Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments it's april .. can we speed up 6th grade math?

My DS8 sits in his 3rd grade gifted classroom doing algebra online in IXL while the rest of the class does stuff more on level. He likes that he isn't forced to rework stuff he already has mastered, but wishes he could be in a classroom with actual instruction at his level.

About all you can do is ask if the teacher would grade it. Heck he could even grade it himself after school with her sitting right there working on something else she needed to do...all she would have to do is open the book to the answer key. If they had a standing date for ten minutes after school on Thursdays...he could whip through the beginning chapters and only stop and do what is necessary.

In second grade my son's teacher gave him the comprehensive pretest for math which takes two class periods to administer. He scored as having mastered 85% of the second grade math content. So she then put him at the back table and would give him chapter test after chapter test interspersed with time to play math games on the computer....until he got to chapters where he had gaps and couldn't get 100s ( he didn't have to get a hundred it was just he either was getting a hundred or was lacking that skill). At a chapter with gaps, she went over it and he worked through it and then back to taking chapter tests....he completed all of 2nd grade math this way in the first nine weeks.

I sent an email to the guidance counselor, asking if there are other options for doing the 7th grade math while remaining with his peers... crossing my fingers for another good option !

You said he is doing accelerated 7/8 maths class next year. That sounds great but I think starting 7th now would ruin it a little. Could he do some maths based project for the next 3 months? Or programming? Or something else he would enjoy?

The accelerated 7/8 math next year is designed to complete 7th grade by January, and 8th grade by June... so that the FOLLOWING year, when he's actually in 8th grade, he will be placed in a 9th grade math class. So I think the 3 months of regular 7th grade math he is being offered now, is taught at "regular speed", while next year's accelerated 7/8 math is at "fast forward" speed. I'm thinking it won't ruin it, and it might help him because a few pages will be familiar.

I'm more worried about finishing 6th grade math in a painfully excruciatingly slow way, but also I don't want him (at 10 years old) sitting with 14 year old 7th graders in math, as they near the end of the school year they will get more rowdy, the teachers will teach less, and they even put on movies. I can't stand it.

The best for me would be keeping him with his peers but giving him 7th grade work and somehow teaching it to him. It won't take long for him to learn it, but I just don't know logistically how this school can accommodate this need... that's why I sent the guidance counselor my question.

I love hearing everyone's ideas and thoughts! It is so helpful as I try to advocate for my son.

Cee,

We got our daughter a pre-algebra book dirt cheap on Amazon (used textbook - it was only a few dollars plus shipping). She thumbed through last summer and said there wasn't much in there she didn't already know.

Our state does algebra readiness testing and the beginning and end of the year to ensure progress. Does yours? She rocked that test and we used the score to advocate for acceleration in math from 7th grade math into Algebra I. We were initially worried about gaps since she was missing the 2nd half of 7th grade and all of 8th grade math this way. She hasn't missed a beat. She is doing very well in Algebra and her Algebra teacher told me last week that moving her up was absolutely the right decision. She's 12 and with high schoolers for math only. She hasn't had any issues from being in with older kids.

I doubt that your son would miss much by skipping ahead. If it's only one class, I think he will be OK. Girls that age are giggly. He'll probably think they're weird

What is the structure of his school? Is it K-6 or is there a middle that he's already in?

Is there a project he could work on for the last quarter during math period? Maybe he could use it as an independent study time. Who knows? Maybe he could come up with a nifty money saving idea like that middle schooler who discovered Garamond saves millions of dollars in ink

My son in 6th grade just started the Middle School, which is grades 6-8. He is my only child, not often around older kids, except when he sees them in the halls. Once a week, he is in an advanced violin ensemble through the private violin school, with MS/HS kids but they are smart, musical, well behaved.

7th grade regular math, well, I suppose I am worried. Maybe I shouldn't be? The guidance counselor is totally leaving the decision to me. However, it was an idea that came up in a meeting with herself, my son's current math teacher, and the principal. So they are all on board with the idea, it's just up to me to say yes.

Can any parents here reassure me that socially, he would be fine in a 7th grade ordinary math class in a not-so-outstanding school district?

I would be less concerned about doing the 7th grade math now -- it sounds like he can probably handle the gaps -- and more concerned about having him repeat the same exact stuff in the fall. We had an issue with that when my son was younger, and it was sooooooo frustrating for him to have to repeat stuff he had just done the previous spring. I liked puffin's suggestion - maybe he can do something like programming for the next 3 months?

St paulie- I see your point but 6th grade feels liike a repeat of everything he knows. So I figure a few weeks of 7th grade has to be better than this. To do this he needs to be scored on the test given at end of 6th grade but he would take it now.

Cee, my DD10 did 5th grade math in 3 weeks after school and in the middle of softball season. They made her take every test. If we just did the stuff she didn't know we would have been done in 1 week. This was in preparation to skip to 6th. It may be a challenge but isn't that the point?