Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Math acceleration advice needed.... (kind of long)

Hi Haiku and lorokeets5,

Thank you for your input on being "different."

Just curious, as parents, how did you help your children see this "difference" is simply part of who they are and be proud (without getting cocky) and not let their peers make them feel it is weird?

And as for the teacher, how did you children's teachers help their classmates accept your children and be supportive?

Thanks again for sharing your experience....
Mag

Thank you for this great selling point! Although with the current budget cut (GT was on the chopping block, but got saved at the last minute), it is unlikely the district will purchase the program for the school. (If any online program gets approved for DCs, we will be paying the cost.) However, we did include your suggestion in our letter to the district GT coordinator as a possible resource for other students that might benefit from individualized learning program.

Thanks again!
Mag

Hi shellymos,

1. Thank you for sharing the programs that you have used/tried! We looked at the SuccessMaker from Pearson. It looks interesting and we like the fact it goes up to middle school and offers reading programs too. How are the lessons and explanations? Will you recommend it as a main teaching source or more of a supplemental material?

We were not able to find a cost, and wondering if you might have any idea? (Since we will have to pay for it.)

2. You also gave us the idea of asking for any programs that are already approved by the school/district for the 4th and 5th graders. If there is one, it certainly will increase our odds of getting something accepted by DCs teachers.

Thanks again for your BTDT inputs...
Mag

Mag, this might not help with your current situation, but fwiw! Our ds' elementary school refused to accelerate him in math even, but rather than give up all together we decided to supplement math at home so that when he had an opportunity to move ahead in middle school he could do so. We used Aleks and it worked out great for us. DS learned most of the concepts on his own reading the Aleks explanations; when he didn't understand he asked us (parents) to explain and we'd offer up a few different ways of looking at the concept. (Both my husband and I are strong in math, this might not work as well for a child who doesn't have a source to ask when they have a question). I liked that I could create quizzes in Aleks so that I could customize them for our record keeping, and it helped us tremendously that Aleks provides a table tying their concepts to each state's standards at each grade level. When we were in a position (different school for middle school) to advocate for accelerating ds in math, we provided copies of his quizzes, the Aleks report tying master concepts to state standards, and his previous achievement testing (through the schools) plus his ability testing - and that got him appropriately placed in math in 6th grade.

One note on how to use Aleks at school, if the IT department isn't willing to download the plug-in. Would you be able to send a personal laptop to school with your ds and would the IT department let him access the school wifi network? I'd also first research whether or not your school district already has an Aleks license - because if they *do* they clearly don't have an issue with downloading the plugin You might also discuss with your IT department the fact that (I think, our district is one) that many school districts have evaluated and used Aleks as a supplemental aide - chances are good nothing horrific will happen if they download the plugin.

Another approach that a parent at our elementary school took (which only works if you have the interest and time) - was to serve as the "gifted math helper" in her ds' 2nd grade classroom - when she asked that her ds be accelerated in math she was told it wasn't possible to send him to a higher level classroom due to scheduling challenges. So instead, she came into the class during the time the 2nd grade class did their regular math and pulled out a group of the 5 highest achieving "math kids" in that classroom and worked with them as a group to expose them to higher level concepts. She combined this (for her ds) with outside tutoring through Kumon, and was able to successfully advocate for a higher math placement in 5th grade (she was clearly a more effective advocator than I was, since I had to wait until 6th grade and a different school!).

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - you can trial Aleks for free, I think for one week, can't remember for sure.

pps - this probably is also too school-specific, but our school offers after-school tutoring for kids who underperformed on the state NCLB tests. It's all online and self-paced with one teacher overseeing questions and progress. Last year our first grader saw that happening and wanted to do it too, even though she's a high IQ kid who's totally a math geek - she didn't realize it was kids who were at risk, just thought it looked like a lot of fun. The teacher overseeing it let her sit in and work at her pace too and that worked great - but - it wouldn't have worked if she'd been a few grades older and/or realized the other kids were struggling math types. However - maybe there might be an opportunity for you to convince the school to supplement with an after-school math club using an online program.

FWIW, I interpret that as meaning simply that if you had a lot of people on the network using the streaming plugin simultaneously, your network might get overloaded. IOW, I think the only issue is that the streaming plugin causes more network traffic than the usual one (because, I assume, more of the computation of what should be displayed is done on their server, and then the results sent over the network to you, compared with the usual plugin which sends less material and relies on the plugin on the local machine to calculate what should be displayed from it). Of course what matters is not what you or I think but what the person in charge of your school's IT thinks, but I wouldn't write this off.

Wow, Mags... we have a very similar situation.

