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I had that same problem in high school. There was no way around it really at my school, it was a public college prep school and Senior year math options were AP Calc or Honors Calc. Trig/Analytical Geometry (is that pre-calc?) in 11th grade (and Geometry in 9th grade) about kicked my butt. My solution for 12th grade was to transfer to a liberal arts college 500 miles away. They understood that, as an English major, I had not use for Calculus at all and allowed me to take some fluff math course where we talked about Lewis Carroll. Had I stayed in High School, there's no doubt in my mind that I would have flunked calculus.

Stats, functions, business math, accounting...

Some top universities have very specific requirements on HS classes. For example, Princeton requires:

* four years of English (including continued practice in writing)
* four years of mathematics (including calculus for students interested in engineering)
* four years of one foreign language
* at least two years of laboratory science (including physics and chemistry for students interested in engineering)
* at least two years of history

It does not look very good if a student only take two years of Math (even for English major). Having said that, if the kid is only 4th grade, you will have many opportunities to make adjustment along the way. I wouldn't worry about it now.

what happens if a child finishes calculus in middle school? Do high schools offer an additional four years worth of mathematics or would she have to repeat everything again? Is early college entrance the only other option in that case?

Keep in mind that most students take calculus in their senior year. More advanced ones take it in junior year. If a student finishes calculus in middle school, it is quite unusual. He or she can still do AP calculus BC, AP statistics in high school. Some most elite HS provides multivariable calculus, number theory and/or linear algebra as well. If the HS does not provide those, enroll in a junior college or university may be the way to go.

Admittedly, having one subject so advanced creates some problems. But these are lovely problems to have.

I would make the case for a gifted kid to take calculus, even if he/she was destined to be a humanities major or perhaps a science major. I think there is tremendous value in learning to think in the way that calculus teaches - fairly abstractly, with some very practical applications. I went all the way through multivariable calculus, and decided I wasn't as good at math as I'd hoped. I don't use any math in my profession, but I think it was valuable to learn the discipline.

Both of my parents actually took calculus last year at a community college (mind you, they're in their 70's) as a continuing ed adventure. They both thought they should take calculus before they passed from this earth, and neither had taken it in school. I got a great chuckle out of that.

This is my concern as well. What to do with higher classes? My DD9 would be starting prealgebra this year (based on ALEKS). I bought the ND 7th grade textbook which is skipped on the advanced track in our PS in favor of prealgebra. Originally I planned to use it as review, now I am considering letting my DD just do this for the year with her EPGY and then doing prealgebra next year in sixth, even if it is a little easy after this course.

Her interests are all science related and while she will need math I'm unsure at how high a level. She could always take more in depth algebra with something like AoP if she seems to need the challenge, but right now it isn't her interest. I don't think it will harm her to slow her down a little.

This belongs in the Ultimate Brag Thread. Way to go TwoMoose's parents!

My son is currently taking a math logic course through an organization that serves mathematically gifted middle school students. The classes are taught by a teacher during this school year. During the summer, they used online instruction for the logic portion of the curriculum.

This instruction, which is not included in most high school math sequences, could replace grade school acceleration in the case of your child and avoid the issue of going too far too fast.

www.eimacs.com

I should have mentioned that my son who just turned 13 is the oldest by age and grade of the group, as we didn�t learn of this organization until after the testing /selection period last year. For this reason, he only attends the logic part of their instruction each week.

The point is that he could/should have done this (eimacs) three years ago (and some kids are doing it at 10yrs) despite it being aimed towards high school and college kids per the website.

Melmichigan,

For graduate work in the sciences, here are the requires from what it was a few years ago when I was looking into several career options:

Social Sciences--usually only statistics, maybe Calc AB at top schools

Physics--usually through multivariable calculus or differential equations, less for geology/meteorology/marine science...

Chemistry--usually through Calc BC

Biology--usually through Calc AB or biological sciences calculus

Engineering--usually through differential equations

Medical School--about half require Calc AB or another math class (counting statistics), top ones (Johns Hopkins, Harvard...) through Calc BC

MD/PhD Programs--usually Calc AB, some through Calc BC (unless the PhD is in epidemiology, math, or engineering, but only a few schools offer that option)

Most careers in the sciences don't require a lot of advanced math unless someone chooses to specialize in data modelling or theoretical science. It can be helpful, though. In my MD/PhD program right now, I'm finding that knowing a lot of advanced math helps in creating new models of biomedical and population-based medicine and in thinking about abstract problems in my field.

Clarification - DS did audit a Calc 1 course over 7 weeks of last summer. He completed pre-calc as an 8th grader and now as a HS freshman he is in AP Calc BC at the HS. Problem will start next year as he will have to take classes for credit at the local U. This is going to be a logistical nightmare as we live 35 miles away from his HS and even further away from the U. Furthermore, my understanding is that as a sophomore he will have to have a full load of classes at the HS, meaning he will be taking math at the U on top of it. Honestly, I am not looking forward to it. Looking back I wish my kid had done number theory or counting/probability in 6 and 7 grades respectively.
Someone said that it is a good problem to have and those college classes will certainly look good on his college application. i agree, but it still looks nightmarish...
As for the OP question - please do look at the colleges your kid might be interested in attending. For the very selective colleges four years of math are required, even if you want to study Philosophy at HYP Do not limit your choices early on.
Also, don't understand how Stats is not considered a math subject? What is it then???

That is pretty bad.

It is not as easy as it sounds to take classes at junior college or university. Have to be late afternoon or evening class. With all the budget cut and class cancellation, HS students may not even be able to register. My DD was taking 3 classes at a JC in her senior years. There were several days in a week that she left home at 7:00am and came back at 9:00pm after taking 3 JC classes. Then she did her homeworks and other things like college application for 5 more hours. Who said that American kids had it easy. :-)

Then she spent 6 months trying to recover from that semester.

If your kid is capable of taking algebra as a 7th grader I don't think you should encourage him/her to close out the option of more highly selective colleges by not taking calculus in high school. Expectations have changed from when we were in high school. It is now really expected that strong college bound seniors have math beyond algebra II. If you look at the requirement even for less highly ranked colleges you'll find for a lot of majors calculus is a "premajor" requirement. I think you are selling your kid short to try to avoid having them take four years of math in high school.

Ania,
Your ds may be able to take college classes online from home. Lots of universities/community colleges now offer such classes.

My daughter is in Algebra I in 7th grade for High School credit. This means that this counts as one of her math courses for high school.

She will take Geometry and Algebra II (finishing at end of freshman year) and will satify her requirements.

I do believe that she will take more math courses because she is college bound. She will go through Calc since she will major in science in college.

Statistics is considered math at our community college. She will take College Algreba at at some point in high school. I want her to be very good at higher math since colleges give so much work (I teach at one).

I think I've worked out what auditing is, but can someone please clarify it for me.

Thanks,
matmum

As in auditing a course? IF so, that's when you sit in on the course but don't take it for a grade.

Yes, thankyou.

Struggling a bit with terminology and school systems, but what a great forum!