Hi Ania,
Please do tell us your math story!!!
Since I wanted my son to read in my mother's tongue before he starts official schooling, I was doing "workbooks" wih him when he was a toddler. These workbooks would contain math concepts as well, so yes, he was "coached" in math before starting school - he knew his numbers in two langugaes :-)
Started school as a 4 year old preschooler. Was doing great, no problems at all. Absolutely no additional work at home, apart from computer games, that were "educational".
Fast forward to the beginning of 2nd grade, he takes his first SAT test (achievement, same as Iowa). He scores 99% in everything but listening. He is my first child, I am not used to American school system, that is very different from Canadian.Going to a parent teacher conference hoping that a teacher will shed some light on my ignorance. "Oh, he is going to do great things in life". The test does compare my son to a national average, but the comparison to his classmates is missing. Since he is attending a private, expensive school, I reason that they are probably just very good and have quite a few kids with results like that. I do nothing. He continues to play "educational" computer games. School is a breeze.
Third grade SAT yielded exactly the same results. Teacher was stupid. Plainly stupid. I did not even go into "what does this mean" discussion. Instead I was trying to find out the scores of some kids that I thought were smart. But it was an impossible to obtain info. The school was very protective of it, maybe for a good reason. We still do not accelerate at home. If he does anything, it is a strictly "on level" workbook.
And here comes fourth grade with the sweet, old teacher. SAT results are same, but this time the teacher tels me in this very low voice that he is so, so , so smart and that she has absolutely no resources to do anything extra with him as most kids struggle in math and those are the kids she has to concentrate on. She tried to use my son to teach the class a little and to solve some of the challenge problems in the textbook that she herself was havig problems with. At this point I started looking into other options.
Since I was already interested in a new public charter that was offering a Spanish language, I called one evening, about 7 P.M. , to leave a message with my phone number. Someone however answered the phone. Turned out it was the Prinicipal. Turned out she used to teach at the private my son was attendig. I met with her the folowing day. She told me that at her school both Math and LA were done in block time, and the kids were attending their readiness level for both, not the grade level. I had my husband meet with her and we applied. There was a lottery involved. Ghost got in. He had to take placement test. In math he scored "an average 12 grade student six months after finishing HS". Since he has not taken any algebra yet, the computer suggested he does that. The school held a meeting to discuss my S case and he entered 5th grade as a full time Algebra student. He skipped into Algebra straight from 4th grade, without any preperation, which was very, very stupid on our part. We should have spent some time over the summer to cover at least fractions! The first few months of that Algebra class was a huge challenge. He has never worked with negatives before, never did anything major with fraction. Took him forever to complete math homework because Algebra homework can be quite complex. He was still the best student in that class, with kids two years older than him.
Now I started looking. Suddenly all the characterisitcs of gifted child fit so nicely around my DS. I signed him up for an academic talent search, he got the best scores in the state (granted, not that many kids participate in those). The summer after 5th grade he spend time at the University of Denver Summer Program. 6th grade Geometry- no problem. Mid year I found out about a Math Circle in a nearby city and presented Ghost case to the prof. He said to let him try it. He has been attending ever since and he loves it. It is very, very challenging, he only grasps about 50% of problems, but he still loves it. It gives him a kick to be the youngest among juniors and seniors :-)
This year as a seventh grader he is in Algebra 2/Trignometry class. For the first time ever (!) he complained the the class pace was too slow for him and he is doing it at his own pace now, still taking all the tests with the class.My husband checks on his progress weekly. Next year he wil be doing Pre-calc.
Participated in the talent search again after 6th grade, this time writing SAT. Again highest math score in the state. In the meantime won another state contest for 6th graders.
He does a lot of math now. He is a part of two math circles, the one I mentioned earlier, the second I was lucky to form in our own city. Participates in school math club that my DH coaches.
Participates in Math Olympiad, Amc 8, Math Kangaroo, AMC 10. Will write state math contest for the first time this year. Takes a class at the Art of Problemsolving. We have decided that he will be taking the class from them continuosly. Their approach to matematics is so different, so wonderful for talented problem solvers.
I was lucky that upon searching I found wonderful people online that were so generous abouth sharing their own stories with me. It has helped me a lot, both in terms of advocating as well as understanding what the kids like my son are capable of. You do not know until you challenge them !
If I can be a help to anyone, please PM me. I would like to give back what I was given.
Ania
The teacher she is getting is wonderful.
