Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion P/T conferences today...interesting

I got a chance to talk to DS7's math teacher (he goes to 5th grade for math, as you may recall) at the conferences tonight. He's doing really well, and in fact on the last test he got the highest score! Gotta be putting those 5th graders on their toes.

For next year, the principal says they are going to get ALEKS for him. He would have to go to a different building for math class if he continued on to 6th grade math the way he's doing now--6th grade is middle school here. They don't want him to have to go to another building or to be in class with the middle-schoolers at his age. Of course, it just occurred to me this very instant that it's the same kids he's in 5th grade class with this year, LMAO! But I guess it might be different in a separate school. Anyway, they're going to bring in ALEKS and let him do his own thing.

That sounds like a great compromise.

How did you get the school to agree to the 5th grade classroom math? I've been trying for DS7 but they feel that it not work out due to various logistical reasons (not ability).

I'm laughing with you - although the kids do get scary when those hormones hit! But I really don't think that you should let the school off the hook so easily - afterall - what about the year after that? Unless your kid is a total 'self starter' I would try to keep him with other children - I have just seen so many 'independent study' programs fall apart, or 'get casual.' You child deserves to be taught, although we would settle for protecting our child from mistreatment at times.

If you do decide to do an online curriculum - I've seen folks be very happy with http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Classes/AoPS_C_About.php

They say it's for 6th grade, so it's possible...

Love and More Love,
grinity

Well, I'm not exactly sure about that. At the start of the year, everything was just 2nd grade, and then after a bit they started sending him to 3rd grade reading--it timed out right with the 2nd grade reading class--but they weren't sure how to do math because the classes didn't time out right. Then the next thing I knew, he told me one day that he had gone to 5th grade math class! I had no idea that they had been thinking of something like that until they did it. For a few weeks, it was only once a week, and then he started going every day and has done so ever since. I guess it was a combination of his ability/needs and the timing of the class where they could pull him from the right things to send him to that math class. I know sometimes he goes from PE, but I think other times he goes from 2nd grade math or something else.

The principal does say that she really doesn't like the idea of not having him taught in a regular class next year, but I guess she likes even less the idea of sending him to the middle school. We'll have to see how it works out. I think we'll try to get ALEKS again this summer to get him used to it and see how it goes--we did the free trial last summer, but it worked out where it was a month that he just couldn't get on the computer much and we didn't get much out of it.

It maybe worth a try to ask for another free trial. I would explain you really are interested but he really did not get to try it enough.

I would try to see if there is a possibility for classroom instruction before going with Aleks. I personally view it as a supplemental math course after DD11 did it last summer. I like EPGY better, but nothing beats a live teacher. It's nice though that your school has been so accommodating, but I would try to see if your child could go to math first period of the day and then join in the other building for the rest of the day, for example. If you can arrange transportation btw. buildings, that is one less concern school would have. Also, what if he takes off with math on his own next year (which is likely to happen) what happens when he is in middle school and he is doing university math? Making a suitable plan for him now would help solve these problem later on. Good luck!!!


Jen

Just sign up with a different email address... you'll get another free trial.

Yeah, I might try ALEKS again and see if it's going to work out.

I did sign him up for the AoPS site--thanks Grinity! I think those classes are too pricy for us, but we're going to try the free things that they have and see if it might be worthwhile to suggest it to the school for him.

I've seen a lot about EPGY here but I don't know what it is--I'll have to look it up and go see, I guess.

EPGY is Stanford University's Educational Program for Gifted Youth. They have an individual program that many of us can't afford and instead we have an open enrollment (OE) group on this board. More information on that is here: http://epgy.stanford.edu/district/info.html .