Ack! I thought I was done with decision - now considering hs'ing hs again.

[Shelly in IL]

I thought we had made up our mind to send ds to private hs for hs. We took the entrance exam and he excelled in all areas. Now husband will consider keeping him at home. I would send him to our co-op (which is excellent) 1 day a week for some core subjects, ie. Science, lit, writing, etc. But am unsure what to do about math.

 

His weakest subject on the entrance was math. Still way above grade level. But, I wonder, since he is self-teaching algebra, if he could have done better with instruction. My dh is helping with Lial's Intro. to Alg., but next year - I'm afraid that Geometry may be above our pay grade.

 

Is Chalkdust as good as going to school? He isn't horribly successful with watching dvd's - the Lial's were a bust. But, I am a firm believer in having math instruction more than 1 day a week - like at co-op. And questions for the following homework may be somewhat difficult to get answered if we are not directly in front of a teacher.

 

Also, if he completes Lials intro to alg and he goes to hs, would you place him in Honors Alg or Geom? He will be further tested to see his exact placement at the end of the year - but, his scores were just under that of honors alg. I would argue that since he had a full year of alg. prior to - it would be hard for me to put him in just plain academic algebra. However, just starting out in a hs situation - perhaps dropping him into Geom would be a big transition for him.

 

Sorry about all the questions. So bottom line - what would you do about math at home and what would you about math at the high school. I want to continue on a challenging math journey - he is smart, but I'm afraid needs more instruction.

 

Also, if we kept him at home, would you worry about putting him directly into geom. next year - or would you remediate his algebra skills some? (Is there something he could work through over the summer that wasn't overly intensive?) Thanks!

[Guest]

I'm thinking you could take some of the money you probably were thinking of using for private school and hire a math tutor -- someone from a community college, a teacher who wants extra work, an undergrad or grad student who likes to work with kids. Someone also mentioned on a different thread that their son had gone to Kumon for algebra tutoring to get up to speed -- finish that course and get ready for the next. I didn't know Kumon went up to that level and still don't know how far they go, but worth a call? By the time your son finishes ninth grade, many states will allow concurrent community college classes for high schoolers, and he could do math that way. All these options take the pressure off the do-it-yourself route and let you move away from trying to do math too. My daughter will try one of these routes next year for geometry, because I find math textbooks really hard to go through on our own, and because I'd like her to discuss issues with someone who thinks mathematically, which I do not.

[StephanieZ]

FWIW, if private school is on the table, then $$ for a math tutor should be small potatoes. Why not pick a great math tutor, get started NOW with the great tutor to review/refine the Algebra from this year (i.e., prepare to ace his algebra final by summer). . . and then continue on with the tutor for Geometry next year.

 

I'd imagine that once/week tutoring could be a great place to start and might well be all your son needs to keep him on track, espcecially if your dh could provide a bit of help in between tutoring sessions. If I were in your shoes, I'd schedule 1 hr/ 1x week with the tutor and ask to have an on-call arrangement with set fees (50c/min, with a $5 minimum or whatever) that the tutor could be available for phone or email help in between sessions if needed. That way you and your son wouldn't feel helpless between sessions.

 

($25/hr weekly = $100/month) It'd be a heck of a lot cheaper than private school, and could take that stressor off of your plate and let you enjoy the rest of his schooling.

 

HTH