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Algebra I in 8th grade


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If no one is even offered the opportunity to start working algebra until 9th grade, I would be questioning if that is the right place for my kid.

 

BTW, we sort of did pre algebra twice using both Saxon 8/7 and Algebra 1/2. There was an international move and a lot of upheaval in there, plus the boys were only giving me 80's on most tests in 8/7. They've gotten their legs under them now and are not only doing algebra, but started physics today.

After too long with CLE and the Key To series, Math Mammoth combined with other conceptual supplements and one-on-one white board time with Dad is giving my little tween know-it-all a welcomed kick in the rear :D.

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FWIW, dd's middle school will allow "independent study" for a middle school student needing geometry or above. That's certainly not advertised and not in the curriculum packets. In their case, there's an all-girl high school on campus, so typically they use a high school teacher, but even if there weren't, it's not hard to imagine algebra as "independent study" with the regular middle school math teacher. When I was asking such questions, the admissions people loved to cite the example of an 8th grader who took trig. In practice, they're a pain in the rear about these things ("don't worry, we'll get the right placement for your dd! it might take 6 weeks!" lots of gate-keeping tests with mysterious scoring requirements, "here's a placement test, but don't worry about it, you don't have to finish it" :glare:) but at least they give the appearance of flexibility.

Oh I heard the same. Although they were less into appearances at the local public middle school when I asked; they wouldn't even consider letting a homeschooled child in their "advanced" math class with "only" a parent's recommendation (they wanted an outside teacher's recommendation) - never mind that one parent (not me, for the love of God) has several advanced degrees in science (and, by default, is an excellent judge of mathematical aptitude and would never consider allowing his daughter to flounder in a class that was too advanced for her).

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Oh I heard the same. Although they were less into appearances at the local public middle school when I asked; they wouldn't even consider letting a homeschooled child in their "advanced" math class with "only" a parent's recommendation (they wanted an outside teacher's recommendation) - never mind that one parent (not me, for the love of God) has several advanced degrees in science (and, by default, is an excellent judge of mathematical aptitude and would never consider allowing his daughter to flounder in a class that was too advanced for her).

 

I hear you! To make matters more difficult, dd confessed to me that she made a few dumb mistakes, while she complained in the same breath about everything being too easy :glare:. She took them literally when they said the placement test didn't matter and wasn't trying her best; based on all the moaning and groaning in the classroom, she guessed that the other kids were having a much harder time with it. Dd wouldn't listen to me when I demanded that she review a couple things. I don't know if they're looking for perfection or what; I do. not. want. to have this conversation with the math teacher, especially if my dd's performance does not back up what I say (still, her homework average is something like 97%). I have to give it one more week. I want to see what dd actually did on the placement test.

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I hear you! To make matters more difficult, dd confessed to me that she made a few dumb mistakes, while she complained in the same breath about everything being too easy :glare:. She took them literally when they said the placement test didn't matter and wasn't trying her best; based on all the moaning and groaning in the classroom, she guessed that the other kids were having a much harder time with it. Dd wouldn't listen to me when I demanded that she review a couple things. I don't know if they're looking for perfection or what; I do. not. want. to have this conversation with the math teacher, especially if my dd's performance does not back up what I say (still, her homework average is something like 97%). I have to give it one more week. I want to see what dd actually did on the placement test.

Good luck. I understand your frustration all too well.

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Oh I heard the same. Although they were less into appearances at the local public middle school when I asked; they wouldn't even consider letting a homeschooled child in their "advanced" math class with "only" a parent's recommendation (they wanted an outside teacher's recommendation) - never mind that one parent (not me, for the love of God) has several advanced degrees in science (and, by default, is an excellent judge of mathematical aptitude and would never consider allowing his daughter to flounder in a class that was too advanced for her).

 

We've had much better luck with our local school. They took my dd into an advanced math (and science) class with just my word. :D I did have standardized test scores to back up her basic abilities, but there was no math placement test. It was the local private school that required placement tests and capped her level (she could only test into Geometry or take Algebra. :001_huh:) Personally, I'd make it a condition of enrollment at the public school; unless they are an incredibly popular school and you have school of choice in your area, they will want your student. I do understand the placement test, of course, because one student way behind can drag down the whole class. But there should be options once the placement test is passed.

