Math Acceleration: Need Help

[trafal]

I need help determining how to find the right level in math for my youngest child. She is 9 . Previously, I homeschooled her but she attended a Christian School this year. The school year ends in late May and I am unsure of what to do for next year. I sent her to school because I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from several issues involving family members. I needed some time to recover from burn out. She was eager to go to school. It's been a mixed bag. It has been great for her to see that other kids have to be on a schedule, have  deadlines,etc. I think the work for her was not very challenging and socially she did not have much in common with the other kids. She wants to come home for the next school year. I think it will work out . I probably won't make a final decision for several months due to the complicated family situation I referenced earlier.

 

She has a September birthday. If she had to go to public school then that would place her in the 3rd grade this year as our state's cut-off is September 1st. Our school district is very inflexible about allowing kids to skip grades. Basically, they don't and the options for acceleration in elementary school are few. The Christian school was willing to work with me. They placed her into the 4th grade. She has made A's all year and very seldom does any homework or studies anything at home. The school uses the Abeka curriculum. I expect she will complete the 4th grade Abeka math book during this school year.  Last quarter her average in math was 97.5. Last year she took the Iowa via group testing through a local home school group. She was in the 98 percentile. This year the Christian school chose to have her take an additional  test through our state's Association of Christian Schools. This is not a large group- maybe 50 schools? Anyway, she was one of 2 students in the 4th grade at her school who took additional testing in Language Arts. She scored 3rd in the state for 4th grade Language Arts. Although, keep in mind that this was a relatively small group that was tested. The school does group testing in April but I won't have those results for 6-8 weeks.

 

This child is different from my others. Her older siblings are all teenagers. My oldest is physically and mentally disabled because he has a genetic disorder, my oldest daughter is average academically although very creative and spiritually mature beyond her years, my middle daughter is learning disabled , hates school, and generally difficult to deal with in all aspects of life ! This youngest child is like a sponge. She grasps things in a way that's ... well, it is just hard to explain.

Assuming I homeschool I need help deciding exactly what to do.We used Math Mammoth the last year that I homeschooled her and she also attends Kumon. In Kumon she is 1/4 way through level E which cover fractions. I believe that Level F introduces positive and negative numbers. 

 

Should I have her take the chapter tests for Math Mammoth and then skip those chapters that she can pass?  If so , what should be the cut-off ? 85, 90 ,95 %? So we would continue on with MM through Level 7 and then pick an Algebra course?

 

Should we take the summer , BTW, let me interject and say that if we homeschool she and I decided together that we would have her do 10 weeks on and 3 weeks off. So should I take that first 10 weeks and finish up most of elementary math? I have the book Math Coach and the author lays out a good plan for covering the essentials of elementary school math. That way we could start AOPS pre-alegbra during the next 10 week session. I would expect that we would move through the materiel slowly and I am fine with that. I also am willing to hire a math tutor/ coach to meet with us once a week as I am not in the slightest "mathy" and will need assistance at some point.

 

If we stay with MM then I'll continue to use CWP for additional problem solving skills . My impression is that it would not be necessary to add anything to AOPS. Her Kumon teacher tells me that she is very good at math.I have found Kumon to be very beneficial. She has learned (a little) how to focus and concentrate. She enjoys the positive praise that she receives at the center and I have piece of mind that she is learning the basics in a way that allows her to multiply, divide, etc almost automatically.   She doesn't love math but she doesn't mind it either. She favorite subject is science and I've tried to reinforce that the math is important because she will hit a wall eventually with science and won' be able to proceed without the math knowledge.

 

Any suggestions , comments, or criticism is welcomed. This is new territory for me. I feel responsible to allow her to go as far as she can and not waste her ability. Then again sometimes I wonder maybe I'm over-estimating her ability. I don't know other than I'm fairly certain this year has less of challenge than I would like.

 

Thank you  for reading the post. And thanks in advance for the help.

[4KookieKids]

Well my kids are generally younger than yours and I have no experience with MM, so I'm probably not the best person to answer this. But I'll just throw out there that we don't overthink their level. We just do the next thing at their own pace and make sure we're jumping in somewhere near the right place with a placement exam, when appropriate. :)

Edited March 28, 2017 by deanna1ynne

[Cake and Pi]

I vote you just have her do the placement test(s) and put her wherever she needs to be, then let her move at her own pace.  I have no experience with MM, but most curricula have instructions for scores and grade placement.  In the absence of such guidance, I'd consider the score band from 85-95% correct a grey zone where the distinction between pass and fail depends on if mistakes were made in carelessness or from lack of understanding/knowledge.

 

Supplementing with or switching to Beast Academy/AoPS might be worthwhile if she's the kind of kid who enjoys puzzles and exploring math (i.e. being asked to do things she hasn't been explicitly taught to do).  It's not the ideal curriculum for *all* mathy kids, but it's an awesome fit for some.

[trafal]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will give her the various placement tests for MM and AOPS and then we will move forward from there.

[MrSmith]

FYI the AOPS placement tests are really easy but the program is not. If it's a good fit it will be very solid and worthwhile.

[TerriM]

Sometimes public schools will accept the grade acceleration if someone else already accelerated her  Would they really make her redo 4th grade?

[Mike in SA]

Sometimes public schools will accept the grade acceleration if someone else already accelerated her  Would they really make her redo 4th grade?

 

This is what we are finding to be the case around here, which is why younger DS is no longer able to attend a B&M school in our area.  HS credits earned in elementary are apparently assumed to be fictitious.  Oh, well - we still have to provide an appropriate level of education for our kids, even if the public schools do not!

[Dmmetler]

We've found that homeschool credits are assumed to be fictitious unless backed up by exams or something similarly third party, but class standing earned in a private school transfer fine-so DD's grade skip from private school would stand, but the only credits that she would get going into PS high school would be those with exam scores behind them (and not ACT/SAT, but the state exam, SAT-2, AP, college credits etc). And maybe not those. One high school told me that they wouldn't even count those because "our classes are better". One reason I haven't bothered to skip DD on paper as a homeschooler is because no one counts it (homeschool programs often don't even count the grade skip from private school).

 

And don't even get me started on high school credits....sigh....Apparebtly the primary thing making a class "high school level" isn't the input or output level, but the age of the student. I had DD turned down to do MIDDLE SCHOOL science classes and accepted to do college classes at a state U in the same year (although it took a year and getting accepted at the much smaller CC for DD to be willing to go for it. The state U scares her.)

Edited March 31, 2017 by dmmetler

[kiana]

Sometimes public schools will accept the grade acceleration if someone else already accelerated her  Would they really make her redo 4th grade?

 

Heh.

 

When I was a kid, the private school accelerated me from K into 1. Then, when I changed states, not only did they refuse to accept the acceleration, but because the age cutoff changed they were very insistent on placing me in Kindergarten (which is where I would have been by the cutoff in the new state). They did reluctantly agree on "only" repeating first.