I have a DD7 as well, in second. Last year in 1st, I send in singapore math for her to do, she completed 2A,2B, and 3A, but I was hesitant on advancing her too much, so we also did the 2nd and part of 3rd grade Singapore Math Process Skills in Problem Solving, which focuses on the heuristic approach. That is what our GT coordinator suggested. Didn't work out as great as I wanted, as if she had a problem, she would either just sit there without asking for help, or the assistant would show her how to solve it incorrectly. I corrected it at home, and the poor kid would do 2 pages incorrectly, I would show her in about 10 seconds, and then she would get them all correct. But I loved, loved, loved those workbooks.

This year, they agreed to let her do Aleks. She started third grade curriculum in mid Sept, and is almost done with it. She basically already knew all the addition/subtraction/multiplication/division part of the chart, she just needed to be shown/review measurement and decimals. My thought, however, is to bring in Singaport Math again before advancing her to the fourth grade level. I'm not an educator, but the entire lesson on area and perimeter was literally "For area you multiply these two numbers, for perimeter you add these 4." And that is it. "Angles... >90 obtuse, <90 acute, =90 right." DONE. She got all the problems right, reviews and assesments on that right... but really???

My goal is NOT to have her reach a certain point at a certain time, but rather not be bored, be challanged, and absorb everthing completely. I'm not quite sure what the answer to that is, I'm just exstatic that her math education no longer consists of being the "helper"! I absolutely LOVE Aleks, and love the fact she can advance at her own pace in her classroom, and be stopped if she is having difficulty, without relying on the teacher. For her, its soo much better than their "differentiated" instruction, as her class's top 10% could not keep up with her, or even subject level advancement, as she would be stiffled yet again, even if less so. It also supports the need for her differentiation, as it does assessments and crosses of each and every line off the necessary grade level "goals" that they need for the state. My only concern is having her fly through three years of math this year, and then struggle with advanced concepts in Trig and Calculus because she doesn't have a strong foundation, or isn't mature enough to handle it... (I don't know, I never took calculus!)

If you are paying for Aleks, you will be the one with the administrative code. If they are, they will have it. I don't think it much matters either way, thought. The pie chart and progress can be seen from the student's account, and it is accessible online from anywhere.

Oh... and we had an issue with the plug in at one time. DD couldn't use it in the computer lab. I went to see what the problem was, and clicked the button for "download". Now she uses it on only that computer. Don't understand why that was an "issue", or if I wasn't supposed to do that.

Hi Polarbear,

Thank you for sharing your experience and many advantages of ALEKS program. If it does get approved, I'd be sure to print out some record for future advocacy.

Our school district sounds like yours.... the elementary school years are the hardest to get acceleration. Once we reach 5th grade, there are three tracks of math (including one that teaches 5th and 6th grade math in 5th grade, then 7th and 8th grade math in 6th grade).

We have been asking for math acceleration for the last two years.... and this is the first time we *might* get some where. Just like your family, to help keeping up with their math knowledge, DD and DS have been doing EPGY on weekends (they are just to tired after school on weekdays).

We are waiting to hear the final verdict in a few days and will post once we hear.

Thank you again for sharing!
Mag

PS: Kudos to your friend who dedicated her time to teaching at school.... Do you happen to know how often did the school let her teach? Any particular guidelines she had to follow?

Thank you for the explanation.... I am a dinosaur when it comes to technology. And like Polarbear mentioned, other schools have used and trusted ALEKS. So hopefully the GT coordinator will be able to convince the technology department. Keeping our fingers crossed.

After hearing IT's concern for the plug-in, we also asked them to check into IXL. It does not seem to require any plug-in's.

We will see what happens in a few days.... Thank you again for your input!

Mag

Hi Weids13,

Too bad that we can't put all these mathy kids and have them learn together.

We share your sentiment.... It is more about how WELL they learn rather than how fast they learn the math.

We kind of bounce back and forth between online course and workbook at home also.... hoping to strength their basic foundation and fill in "gaps."

BTW, thank you for recommending Singapore Math Process Skills in Problem Solving. Is it more like word problems? Applied math?

It is comforting to hear you had a successful situation with ALEKS at school. Hopefully our school will approve as well.

Thanks again,
Mag

I am not sure the cost of the program, it is through the school. I have only seen my DS do it once at home (he has access through school and home). There weren't lessons from what I saw. I feel like there must but somewhere, but I didn't see any. I don't know if it is a great program or not, but what they offer. We did like EPGY when we used that last year at home, we bought it but it was a good program. I have heard about other programs like Aleks that are supposed to be good too. But you will probably be more successful using one they already have, using one that's free (like Khan academy), or using one that you buy at home but they allow him to have access and use it at school. Good luck!