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We've had much better luck with our local school. They took my dd into an advanced math (and science) class with just my word. :D I did have standardized test scores to back up her basic abilities, but there was no math placement test. It was the local private school that required placement tests and capped her level (she could only test into Geometry or take Algebra. :001_huh:) Personally, I'd make it a condition of enrollment at the public school; unless they are an incredibly popular school and you have school of choice in your area, they will want your student. I do understand the placement test, of course, because one student way behind can drag down the whole class. But there should be options once the placement test is passed.

It was the local public school that wouldn't even consider placement in their advanced class (and they still do not offer Algebra in middle school, that I could see anyway). The private school is willing to entertain it, but do not have an algebra class (as of last year) to place her in - we are hoping they will add an algebra class as our state (hopefully) catches up with standards in other states. Lol.

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It was the local public school that wouldn't even consider placement in their advanced class (and they still do not offer Algebra in middle school, that I could see anyway). The private school is willing to entertain it, but do not have an algebra class (as of last year) to place her in - we are hoping they will add an algebra class as our state (hopefully) catches up with standards in other states. Lol.

 

If the private school doesn't have algebra by the time she gets there, would they be willing to allow her to work on homework that you send from home during math class, and you could afterschool algebra?

 

Several of the students who were in my weekend math class (in the early 90s, lol) had a study hall in school instead of a math class.

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If the private school doesn't have algebra by the time she gets there, would they be willing to allow her to work on homework that you send from home during math class, and you could afterschool algebra?

 

Several of the students who were in my weekend math class (in the early 90s, lol) had a study hall in school instead of a math class.

That is a fantastic suggestion and (oddly) one that I hadn't thought of! Our Catholic churches are very supportive of homeschooling here (and most of the parish schools have some sort of homeschool support incorporated), so they just MIGHT be okay with that. I'm not sure *who* they have to answer to, with regards to allowing this, but I will definitely ask. Thank you so much!

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When I was in school, students taking algebra in 8th grade got picked up by their parents and taken to the local high school for algebra class. I'm pretty sure that's still common for pubic schools today. Not sure what a private K-8 could do though.

Considering that while we have several private K-8 Catholic schools, we only have ONE Catholic high school - and it would be an insane drive to make every day (about 20 minutes from us).

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Would the school support an independent study period where she did an online class like the lessons in UCCP that use Dolciani?

 

Driving time is relative. 20 min is a short jaunt in my world. What if it was the last period and then she rode the bus home?

 

What are the compelling reasons to go to school if the options are limited?

Edited by Sebastian (a lady)
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And do you know what the course progression is for science at the Catholic high school? I know science is your dd's "thing."

 

We're trying to decide what to do for high school for dd. If she goes to her sister's Catholic high school, she can test into high level math courses but will be limited to the honors-level path of 9th grade bio and 10th grade chem, regardless of what we do at home in 8th grade. That means physics in 11th and science APs only in 12th, too late for good scores to help with admission and scholarships. As she is a math and science girl I want her to have every opportunity to excel.

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Would the school support an independent study period where she did an online class like the lessons in UCCP that use Dolciani?

 

Driving time is relative. 20 min is a short jaunt in my world. What if it was the last period and then she rode the bus home?

 

What are the compelling reasons to go to school if the options are limited?

There is no bus (Catholic schools here have no buses). Twenty minutes wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have two very young boys that would need to make the ride with me (and if the class is only an hour long - say - then they would need to be entertained in a car for around 2 hours per day).

 

Really, the Catholic schools here ARE good (their math programs are better than the public options here, at least in our district - but the most compelling reason to send her back is that she wants it so badly. We pulled her out of school in 4th grade and she's never really acclimated to homeschooling. Our relationship suffers for it (and she's a wonderful child, very well behaved and a general joy to be around; our personalities just clash when I try to *teach* her and I can see our relationship going downhill - that isn't what I want nearing the teenage years). We plan to homeschool the boys long term - but they've never "known" school outside the home.

