I don't know where my child's info at this second. I have an idea, but only because my state requires we keep a porfolio and I think it's in there. He took them at 11, which was 7th grade, and I also figured it didn't matter what the registration number was - since scores aren't kept unless requested and I didn't request it.

I also called on the day they were released online. The recording before I spoke to a person mentioned I'd be charged to get the score, but since he was under 13, they did not charge. I can't remember how many weeks it was after they took the test. I found that info online.

I had read how much harder AoPS Geometry was - that the type of thinking was harder for students. As a former math teacher, I get that some kids are more Algebra kids and some are more Geometry. However, when it comes to something like proofs, math maturity plays and enormous part. I saw honors math 9th graders struggle a lot more with proofs than college prep level 10th graders. It came down to not having that math maturity needed for proofs. Knowing this, I was very hesitant to have my eldest do AoPS for Geometry since my child was much younger than 9th grade when the time came for Geometry. He did half of Intro to Alg. Then Intro to Number Theory. Then the rest of Intro to Alg. I was ready to have him do Jacobs Geometry - but he wanted AoPS. He really, really wanted it. So, I let him. And he didn't find it any harder than Intro to Alg!

Oops - The title was correct but I wrote Pre-Algebra instead of Pre-Calculus in the body. It's important for the child to be able to pace himself so that's why we aren't going to do online. Someone else found what I was looking for on the other board. Thanks for trying - It would have been easier if I had written my post correctly! As for why we want to not do everything, it's because he's already done a lot of Pre-Calculus but I don't want him to move into Calculus yet. AoPS will give him the problems in a different way than the other curriculum he already used. He did AoPS Intro to Algebra (every single question), AoPS Intro to Number Theory, AoPS Geometry, LoF Advanced Algebra, and is finishing up LoF Trig. LoF's next book is Calculus but now that he has a little more age/maturity, we're going back into AoPS. He loved AoPS but without the extra support of Alcumus, I wanted to make sure he had full understanding. (Last I checked, only the intro books had Alcumus).

There was a list a while ago posted that had the essential chapters/sections that a student should do for Pre-Calculus in AoPS. I wrote that list down but can't remember where I put it. And I couldn't find the post when I searched. Does anyone know where that post is or what the chapters were? *Edited because I accidentally wrote Pre-Algebra in the body instead of Pre-Calculus.

I saw a post a while ago that listed the essential chapters and sections in AoPS Pre-Calculus. I couldn't find that thread when I searched though. Does anyone remember where that list was or know what was on that list?

I was wondering about the overwhelming factor for your child as well. My son moved out of a different curriculum for AoPS at Intro to Algebra. He did not do the online class. He started soon after turning 9. There is no way he would have been able to handle the online class, just for the time element. He had to shift gears in his thinking. The hardest thing was that he was used to math being easy - and suddenly, it wasn't. He had to learn to meet that challenge and wrestle with problems. He did adapt to AoPS and loves it. If he had done the online route, we wouldn't have had the time to work out the kinks. A lot of advanced kids never learn to struggle - so though I love AoPS for the content and teaching methods, I love that he learned to actually like the struggle! Also, think about your child's personality. Does he love to do math problems in his spare time? Mine does not normally. (Number Theory was an exception). He loves AoPS and refuses to move out of it - even though I think the Geometry might be a little too much of a challenge at 11, but he wants to stay with it. He would rather have the more challenging math. But he wants plenty of time to play Pokémon and Minecraft. That was another reason I didn't want to do the online class - the time. I wanted him to feel like he still had plenty of time to do what he wanted. There are kids for whom math problems can be what they want to do in their extra time. But mine is up for the challenge, as long as it doesn't cut into his play time too much!

For curriculum, MCT and AoPS have worked wonderfully for my eldest. MCT and LoF have worked well for my middle child. I've also used some Zaccaro to supplement both and that's worked well. My middle child is a bit of a perfectionist who gets frustrated if she doesn't know the answers immediately, so we've been working on problem solving doing One Hour Mysteries and things of that sort and it's really helping her thought process and being open to not knowing the answers immediately. We also make sure there's tons of play time. They're advanced kids, but they're not the type of advanced kids who like to spend hours doing academics. So we make sure the formal work doesn't get in the way of plenty of play time. And on that note - another essential has been tons of white blank paper and colored pencils.

