Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Advice for Accelerating Math Curriculum for Gifted

Hello there,

I am seeking guidance on how to best support my 12-year-old child,;who is currently in 7th grade; but significantly ahead in mathematics. My child has always shown an intense interest in math and has excelled well beyond their grade level, completing pre-algebra by the end of 5th grade and moving on to Algebra I in 6th grade.

Currently; the school offers limited options for further acceleration beyond a year or two ahead; and I am concerned that my child is not being sufficiently challenged. We have considered the possibility of enrolling them in an online math program or having them take high school level courses through a dual enrollment option; but I am not sure what would be the best fit socially and academically.

Recommendations for online math programs that can offer advanced and flexible learning.

Managing the social aspects of having a child who is much younger than their peers in more advanced classes.

Also, I have gone through this post; https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/mathematically-gifted-students-workday-how-can-we-meet-their-needs/ which definitely helped me out a lot.

Any other resources or strategies for keeping a mathematically gifted child engaged.

Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.

I live in another country, so the school curricula for maths in our two countries may differ, but maths concepts are universal and my son used a variety of online resources.

We supported his enthusiasm to explore mathematics and his school achievements were largely a by-product, rather than his main focus. He is now in his second year at Uni, so I’m posting about his journey as it has had a relatively successful outcome.

From an early age, he watched YouTube videos, particularly Numberphile videos which cover a broad range of interesting ‘big’ ideas (eg. infinite sets). Khan Academy videos are great free online resources which explain maths concepts in easily digestible bite sizes, which may be useful if concepts are covered too lightly in videos that aren’t specifically intended to be educational.

At the beginning of high school, the maths HoD assessed him with a grade 7 test and confirmed he had mastered all of the content so she agreed that acceleration would be appropriate. The school bought subscriptions to Maths Pathways (which only covered grades 1-10 content back in 2017 but now covers grades 11 & 12 as well) and Maths Online, so that he could be radically accelerated whilst physically attending class with same aged peers (which was ideal for both his academic and social development). He covered grades 8-10 in six months with Maths Pathways and switched to Maths Online to cover grades 11 & 12 in less than a year for each grade, which enabled him to sit his first HSC (grade 12 exit) exam in grade 9 and the HSC extension exams the following year. Private subscriptions, which are a bit more expensive than school based subscriptions, are available to either of these programs. Both companies offer free trials.

DS received invitations to the Australian Maths Olympiad event (the US has its own USAMO), but we live outside of the major cities and our local school has no experience preparing anyone for these comps. Whilst he also received invitations to the AMT Olympiad training camps/schools, after attending one week-long training school, the rest were suspended due to COVID, so he was essentially isolated. We searched online for a suitable mentor and found an honours maths student at Cambridge Uni who had been on the British Olympiad team and engaged him as our son’s mentor (at a rate of $300/hr due to the exchange rate between stirling pounds and the Aus dollar, so this was the one extravagant expense for us, but since my son attended a public school, we saved a six figure sum on his education compared to many relatives and friends). After a few months, our son found past IMO papers tedious and not the best value for learning, so whilst he has been on the AMO merit list a couple of times, he abandoned his original aim of getting to the IMO. Instead, his mentor showed him some of the postgrad maths he was studying at Cambridge Uni and my son found the material much more interesting. These sessions prepared him well for his own time at Uni, where as a freshman last year, he was able to achieved HDs in first and second year advanced maths courses and is currently enjoying deep dives in various advanced courses relevant to his R & D Engineering degree. He now tutors/mentors high school students.

PS: DS competed at state level in several track and field events and during his time at high school, was generally recognised as his school’s star athlete, so that came with a lot of social currency and he was popular with his peers even as a maths & science scholar.

My kids were not particularly advanced (none beyond linear algebra in high school), though every year there are students who are quite advanced in math in our school district.

The answer is going to depend on what your school and area offers in terms of math. See what courses are offered at your high school. Our district has a bus that goes from the middle school to the high school each morning (or they did, when mine were in school) for kids who were advanced in math.

Some years in our district there is a student who runs through all of the high school math courses while still in middle school (so through multivariable calculus). My eldest and middle children each had a student like that in their class. Fortunately, there are a number of four year colleges within a couple of miles of the high school, so they took math classes at a local college.

Your child might get involved with math competitions. The student in my eldest child's class that ran out of HS math classes after 8th grade made USAMO every year from 8th grade on - those types of students are rare, of course, and most students are not that advanced. There are usually other math competition opportunities in high school, such as a math team.

I'm sure there are a number of online options that others could suggest - Stanford Online High School comes to mind, and a number of colleges offer online courses.

If your child is advanced in just math, I wouldn't be too concerned about the social aspect. They might be with older kids in the math class, but with students their age in other classes and extracurriculars. Good luck - there should be options, either in your school district, at a nearby college or online.

Welcome, Padrickk,

In addition to the suggestions above, your DC might enjoy some of the materials from Art of Problem Solving--which was originally a coaching resource for IMO-type students. They have full-course textbooks (digital and paper) and live courses with appeal and rigor for deep mathematical thinkers, as well as books focused on competition-type problems. Because the approach is quite different (far more conceptual) from many standard texts, even repeating algebra I (called introduction to algebra A) can be a valuable learning experience. The courses are accredited by WASC; some districts may accept them as transcript credit, or at least as leverage for placement to higher-level math at high school entry.

And FWIW, my upper school DC is in AP math class with classmates two years older, and does not appear to be having social concerns. But this is, of course, highly dependent on the exact child in question.