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And do you know what the course progression is for science at the Catholic high school? I know science is your dd's "thing."

 

We're trying to decide what to do for high school for dd. If she goes to her sister's Catholic high school, she can test into high level math courses but will be limited to the honors-level path of 9th grade bio and 10th grade chem, regardless of what we do at home in 8th grade. That means physics in 11th and science APs only in 12th, too late for good scores to help with admission and scholarships. As she is a math and science girl I want her to have every opportunity to excel.

The science and math options for the Catholic high school are excellent.

I need to look into it further - I believe I recently heard that they have a middle school on campus (this isn't the most local Catholic school to us, so I'm not as familiar with them as the closer schools).

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So could she attend that middle school or are you locked into your parish school?

If we want the parishoner discount ;).

Lol - the Catholic high is around 17 or 18K a year. It is not tied to a specific parish, so I assume the middle school wouldn't be either; no parishoner discount. If the middle school is anywhere near comparably priced, that puts it at 3 times the price of the other three Catholic K-8 schools in the area. The other local K-8's are only around 5K a year for parishoners (a bit more for non-parishoners, a lot more for non-Catholics). I know the high school will be necessary in a few years - but we thought we still had several years before incurring the cost of high school tuition :tongue_smilie:.

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One of the moms in my local homeschool group sent her two oldest to the local public school this year. There was no placement test for math. Both had completed Singapore 6B. (In the younger kid's case, she'd also completed TT Pre-Algebra because she finished Singapore & the mom had it on hand.)

 

The older was going into 8th, so he went into the 8th grade math option (Algebra, I think). The younger was put into regular 6th grade math.

 

The school would not budge on this.

 

This is the same school that didn't "have room" in their honors math class for a (regular p.s.) student transferring in from another school district. He retook that math (geometry??) and doubled up the next year so he could get back on the advanced math track.

 

Our local p.s. doesn't care if you aren't happy. They figure they have a captive audience.

Edited by RootAnn
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When I was in school, students taking algebra in 8th grade got picked up by their parents and taken to the local high school for algebra class. I'm pretty sure that's still common for pubic schools today. Not sure what a private K-8 could do though.

 

In dd's public middle school they have Algebra I and Geometry available at the school.

 

Dd should have been placed into Algebra I Honors this year for 7th, but they only have one class. They can only have 22 students in that class, so it left about 40 students in Pre-Algebra who placed (with grades, test scores, and who are in the Honors program) into the Algebra I class. We're nearing the end of the first quarter and dd's grade right now in Pre-Algebra is 100.2. It's way too easy, and I feel like it's a wasted year. She asked to afterschool Algebra this year just so she feels like she's learning something.:glare:

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Back to the original question about taking Algebra as an 8th grader...my son did this and then ended up in a public high school that did not recognize this credit. It was a headache. Find out what your local requirements are before you plan ahead - even if you think you'll home school thru high school, you never know what may end up happening.

 

This is what happens in our area too. I'm not sure if you can test in or not.

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In dd's public middle school they have Algebra I and Geometry available at the school.

 

Dd should have been placed into Algebra I Honors this year for 7th, but they only have one class. They can only have 22 students in that class, so it left about 40 students in Pre-Algebra who placed (with grades, test scores, and who are in the Honors program) into the Algebra I class. We're nearing the end of the first quarter and dd's grade right now in Pre-Algebra is 100.2. It's way too easy, and I feel like it's a wasted year. She asked to afterschool Algebra this year just so she feels like she's learning something.:glare:

 

I would definately afterschool in this case. I hate the thought of taking a bright student who enjoys math and boring the heck out of them going basically over arithmetic review again. I went through that back in the stone age while in middle school. Then when I got to HS Algebra it was my most difficult class because the middle school did basically nothing to prepare me for it. Had I at least had the opportunity to be exposed to the concepts, things would have gone so much smoother. That is one of the reasons why I want to spend more time on Algebra with my son, most likely two years in 7th and 8th grade.

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