My son's school (with the help/advice of the school system's top AIG person and the school system's Middle School AIG head) is trying to devise a personalized educational plan for him.

He's 9 years old (turns 10 at end of March), in 5th grade, and was advanced one grade level two years ago.

They are looking at how he will advance through the different levels of Math over the next couple of years and one of the tracks they are looking at puts him in Algebra I (sometimes called Math I) as a 7th grader...only 11 years old.

For anyone who has had a child take Algebra I at a young age, how did your child (and you) handle it? Is there any advice you can give my wife and I?

Thanks for any and all help!

TripleB

My DD12 (in seventh grade) took Algebra I over the summer and is now in geometry. It was a lot of work because she simultaneously took AoPS for rigor and an (IMO) inferior course that is taught by Washington-certified teachers. But it wasn't by any means too hard - she did very well in both courses. (It took a little convincing to get her to believe that she did well in AoPS, because she actually had to work on the problems, and sometimes gave several wrong answers before she found the right one. I had to give her a number of pep talks about how that is how math is supposed to be.)

I don't see any reason why an 11-year-old seventh grader shouldn't be able to succeed in Algebra I.

My son took Algebra I (*) in 7th grade. In our district this was common enough there were two classes of kids taking Algebra in 7th grade, about 8% of the students. But that was pre-Common Core. Those students would now be in a compacted 7/8th/Algebra I course for junior high and not start CC Algebra I till 8th grade.

My son loved it. It was one of the few classes he enjoyed, that and band. I don't think it should be a problem for the right kid.

How unusual is that situation in your school? Will he be with much older kids?

Diana

Our DD 11 did this and did quite well.

She had done AOPS for rigour which helped her over some of her perfectionism/stress over wrong answers. The intro to combinatorics and probability class that she did Last academic year was absolutely the rock that broke the tide of her perfectionism.

Some of those Alcumus exercises were relentless in their tendency to revert from green through amber all the agonizing way to red before finally being wrestled back again and eventually into the blue. At first, this was quite aggravating but eventually she became more pragmatic - still not entirely mellow but vastly improved.

There are several on this board whose progeny have gone far further earlier.

IMO, mental readiness trumps calendar age.

Every member of my immediate family and my family of origin who has attained that age had taken algebra I, or its equivalent, by the age of 12, some under the old US system, and some under the integrated international system on which CC is based. The youngest was about seven or eight, I think. Median age, ten.

No noticeable issues with doing so for any of us. All of the post-collegiate family members acquired further education in STEM fields. In the case of our children, nipping perfectionism in the bud was exactly the reason we did it for one of them.

I would agree that the readiness of the individual by far trumps age.

I took it at 12 years old. I believe DH was 11. Math is actually my last favorite subject but algebra made sense to me in a way few other math courses did (I also hated trig, precalculus, algebra II but loved calc). I think he'll do just fine.

My DD (age 11, accelerated 1 year) is currently in Algebra 1 and getting A's. Her school has 2 classes of 7th graders taking Alg.1 so it's not unusual for that grade. It's the only class that makes her work (a bit). We are still in the situation if something is challenging she gets angry because everything has come easily to her so I am glad that at least one class makes her exercise the brain muscles a small amount.
She will not will not will not do AoPS again. She says she hates math so I leave it to the school to teach the subject.

DS took Honors Alg1 in 6th and Honors Alg2 in 7th. He was with a group of 3 others on the same track. He is in 8th now and taking Honors Geometry. It was tough in 6th grade but he was ready and did well. Alg2 was tougher but he got better and ended the year in the best shape he has been in. Geometry is a breeze this year.

In elementary school he was 2 years accelerated in math so at the end of 4th grade he was out of curriculum. Starting 4th we had him do AoPS Pre-Alg and he used Alcumus. He still uses Alcumus and Math Counts Trainer.

Getting a high school plan is getting kind of tricky.

My son is 11 in 7th and taking Algebra. No problems. Has to put in effort randomly (still has good chunks of time when it is very very easy).