My eldest usually breaks up each section - doing the problems one day and the exercises the next. I save Alcumus for their own days. There have been reviews sections that I've broken up, though I can't remember at what point we did this but it's not every one. Usually, it was 2 days. And challenge problems also got their own day. My eldest is advanced and does very well with AoPS, but he is also a kid who likes to have maximum time for play. So, having the problems/exercising/Alcumus on different days really helped this. I also found he was more willing to struggle through any particularly difficult problems if I broke it up. In the first 13/14 chapters, I had him do every single challenge problem in Intro to Alg. We switched that up for the second half - I would tell him to pick 6-8 problems from the challenge section to do. I found that caused him to focus much better. And since he was doing every single problem in the other section, it wasn't a big deal. When he did the Intro to Alg book, I just looked ahead of time to see how to break it up, since not all sections are going to take the same amount of time. I think it took 30-90 minutes, with 45 minutes being the most common. He's done 6 chapters of Intro to Geometry so far and I think I must be breaking that up almost too much - as most seem to take him less than 30 minutes. But I've heard the Geometry can be trickier for students and he's younger than the norm for Geometry so I want to make sure he takes his time.

We found that MUS worked great to get the basics down but was then very watered down after that. Pre-Algebra was on the weaker side, but my child enjoyed it so he did it. Then he started the Alg I. I wanted to love it. MUS had worked so well from the start so we kept hoping it would improve. He switched out half-way through. It wasn't a strong Alg I program, but that also caused it to bore us both. So, though it can be a wonderful step for some kids, it was not a good fit for my child. He switched out and started AoPS Intro to Algebra after that and did well. As for age, we don't worry too much about that. We're figuring it out as we go. He doesn't do so much math a year, but speeds up and slows down as needed. He started AoPS Intro to Alg at the start of 4th grade. I do think doing AoPS any earlier wouldn't have worked for him due to the maturity. However, I could have spent that MUS Alg I time in 3rd grade doing something like the Key to Alg instead of MUS. He absolutely loved AoPS Intro to Number Theory. So, that's another option. There's also an Intro to Probability course. Neither of those are full year courses, but they're nice to add something. There's far more maths possible that the traditional public school courses out there so I am not concerned.

I can't remember what chapter it was in, but it was one of the extra exploratory type questions from a math competition. (It was not in the normal problem set). It had a rectangle broken up into different sized squares and he had to figure out the area of the rectangle. I could have easily let him skip that question - but it was actually quite fun to go through it!

I thought Intro to Geometry was before Advanced Algebra, meaning it should be easier? My son is only 6 chapter in with Intro to Geometry so far, so I can't comment about super hard chapters yet fully. However, I was VERY nervous about him doing AoPS Intro to Geometry as a younger student after reading how challenging it was. I even went as far as getting Jacobs 2nd edition as a backup in case he wasn't ready. So far, Intro to Geometry is going just fine and hasn't been an overwhelming challenge. There has been one problem that we did spend an hour on so far. But I knew it would take a while and wanted him to work though it - but it's the only problem I assigned that day. It was a very interesting problem and I wanted him to see how it all worked together. I'm glad we didn't skip it. Could you not worry about pacing? That way, whether he gets 1 problem done or 1 set, it doesn't really matter.

It does not look like tons of prep work to me. It is the parent being a facilitator, which is different than how we normally do social studies, as my eldest normally prefers to work completely independently. I'm excited to try this out though. Our school year starts June 1st and I have a feeling he'll want to start with this unit right away. I'll try to remember to update how it went. (But feel free to remind me if I forget!)

I grew up with a genius older brother, so it took a bit to realize it. I was happy to do what was needed to please the teacher and was well-behaved, shy, and never rocked the boat. At an assembly at the end of 6th grade, they called up all the students who had qualified to take the SAT. Out of nearly 200 students, there were 5 of us. I was standing with the kids I had thought were the smartest kids before that even. That really surprised me to be linked with that group. I knew my math scores were always good - and math class wasn't challenging enough for me, but it hadn't been a big deal. Then suddenly, I was standing with kids that I hadn't thought I was like. This also meant it took longer to realize my eldest was gifted. He has sensory issues which did get in the way of noticing it. But he also is gifted in ways very similarly to me. So, for a while, I thought it was pretty normal. Homeschooling helped, as he could move at his own pace. That meant a point came when it was obvious that he was way ahead of kids of a similar age.

I went! I did make time to see her. It came down to free dinner at the hotel or listen to her talk and I picked her. She was wonderful! She's working on changing all the PBL units to problem studies for one. She said that the Ferret Ecology one really didn't have that much different, that it was easy to break down. There was more changed in the Black Death/Plague unit in the order due to the way that had been set up. She said that once a parent has done a problem based unit for one unit, they should be able to see how to break down the problem based learning units. However, they will all be broken down to problem based units for one eventually. (Reading through the threads here, it seemed that Hull House was one that really needed breaking down for one student though, so I'm not about to attempt that one unless it's the "for one" unit). I purchased the Black Death/Plague for one unit to use next year with my eldest.

