There is also nothing wrong with just doing something completely different, like going deeper, wider, or doing living math. He's ahead in math so you have "time" if you don't think he's ready. My DD was ready for pre-algebra in 6th too, but even though she had thrived in BA, she didn't take to AoPS pre-algebra at all. I ended up pulling from a bunch of things but largely did a ton of living math that year--advanced games, manipulations, books, etc. Honestly, she probably could have skipped to algebra at that point, but in hindsight I'm glad we did what we did. In 7th we did Foerster's algebra 1 because *I* was afraid to try AoPS algebra with her. But, we finished Foerster's, and we both felt disappointed, like something cool was missing. It was just "meh". So, for 8th this year, I decided to just toss AoPS algebra at her, and she LOVES it. Does it mostly on her own, feels accomplished and proud. I'm sure it's a mix of maturity and confidence, but the algebra 1 book and pre-algebra just feel different too. I've only had to step in a couple of times to get her un-stuck or toss a few extra problems from other sources for her.

Spain was under fascist dictator from 1939-1975. It was absolutely still recovering in 1990. I studied abroad there from 1989-1990 and the lives of all my Spanish friends and their families had undergone radical changes in their lifetimes. Spain definitely had different gauge tracks and I too spent long hours at the borders and searching for Telefonicas, but they definitely had not yet had the time or resources to modernize their infrastructure following the years of dictatorship. We returned in 1994 for our honeymoon and just 5 years showed incredible improvements. We still keep in touch with some of my friends from back then, and I’d love for DD to study there. That’s not to say that they don’t have issues (past and present)—the way Madrid is handling the Catalan separatist vote leaves a lot to be desire, but Spain and her unique set of challenges is so dear to me.

Thanks--I actually spent a lot of time researching geometry over the past few months and discussed this a bit in the High School forum. The problem is, my DD LOVES AoPS. Truly loves it even though it takes her longer to do. She and I looked at several other geometry programs and just weren't as thrilled at all. I was worried about going into it right away since it doesn't have the support of videos and everything that she's used to. That's partly why I decided to just continue with the familiar -- the algebra book as it transitions away from those support tools. I'm going to use Patty Paper Geometry and Great Courses before we go to AoPS. I have Jurgenson and Jacob geometry too. Because, well, I buy everything "just in case".

I think we've decided to complete the full Intro to Algebra book and call it algebra 1 and 2, and then do geometry. It looks like we're still on track to end this school year somewhere between chapters 11-13 so we will just keep going. I try to do math whenever we can during the summers. DD works as a camp counselor several weeks so we don't officially school year-round. But, I think I'll also add in some geometry from Great Courses to do alongside us finishing algebra 2 so we can be more prepared to use AoPS geometry too. I just ordered the books yesterday so I can start working through them. I suspect geometry will be our last AoPS course. So, I'll have to figure out what to do after that. This should keep us busy through 10th grade so I'm hoping to convince her to do DE for 11th and 12th.

I asked DD if she had any academic goals, and she said whatever I wanted to come up with. :closedeyes: She will be old enough to officially get paid for her aerial gigs this year so she'll be able to say she's a professional aerialist now. We have a really nice balance of independent and 1:1 work going now. I am gently pushing her into a few online classes this year. But, this has probably been our most successful year, and she's working well above grade level. She's 2e and when she was originally diagnosed in 3rd it wasn't really clear if it was working memory, processing speed, or ADD issues, but she's come sooooo far since then. I had planned to have her re-tested in 9th (so next year) so we could be prepared for accommodations for SAT, ACT, etc. I also had this idea of her doing PSAT because of the opportunities for scholarships for hispanic students. But, she REALLY doesn't want to go to college. This is hard because she is academically gifted, but it's not her love. She's also quite talented with her athleticism/artistry in her aerial dance life, and that's her one true love. She wants to go to circus school, and there are really only 2 options in the US. Otherwise, she'd need to go to Canada, UK, or Spain. No 4-year colleges in the US offer circus as a major and she's not strong enough in related disciplines like dance or theater to enter that way (nor does she want to). So, my goal for this year is to decide whether to have her re-tested and start spending all that time to get her ready for the barrage of standardized testing knowing that with her EF issues it's going to take away so much time from our interesting and rigorous studies. She might not get into circus school right away but she could stay working with her current troupe professionally. Sigh. 4 years from now so much could change and I just don't know what to do.