My eldest took algebra when he was 9. The first semester was a challenge for him, but the ideas started sinking in during the second semester. My DD started algebra when she was 10, and we saw pretty much the same pattern --- after we switched her to a new book and started again.

Both are grade-skipped. Age gaps weren't much of an issue for my son at ages 9-11, but my daughter started feeling uncomfortable in 5th grade (a bit) and more in 6th and 7th. This year (8th) is better for her. Things started getting awkward for the eldest in 8th, but were much better by 10th.

The best advice I can give is to tutor your daughter at home if her school uses a textbook produced by a mainstream publisher like Pearson or Prentice-Hall. US math textbooks are generally very bad, and are downright confusing starting at the algebra level. My eldest looked at the first algebra book my DD was using and...well, you can read my review here. Look for "dog's dinner."

Up.

Also, a math-minded child (and even some not exceptionally math-minded HG+) may be able to sail through typical alg I material in far, far less than a school year. Some members of my family did not actually take alg I at all (straight into algebra II), and one learned all of it in one week home "sick".

If you want depth in your algebra text, you'll have to look internationally (or back in time).

My DD12 took Algebra in 6th grade and is now in 8th/9th Honors Geometry in 7th grade. Her first grading period she had something like a 99.3 average.

My DD17 took Algebra in 7th - the normal honors/accelerated path and is now in her 2nd year of Calculus as a senior.

Neither has expressed any regrets - other than trying to figure out how my younger will meet the requirement for 4 yrs of HS math when she exhausts the courses by 11th grade.

It's obviously an individual situation, but neither had issues, and I view Math as a bit different than many of the other subjects. It's so factual/concrete that maturity levels, age differences, etc., aren't that meaningful.

Personally, I skipped a grade in elementary school and accelerated math, and never had any concerns - but that was long ago.

While I don't expect the OP's child to have any problem with algebra, I think this may be going a bit far. There's an abstraction level in algebra 1 that I think you have to be developmentally ready for, just like you have to be developmentally ready to learn to read.

Agreed.

That said, and going off on a tangent, today's books are much less abstract than they were up until about ~25 years ago, with the decline starting in the 80s or so. I have old high school math books that are breathtakingly abstract. Modern Introductory Analysis (1964) is a good example of a deep, proof-heavy book. A newer edition called Introductory Analysis was published in the late 1980s and is much less proof-heavy than the first book.

I have a 46-page booklet called The Complex numbers (1965) that's supposedly aimed at high school students through interested adults. It contains a proof that took two pages to develop.

Today, math education is way more concretely focused than it used to be. I understand the need to apply math to solve problems, but think that the drastic loss of the theoretical stuff is a problem ---there's a lot to be gained from grinding out some proofs. And the old books also had a lot computation.

To the point about readiness for algebra, I used to present my kids with algebra-like problems to gauge their readiness. I'd see signals indicating readiness or not. In particular, before they were ready, they wouldn't retain what I'd taught them. Now, it's normal to forget stuff --- especially when you're learning a lot at once, but it was different when they weren't ready. I'd have to re-explain everything all over again next time, and there was basically almost no memory of the previous round. It was also extremely difficult for them to apply ideas before they were ready.

I once overheard a conversation about reading with the same conclusion: "I've been teaching him for almost a year, and he hasn't really improved." "Yes, me too."

At our public school, probably 50-75 kids take Algebra I in 7th grade. It's not called that anymore with Common Core.
My 8th grader did that and did really well. He took a 5-week geometry class last summer at the community college, and his school skipped him into Algebra II as an 8th grader (Integrated Math 2). He should be able to take two full years of AP Calculus at the high school and then just enroll at our local 4-year university as a senior in high school for math.
He had to pass an algebra-readiness placement test to take Algebra 1 in 7th grade. He got a 93% and you had to get at least a 75%.
If a child couldn't pass an algebra readiness test, I wouldn't do it since the skills build on each other and it will just be frustrating.