MUS was amazing for the younger levels. It got the basics down and was very easy to pace to the child. We loved it! Then I noticed that Pre-Algebra was a bit oversimplified, but the child liked it, so we continued on. Then came Alg I. It was extremely watered down and painfully boring for both the child and me as a result. I'm a former high school math teacher. Based on that, I'd say that MUS Alg I was below both honors and college prep levels even with the honors pages once it came to Alg I. However, it was above tech prep level. So, though I would not suggest that an average or advanced math student uses it, there are some kids who could really benefit from it. It's better to use an easier program and understand it than a harder program and not understand it. My eldest moved out of MUS Alg I half-way through. I wanted to love it but it just wasn't happening. Plus, he was only in 3rd grade at that point, so I figured we had plenty of time. He ended up starting AoPS Intro to Alg at the start of the next year, soon after he turned 9. AoPS is known for its rigor. My son could handle that. So, despite MUS not being a strong program with the high school levels, he was able to move into AoPS Intro to Alg thanks to the strength of the earlier levels of MUS. I did have to use two different programs for two different kids. They are both very advanced math students. But they learn very differently - they're gifted in math in as different ways as possible! My middle child did MUS until half-way through Delta and then switched out to Life of Fred. She's only in Decimals now, but I expect we'll do Foersters when she gets to Alg I. I'd love to do the rigor of AoPS with her, but I want her to enjoy math and that's worth it more than pushing her to AoPS. (And Foersters is still a strong program. Even if we need to stay with LoF, I'll be fine with it).

I haven't been to a convention yet - I will in two days! But I'm planning on Kathy Kuhl, Kathy Koch, MCT, Zaccaro, Mathew Poston, Shelagh Gallager, and Weiss in Greenville at the Great Homeschool Convention. They have a nice section online with bios on the speakers and what their speeches will be about, so it was easy to go through the list beforehand. All the ones I mentioned didn't have anything about religion in it at all. (There were a few others listed that weren't religious either, but since I'm not a classical homeschooler, they didn't meet my specific needs. I find y'all have the best curriculum suggests here, which is why I use these boards). *Now I need to look up what Adam Andrews is speaking about. I know he'll be there but I didn't mark him down as one I wanted to see. Maybe I'll need to reconsider! I have a lot of sessions marked down and want to leave some time for the vendor hall too.

http://www.2011.ha-nc.org/lovetolearnconference

I'm headed to the Great Homeschool Conference at the end of this week in Greenville. I am an atheist. However, the conference is enormous. I've gone through the speakers and the vendors and crossed out quite a bit - but there's still some left. I am looking forward to hearing Zaccaro, MCT, Weiss, Shelagh Gallagher and Kathy Kuhl speak. I'm looking forward to some of the vendors too, including Royal Fireworks Press and Critical Thinking Company. There's another conference not too far away from this one, the Teaching Them Diligently conference. There is absolutely no way I would attend that one! There's also a secular conference that I think may be in NC. But looking at those speakers, there are less that I'm interested in. So, going to a mostly religious conference - but a huge one - will actually give me more options than the secular conference.

My eldest was when he turned 5. He refused to wipe himself and I told him he had no choice at 5. He did it and did a great job instantly! Then there's my youngest. He also refused. We did the same thing - no choice once 5. But like the eldest, we said we would check and wipe after him initially to make sure he was doing a good job. He turned 5 three weeks ago and still does a terrible job at it. He wants to dab instead of wipe no matter how much I show him. But since he does do the first few wipes, we're continuing on. (My middle child, a girl was doing it sometime at 4. She wasn't poop potty trained until 2 months after 4 years old though, so it wasn't that much after that).

LoF is still college-prep level though. It is solid. It's not AoPS rigor, which is above honors level, but that's okay. There's plenty of time for that later if that's what your child needs later.

It will be okay! My eldest did MUS Pre-Algebra, which is not a strong Pre-Algebra program. But he was 8 and MUS had worked before then so we stuck with it. He started MUS Alg I that same year and it was awful. It was so watered down that it was painful for both of us. He switched out part-way through to AoPS Intro to Alg at the start of 4th grade, soon after he turned 9 and it was wonderful! There was one concept I needed to teach him to get him up to speed - and there was a learning curve for him to understand that wrestling with a problem was good - but after just two weeks, he told me he was glad he was challenged. I tell you this not because I think MUS Pre-Alg is great - it's weak but he enjoyed it and did learn some. But because he was able to do AoPS Intro to Alg even though he hadn't had a rigorous Pre-Algebra. So, it will be okay! Your Pre-Alg choice doesn't mean your child will be blocked out of certain Alg I choices! My eldest is gifted mathematically, but he's a fairly normal kid. He's got a brain for math, but doesn't do math problems for fun in his free time. He would rather be making his own Pokémon cards or playing Minecraft with friends. I strongly doubt my eldest would have had the maturity for AoPS Pre-Algebra at 8. So, I'm glad we took the path we did even if it wasn't the most rigorous one. My daughter will likely be doing Pre-Algebra next year. She's turning 8 tomorrow. (The plan is Zaccaro to tide her over until the start of 3rd grade once we finish the current book she's using). She easily gets stressed out and is loving Life of Fred. So, we'll continue that for Pre-Algebra. I'll likely switch out of LoF at Alg I. (I'm thinking Foerster's Alg I for her - her anxiety would make AoPS too stressful). She is not the out-of-the-box thinker that my first is. He's the dive in, make careless errors sometimes, but comes out with wonderful things other times. She wants to be trained and is scared to dive in, but careless errors don't happen and she is extremely trainable. So, it's not so much natural math ability with her as the ability to learn quickly when shown and be precise.