This thread had a good response from AoPS about what counts as Algebra 2. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/654637-what-is-algebra-2-in-the-aops-texts/

We completed BA5 and didn't like AoPS pre-algebra. I did a complete mis-mash of pre-algebra as a result and kinda regret bothering (in 6th) because not a lot was new. Then we completed Foerster's in 7th, and we both just missed BA, and I just didn't feel like she got the same conceptual richness from Foersters. Since, we were working ahead still, we tried AoPS algebra this year, and she loves it and is thriving. I don't know what it was about the pre-algebra book. I actually probably spent more of our pre-algebra year doing living math things like games (dice and card games), manipulatives (like algebra tiles and algeblocks and even cuisenaire rods still), books like the math ones from Isaac Asimov and even the ones from Danica McKeller. So, I guess we did a lot of fun meandering that year which ended up being a good use of time after all. We had MM 7, Dolciani (pre- and algebra), Jacobs, Lial's, Arbor Text (Jousting Armadillos and the other books)... honestly everything and I guess we probably ended up using Dolciani the most for pre-algebra out of it all. I'm probably no help except to say that we were in a very similar position at one point (and actually BA 5 wasn't done at that point so we were just continuing with them as they released.)

I'm not an expert, but just quite obsessed and excited that someone else is remotely interested!

I'll add another, and it's one we plan to use too but since its publication, it's been revered and criticized. It definitely takes a socialist perspective to history. I read it years ago in one of my LA history courses -- Open Veins of Latin America. Some country specific books, like Bitter Fruit, get into these types of heavy details too. We read Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World and Sugar Changed the World last year (in 7th). Bananas is a trade book for adults and Sugar was for middle grades. My advanced student reader probably found the reading itself easy in both, but they were great introductions to these issues. We plan to go deeper (like with Bitter Fruit) in this course I'm creating for later high school. (one of my degrees is in Spanish, and I've studied Iberian and Latin American history quite a lot, and my DD was born in Guatemala. We're also liberal so I could spend days talking about these subjects...I'm focusing quite a bit on Latinx history in US contemporary studies this year too.)

Well, that depends on a lot of different things -- reading level, political perspective, sensitivity tolerance, desired depth.. I'm currently developing an in-depth upper level high school course for my daughter. She's currently in 8th, but I plan to use this in 11th. I've been researching upper high school and college level syllabi for ideas. This site has helped a lot as a starting point: http://claspprograms.org/pages/detail/84/Syllabi I will probably be using this one as our core: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393283054/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 But, in 5th we used these resources which were extremely high level: https://www.amazon.com/Central-South-America-Teachers-Guide/dp/1567113249/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873656&sr=1-1&keywords=Central+and+South+America+Teacher%27s+Guide+%28A+World+in+Focus%29 https://www.amazon.com/Land-Jaguar-South-America-People/dp/0887767567/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873617&sr=1-1&keywords=In+the+Land+of+the+Jaguar%3A+South+America+and+Its+People https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1743219164/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The IB program also has course books on the Americas that cover the entire North, Central, and South regions. I also got this 4 volume set for $25 used: https://www.amazon.com/Latin-America-History-Encyclopedia-Students/dp/0684805766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873862&sr=1-1&keywords=Latin+America%3A+History+and+Culture%3A+An+Encyclopedia+for+Students+%284+Volume+Set%29

I think it depends greatly on a particular college's Spanish program. I placed a 5 on the Spanish AP exam back in my day (and completed Spanish V), and the highest any of us placed at my university at the time was 200 level.