DD is in 7th grade and taking algebra I . She is finding it very easy and received an "A" for her 1st trimester grade.

Her class is mostly 8th graders with a few 7th graders. That being said, there are probably 6 or 7 algebra classes at her school.

DD took algebra I as a 7th grader, I believe-- I'd have to look, as it's been quite a while.

Anyway, she had been ready for quite some time, and found the material theoretically very simple indeed-- mostly giving formal names to things that she'd already found quite intuitive.


Agreed-- and ditto.

DD didn't have that basic readiness until about 4th-5th grade. Then, it was EASY.

Like reading was easy to learn when she was almost five-- same developmental champing at the bit.


For reference, though, that developmental arc is vastly different for different children-- DD was either 9 or 10 when she took algebra, and was 12 when she was tutoring other students in it quite successfully.

FWIW the district here routinely routes our version of the gifted and talented program into Algebra at 7th grade and usually has a class or two accelerated one year earlier and starting in sixth. I don't love the curriculum but it seems to work out.

As others have mentioned, AoPS is a great resource and is used by many kids that accelerate in math. I think the problem will not be if your child can do Alg I, the problem will be the issues of keeping them challenged if they get accelerated too far.

After reading, The Calculus Trap, by Ruscyzk, we slowed DS down by having him take several of the AoPS courses like Number Theory and Counting & Probability. It worked fine for him as he likes math. He is now in 8th grade and doing independent study taking AoPS PreCalculus. We buy the books for him and he works through the books and then he does the online course. He likes this method of reinforcement.

There are quite a few kids on the same path as DS but unfortunately not at his school. He is friends with them through a local math club. It has been difficult to keep him challenged/interested as he typically works alone in math.

My DD10 is taking Algebra 1 now as a 7th grader. So far she is sailing through. She is working with the tutor at Algebra 2/Pre-calc level. I am conserned with her possible future burnout from time to time.... So far she is having fun (tutor comes once a week for an hour).

Id have to go with Madinuk on this:

"IMO, mental readiness trumps calendar age."

If your son feels comfortable and wants to I highly recommend it. Chances are he will comprehend the math while being able to excel at it. At age 9 I was already reading high school level books in technology. While I did not understand all of it, what I did I enjoyed. And when time came, what I did not understand came easier to me latter "ahhh, I remember reading that. I did not get it but now it makes sense" To me that made it all the more fun.

my dd took algebra 1 in 6th grade and had no problems (she turned 11 two days after starting 6th so she was pretty young too). She took geometry in 7th, and is now taking algebra 2/trig in 8th and so far sailing through. Next year she takes precalc, and in 10th AP calculus. If a child is mentally ready their age should not be a factor.

My 8th grader should be taking pre-calculus in 9th grade and then AP calculus in 10th and 11th grader. No problems so far. The only problem will be in 12th grade, since there won't be any math at the high school to take. We live in a university town and he could hopefully enroll to take a university math class in 12th grade.

I don't have any advice since we aren't quite there yet but my 9 year old (fourth grade) is currently doing a combination of pre-algebra and algebra with 3 5th graders. I'm not sure what will happen next year since the 5th graders will have graduated and gone onto middle school. I think the key is to do it in a school that is flexible. If it doesn't work out will they let the child re-take it? Or back up to a lower level temporarily? Can they be flexible with the assignments? Or are they going to treat little kids like they are 15 with the executive functioning of 15 year olds?

I've posted about my not-especially-mathy DD here before, who was tracked into advanced math based on testing. Last year at age 11, algebra was not really connecting for her. (She was in pre-algebra, but some units definitely involved actual algebra). It seemed developmental. Interestingly enough, this year she's doing much better, with a teacher whose reputation is far less stellar. She says she "just gets it" now. There may be other factors at play, but I suspect there was a brain growth/maturity thing that had to happen and did.

I think our district gives kids an Algebra Readiness test if they are suggesting acceleration. May be something to ask about.