her own now after the first 2 weeks.

What's my point?

This is not a brag but an illustration of an alternative that has worked up to now for my DD. this could all turn on a pinhead, of course LOL. I wouldn't get overly invested in just in school acceleration alone because for an outlier this may not yield the returns you might expect.

YMMV

speaking of ALEKS, DS just brought home a sheet freom AdaptedMind Math with a username and password--his teacher wants him to do it. So far it looks good. It teaches the concepts like ALEKS or ixl.com and if they get 5 or 10 in a row correct it "passes" them and moves onto the next thing. I'm not sure if there was a placement test involved or not. So I need to look up how much it would cost to add DD, or maybe I can ask her teacher if she has access to it.

blackcat, that gifted program sounds amazing for your DD! I got tired of waiting for math acceleration to start at DD's school, so we've started EPGY (open enrollment) for DD for now. So far, we love it! It allows DD to go at her own pace. Perhaps you can start your DD on a level that would allow her to "fill in possible gaps" and then cruise forward?

All the best!!!

Loy58, I'm going to send you a PM