I believe chapters 12+ are considered algebra 2 in that AoPS book. So, you can either keep going and concurrently do algebra 2, put it aside and just focus on geometry, or go back to the beginning of that AoPS book and do a deeper pass through algebra 1. We completed Forester's last year (7th) and since we have time, we decided to do the deeper pass through algebra 1 and started from the beginning. It's been the best choice for us.

We did Foerster's algebra in 7th, and are doing another year of algebra this year in 8th with AoPS because I just hear over and over again how critical it is to be proficient in algebra for SAT and ACT.

I just looked into it too after I posted because I hadn't ever really evaluated it. I agree--it's not really a general purpose psychology class.

Oak Meadow has one.

I have a BA in Spanish and studied abroad in Spain in college and have traveled there frequently. We adopted our daughter from Guatemala, and we have traveled there several times too. I've had absolutely no trouble going between both countries with my accent, understanding, etc. I absolutely agree with Mabelen who said it's similar to English variations. When I was in high school, my primary Spanish teacher (including for AP) was from Mexico, and then when I went to college, my instructors were all from Spain. I think the only thing that really confused me was having to suddenly learn vosotros. I specifically use a Spanish program now with her that includes speaking and listening skills, cultural studies, vocabulary and grammar that reflect this diversity. She's learning how to use vosostros, and I'm able to share (and laugh) about some vocab differences, just like we do with English. I'd highly recommend Antigua Guatemala as an option for you both. You could stay there relatively inexpensively for the summer like you said, and there are tons of language schools. Homeschool Spanish Academy is based there for a reason!

Agreed! Plus, I'd actually like to make sure she's reading books from a much broader multicultural perspective.

I talked DD into trying the new essay prep series (Kidswrite Intermediate replacement) in the spring. Anyone else sign up for any classes?

Honestly, DD has no desire to do anything with math as a career except use it to help with her aerial rigging choices. She's my gifted 2e kid who plans to go to circus school rather than college. I'm just choosing to continue to keep her going with a rigorous academic path in case she changes her mind. She really loves AoPS, but she doesn't really love math, if that makes any sense. She's quite strong at it but not particularly speedy.

She adores algebra so I think I've found my solution! I'm so happy that I realized this was an option!

Hi-- I've been trying to decide what to do about math for DD next year. She's doing very well in AoPS intro algebra. I am only planning to complete to chapter 11 for the algebra 1 material. I've been considering AoPS geometry next year, but just saw that on WTMA they recommend completing AoPS intro algebra (essentially algebra II) (chapters 11-end of book) before geometry. http://www.wtmacademy.com/courses/classes/geometry-aops/ Is that typically what folks do with AoPS? I know my own path was algebra 1 (8th), geometry (9th), algebra 2 (10th), algebra 3/trig/precalc (whatever it was called then) (11th), and calc (12th). I think doing the rest of that intro algebra book might be a brilliant solution for us. Perhaps even doing a lighter geometry along side to prep for AoPS geometry in 10th. Thanks!

The Order Out of Chaos is the printed planner DD is using this year.

Nope, but that's not an important skill for me to prioritize for my child.

We're a work in progress, but things that have helped, especially this year (DD 13, 8th grade) - I have a 36-week weekly schedule on Google docs. She can see what she has to do for the current week but also see what's coming. - She breaks down the weekly assignments into her daily tasks and puts them into her paper-based planner (her preference). If she must do things on a particular day for some reason, I let her know. Otherwise, she owns the daily work distribution for the week. - For her independent work (we still spend 2-3 hours together daily), I tell her to spend no more than 45 min-1 hour on any particular class, and she uses a timer. I recommend that she breaks it up into smaller chunks and takes a break, and she does that sometimes. - She created a system of 3 folders--1 for me to put any new assignments, 1 for her to turn things in, and 1 for things she needs to file (after I've reviewed/discussed them) - She has notebooks with Cornell style templates in them for note taking reminders and has a 3-ring binder for each subject. - She has a shelf to keep all her books, notebooks

Okay, that's awesome. I've been wanting to sign up for it!