We waited until legal first grade age to start any formal curriculums, and then just math. But, I'm a former math teacher so we likely worked a lot of math naturally into regular life without realizing it. We used Math-U-See starting in first grade. It's set up in a way that it's very easy to do every single lesson and move quickly. Or slow down. The slowing down is important too - since even advanced kids sometimes need to slow down! I followed my children's leads. In first grade, they finished 3.5 books. My eldest loved MUS so we continued on. He was in MUS Alg I by 3rd grade. But MUS was watered down at that point, so we started AoPS Intro to Alg at the start of 4th grade instead. That helped slow him down and gave him wonderful depth. We don't worry about where we'll get when. We figure it out as we go - but we don't skip. My middle child was a little different. MUS started stressing her out despite her success with it. So, we switched to Life of Fred, actually going all the way back to the very first LoF book though it was way below her level for at least 6 months. But she loved it - and loving math was as important to me as understanding math. She finished 10 elem books, 3 intermediate books, and fractions all in under a year. (LoF isn't one book a year pace for the elem though - but she still easily did more than twice what the norm is). She's in Decimals now so I expect she'll be in Pre-Alg next year, in 3rd grade. She gets stressed easily though, so we had to change our approach completely. I wouldn't be surprised if there comes a point where we need to put away the curriculums and work on something else. However, she also gets terribly stressed if we don't continue on with her initial plan, so it's a balancing act! I agree with trying a different curriculum than her siblings. Even though I have two gifted math students, they learn in completely different ways. Part of the stress problems was that the second child felt like she should do the exact same thing as her brother. He was in a different curriculum by the time she started formal math, but she still wanted to do exactly what he did in first grade or more. It took a lot of tears and convincing to get her to try out Life of Fred. At first, she would only do it one day a week - even though she loved it. But she had a plan for MUS and it was hard to get her to break it. (This is also my child who has to be in bed at 7:01 to read and lights out at 7:16. If it's 7:02, and reading has not started yet, she freaks out and goes right to bed. So, perhaps not quite the norm! But it shows you how I couldn't just follow what she wanted completely, since one curriculum was stressing her out).

Wow, this is an old thread! I'd say it really depends on the kid. My eldest discovered the books when he was at the end of 3rd grade, so almost 9. He was more than ready for them. He'll be 11 in a couple months and still loves all Rick Riordan books, devouring whatever books come out. However, he started Harry Potter at the end of first grade. I think he did books 2, 3, 4, and 5 in 2nd grade. And then the last two Harry Potter's in 3rd grade. He loves HP and Rick Riordian and was able to appreciate it at a younger age than some. But, he was also the kid who refused to listen to picture books as a young child. He wouldn't listen while we read aloud to anything - until he discovered Goosebump books at 4. Goosebumps aren't exactly great literature, but they were the first books he would listen too. Harry Potter is what turned him into loving to read. He continues to read some books that others may have issues with, books that I'm certain my middle child wouldn't be ready for emotionally at the same age - but they work for him.

We wait until 3rd grade as the minimum age. Then, we started with the PASS by Hewitt for my eldest. This is an untimed, at-home, parent-administered test. So, it was less stressful for his first testing experience than many. In 4th grade, he did CTY testing - so above grade level testing, timed, at a testing center, and on a computer. I think kids should know how to test - especially kids like mine who don't take tests as a part of homeschooling - but that doesn't mean they need a lot of exposure or to start at a young age. I may wait until higher than 3rd grade for my middle child since she gets stressed very easily. My eldest did well so I'm not overly concerned. At this point, we'll likely only test with practice SAT's or ACT's until he starts taking them officially. *My middle child did take a math test as part of a competition at the start of this year through Mathnasium. She is in 2nd grade. It was the very first time she had ever taken a test, since we don't have tests in our homeschooling. I thought it was good for that reason and she wanted to do it. Despite her issues with stress and always wanting me by her side, she did wonderfully. It was a great confidence booster - mainly for the fact that she left my side and did a timed test with zero issues.