Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Online/self directed geometry courses for 8th gr

Dude,

I am not sure what you mean - do you believe that the Logic involved for MS Geometry really needs a full year to sink in for a 7/8th grade? I will admit that my memory of learning this is growing increasingly dim as I am now 51 and we learned it back then right after Arithmetic at about 8 or so but it seemed very intuitive if not obvious to me as a kid as I remember.

Thank you again for the additional helpful comments. I did not really think about the personal grading of proofs. ColinsMum, I found your thread and read it before I posted my original question:)...thanks for the thoughtful feedback you provided in that thread.

We have a sticky situation at the new school. DD thinks all the teachers are fantastic, except for her algebra teacher, whose teaching style comes across to DD as completely disorganized. But her teacher happens to be the head of the math department and the only geometry teacher at the school. DD is very methodical, organized in note taking, logical, etc. and she would rather follow a well organized curriculum independently than try to follow the teacher, who doesn't seem to do lesson plans. DD says that in algebra class currently, a topic is introduced by throwing problems on the board and solving them, with no note taking or reference to textbook, etc. Basically every day class is comprised of working through HW problems from the night before at a slow pace. Since my daughter's seen all of this algebra before, it's, um, painful...but she can't imagine 'learning' geometry this way). But that same disorganization can affect one's grade. Ex: DD recently had 30 minutes for a test. DD rushed through it and turns out, was one of few to finish it (maybe the only one). Teacher graded the first page of the test over the weekend, realized no one finished it, and let them finish the second page of the test after the weekend, but students weren't allowed to go back to check work already graded. They found out when they showed up in class that those who had not finished could complete the test. So DD got a low A because she normally goes back and checks work, particularly when she's rushing. Bottom line, DD does not want teacher disorganization to affect how she learns geometry. She doesn't hate the teacher (she's nice), just her teaching style. Ugh, I remember very little about geometry...except that it was far easier than algebra and precalc, at least for me (I didn't even take calc until college). I was going to be frank with the school administration and focus on 'teacher's style does not meld with daughter's learning style and here is why' and see if they draw the same conclusion. It's difficult. I think schools are used to crazy tiger parents pushing their kids so hard, that when they get a parent like me saying 'no, she's pretty smart and school is really easy for her, how can we up the ante', there is huge skepticism.

I would sign DD up for this if it were available right now but there are 20+ on the waitlist for the upcoming class. I thought maybe she could start the books on her own, then see how it goes...and if not working out, sign up for the class that starts in February. Nothing beats feedback from competent teachers! Thanks for sharing your experience.

I do agree with the posters above: the grader's comments in all AOPS classes that DS took were of very high quality and useful for DS. (Those were non-geometry courses and there was one so-called "writing" homework problem each week which was manually graded, with detailed comments.)

It may be difficult to find a "good local support" of the same quality.

(I was too brief in my post above. ColinsMum has much more details, specifically re. the geometry class.)

It seemed very intuitive to me, too, but that's all quite individual. I remember a lot of my mathy friends who hated Geometry, and the proofs were their primary reason. Geometry wasn't even accessible to students on the mathematical fast track in my days until 9th grade. Some form of Geometry has been pushed into my DD's math in grades 3 and up, but the logic piece is missing.

It's not that it needs a whole year, but it does merit a deep-dive that can be accomplished in a regular classroom, with frequent returns to proofs as new postulates and theorems are introduced, plus lots of give-and-take from a qualified instructor throughout.

It sounds like some of the parents here are happy with how AOPs has solved that problem, though.

DS11 is almost finished with the AoPS Intro to Geometry book. He has self-studied the material with the solutions manual. We tried EPGY's Geometry course but at the time they had quite a few difficulties so we requested a refund. (DS had taken 4-5 previous EPGY online courses and all was great.)

DS11 has only gotten "stuck" a few times and was able to either ask on the AoPS forum or get a teacher at his school to help him. Only negative we have seen is that NC does not recognize the course (either online or manually) so DS will need to repeat Geometry for HS credit. It seems his new school will let him use Northwestern's online Geometry course and it will work for NC.

AoPS does seem to be more difficult/thorough than EPGY.

Thanks for the reference to the Northwestern online class. I will take a look at for future needs (one of my younger kiddos is super mathy and math acceleration is getting more difficult to come by around my geographic area in middle school, even in the private schools). As for DD, I met with her teacher and discussed DD's desire to do online geometry. Cut to the chase - the teacher said she would completely support DD's move into geometry class right now, in school, after seeing her in-class performance over the past several weeks. I am thrilled, as I had already heard from one HS that they would not accept AoPS for credit even if my daughter passed the placement exam! I still bought the AoPS books for home support for my daughter.