Math progression - AoPS to ps high school?

[Matryoshka]

My older two are at the ps for high school.  It's going well - not perfect, but on balance I think it was the right decision to send them.

 

Youngest is in 7th.  I'd kind of like to send her off for 9th as well.  My big question is what to do with her for math.  She's doing AoPS Algebra now - we're just finishing chapter 14.  I was originally thinking of doing AoPS Geometry when she was finished with that, and having her start high school with Alg II.

 

I was talking with a friend yesterday, and she suggested another way to go.  Her dd is good friends with a boy who is waaay ahead in math.  He placed out of Alg I and II, and started high school with Geometry, which also meant he was in with most other advanced freshmen.  As a sophomore he's taking PreCalc.  I believe he may also have done some online math program at home last year to keep the Algebra skills intact?

 

I'm wondering if something like that might be a better plan.  I know that the school makes it very hard to place out of Geometry (not sure why).  Dd took a summer course and tried to last year, but she said the test was very hard, and almost no one passes it.

 

So I'm wondering which would be the better plan:

 

1. (original idea) 8th- AoPS Geometry, try to place out of Alg I and Geo, take Alg II as freshman

 

2. 8th - AoPS Intermediate Algebra, try to place out of AlgI and II, take Geo as freshman, continue afterschooling with whatever bits of AoPS Int Alg are left during freshman year to keep Alg fresh till Precalc

 

3. 8th - AoPS Intermediate Algebra, try to place out of AlgI only, take both Geo and AlgII as freshman (the latter for review and to keep Alg fresh till PreCalc). 

 

Option 3 might be tough as she'll have no "soft" elective, but keeps me from having to bug her to afterschool - I know my older two have been swamped; I have a hard time seeing how they'd do anything more for me.

[wapiti]

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Edited September 15, 2016 by wapiti

[Matryoshka]

So, your other dd who already took the geometry placement test unsuccessfully - has she since taken the course at school?  I would wonder how the placement test compares to their geometry final exam.

 

I have my other dd's final, but I didn't get a chance to see the placement exam, I just know it isn't the same as the final, because I asked.  If it were, she would have been able to study for what was on it.  That dd did only take a compressed summer course - she would have had a better chance if she'd actually done the Thinkwell I also got her.  It was her idea to try and place out, but then the course was a few hours a day, and it was summer, so...

 

The Algebra I placement, otoh, was just the midterm (not even the final, as it was partway through the year), and they gave us study sheets for it.  I'm guessing this dd will have to take the final, though, as I'd try to have her take it either toward the end of this year, while the topics are fresher in her head, rather than waiting for a long while after she's completed Alg 1 topics.

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd be tempted to clarify a few things by contacting a receptive math teacher, if you can find one.  Is there a math club/team with a teacher as coach?

 

The math coordinator is actually very helpful.  I asked her in passing if dd could take the tests earlier than mid-8th as she finished the courses, and she seemed okay with that.  I need to ask her if she'd be giving dd the midterm or the final (the final is not cumulative, so cover different topics)

 

 

You still have half a year this year... what do you plan to do next?  How about a fourth option, finishing both alg 2 and geometry before high school starts?  Do you know when the school teach trig - with precalc?

 

 

If we did Geometry next year, she probably would already have finished at least most of both Alg 1-2 and Geometry by her freshman year, as AoPS Intro I think is supposed to be most of Alg2.  My sophomore dd is taking Alg 2 and the first half seemed to be mostly Alg 1 review, and now she's doing a lot of the same stuff as younger dd in AoPS.

 

I'm not sure if I want to start her as a freshman in PreCalc, as for one thing she'd be in with juniors, secondly I think it might be better to ease in with topics she is more familiar with as she gets used to school in general, and perhaps most importantly, she'll run out of math.  AP Calc BC is as far as this school goes.  (You don't take both AB and BC sequentially, do you? - I thought it was one or the other, and the second started in the same place but moved more quickly?)  There's no separate Trig class; I'm pretty sure that's part of PreCalc, so it's Alg2, Precalc, Calculus and done.  If she starts with PreCalc, she'd run out of math sophomore year?  Unless it is expected to do both AB or BC? They do have AP Stats that she could throw in there (what would be a good year to do that?)  After Calc?  Before?

[Matryoshka]

Hmmm... I wonder if she did AoPS Int Alg next, then Geo freshman year, I could have her take the AoPS Int Algebra online class rather than afterschool it.  She would have already have gone through most of the book independently, so hopefully it would just be some rigorous review...?

[wapiti]

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Edited September 15, 2016 by wapiti

[kiana]

I think that doing AOPS Intermediate Alg and then taking Alg II would be incredibly redundant.

 

I sorta like the idea more of just continuing with aops algebra and trying to place out of both algebras.

[Matryoshka]

Okay, follow-up question... I'm starting to like the idea of doing Int Algebra next rather than Geometry (of course, I already own the Geometry but not the Int Alg... ) and having her do Alcumus to keep Algebra skills fresh before PreCalc...

 

Then I was just reading on another thread "Stats before Calc?" - could one do PreCalc/AP Stats/AP Calc, or would that also leave too much time off for forgetting, or does Stats give enough review of concepts to keep things fresh?  Or would PreCalc/AP Calc/AP Stats be better (but then she'd have a year 'off' right before college?)  Or if she were to take Stats as an "extra math" one year, which one should it be?

 

I guess I also have to ask if Calc AB/BC is either/or or could be taken as a sequence at this school...

 

 

[kiana]

Either way there will be forgetting -- with the break off from calculus she'll forget it and with the break off from trig she'll forget that.

 

If she's going to take the AP credit in college I'd do Calc as a senior so she won't have time to forget. Otherwise I'd go ahead and do it as a junior.

[Trilliums]

DS completed AoPS Geometry and AoPS Intro to Alg and then went into public school precalculus honors. Adjusting to a faster class room pace was his biggest challenge.  He said the Intro to Alg book (and a general interest in math) prepared him for the precalc class content.

He did not need a placement test to go into the class though; guidance counselor simply asked us what math he wanted to take.  

 

If she does end up doing geometry prior to going to the high school, perhaps using the same text book used in the school (at least as a reference?) would be an option to help better prepare for the geometry placement test.

 

Best wishes what ever you decide.  It is hard to project all the implications of taking one class over another. 

[MarkT]

 

2. 8th - AoPS Intermediate Algebra, try to place out of AlgI and II, take Geo as freshman, continue afterschooling with whatever bits of AoPS Int Alg are left during freshman year to keep Alg fresh till Precalc

 

 

 

go with 2.

 

Be sure to get the topics covered in the PS for their Algebra 2 course.

My nephew took this sequence he finds Geo easy after Algebra 2.