How hard is calculus for a kid who isn't mathy but is generally very bright?
Uhhh, she more that just "generally very bright" based on what you're saying. It sounds like you're seeing that she's not as "mathy" as she is other things, but that doesn't mean she's not mathy.
Calculus was the easiest math class I took in high school.
For me, algebra was hardest, and it got easier from there ...
Lol. Dd's third grade teacher said something along those lines: "[dd]'s weak areas are other people's strong areas." I don't think that she isn't good at math; I just think that she is good at math the way I am good at math not the way my younger dd is or her friend who is just a math whiz is. She needs a good teacher. If she runs into what she had in Algebra I in 8th for part of the year, which was a teacher who spent the first quarter essentially making it an independent study math class, she doesn't get it. She needs someone to teach her well. Her Algebra I class got better after a few complaints at least.
My youngest makes these intuitive leaps in math and tends to find step by step instructions frustrating. Dd13, on the other hand, needs all of the steps layed out as do I. I took integral calculus my freshman year @ Cal & totally froze. I was unprepared, had a teacher who was probably brilliant at math but didn't know how to teach it. Funny enough, my calc teacher had a bit of a papa Smurf air about him, too
. I don't think that I can help her unless I go back and learn it myself now.
