tj_610 Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 DS completed VideoText for algebra 1 & 2, Derek Owens geometry and almost through DO pre-calculus. He's done very well with all. He's young, not eligible for dual enrollment locally unless we reclassify his grade. Looking for reviews from those who used a homeschool/online calculus course and your child got a 5 on AP test. Even better would be testimony of a child's eventual success at engineering college. Cost isn't a top criterion, just want quality, and grading done for us. :-) We're good staying with DO, but looking at options. DS has a loaded year ahead, so not looking for calculus BC, just a good prep to ace the AP calculus AB test. Thanks for checking! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 If your son has done well with Derek Owens, I would definitely consider just sticking with his AP Calculus course. Dd2 took the course in 9th grade, felt thoroughly prepared for the AP exam, and passed with a 5. I can't speak to her success in engineering since she's just finishing her junior year of high school :laugh:, but she has done exceptionally well in her classes at our local Uni. since then: Calculus 1 (Uni. wanted her to repeat, even though she scored a 5), Calc 2, Calc 3 (Multivariable), Linear Algebra, and Intro. Analysis. She's planning to major in math in college. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj_610 Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Thank you, Elise. Your situation matches ours well, so I appreciate your recommendation. I think our local university will accept a 5 for skipping calc 1, but we'll see. Thanks again! BTW how has the college classroom experience been for your young teen? May I ask which college, or at least what kind - big or small, state or private, Christian or secular? I hope students in math beyond calc 1 are both serious-minded and kind to your sweet Doogie Einstein. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Does he have some problem solving experience (e.g., AoPS, AMCs, MathCounts) already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj_610 Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Only what's been included in the curricula I mentioned. DO includes word problem-ish questions. He public-schooled through 6th grade and was always the top kid with Math Olympiad and things like that. We want to encourage him since he loves math, but he also has wide-ranging interests and abilities, so we don't want to overload him on math. Not looking for competitions or something so challenging that it draws him away from other subjects. We just want a solid foundation so he can succeed with additional college math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 For such an advanced, talented math student, I'll just throw out here the benefits of problem solving practice for purposes of both preparation for college and talent development, Rusczyk's 2009 talk at the Math Prize for Girls (text, video), or his short article, The Calculus Trap. Good luck! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj_610 Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Thank you, Wapiti! The "calculus trap" article perfectly describes our situation, and challenged my thinking. We may need to consider alternatives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 FWIW, if you do end up considering alternatives, there are multiple ways to skin the cat of what Rusczyk is getting at and I'm sure other posters might have ideas if you ask. Perhaps a summer or semester course in a discrete math topic, such as number theory or counting and probability, might interest him (these might be especially useful if he should get into programming down the road). There are also general problem solving courses that might be fun - many students take such courses for the problem solving practice without actually participating in any math contests. AoPS does have calc though I don't know what the prerequisites are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Thank you, Elise. Your situation matches ours well, so I appreciate your recommendation. I think our local university will accept a 5 for skipping calc 1, but we'll see. Thanks again! BTW how has the college classroom experience been for your young teen? May I ask which college, or at least what kind - big or small, state or private, Christian or secular? I hope students in math beyond calc 1 are both serious-minded and kind to your sweet Doogie Einstein. :-) Our local Uni (state school, approx. 25,000 people, offers masters and PhD in math) does accept a 5 on the AP for credit, and dd probably could have gone straight into Calc 2, but the Math Dept. chair strongly urged her to take the class, so she did. We have no regrets - she says that there were a few things that were covered in her Calc 1 class that weren't covered in AP Calc, plus she was young, and it was a nice way to start off her college experience with familiar material. She has had a terrific experience. Everyone has been kind to her - most people don't even realize that she is in high school unless they ask what year she is or what her major is (she did have someone ask her out, though!). The one disappointment is that the classes aren't full of people who just love math. There are several majors that require higher level math classes, and there are still plenty of people who don't want to be there. I think dd imagined that her upper level classes would be full of people like her, but it hasn't exactly been like that. Still, the teaching has been great, and it has been a good experience all around. I have heard such terrific things about the AoPS books that I know you can't go wrong with those either if your ds likes the approach. I knew that I wouldn't be able to help dd in working through them (we had a new baby), so we took a different path. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 (edited) Only what's been included in the curricula I mentioned. DO includes word problem-ish questions. He public-schooled through 6th grade and was always the top kid with Math Olympiad and things like that. We want to encourage him since he loves math, but he also has wide-ranging interests and abilities, so we don't want to overload him on math. Not looking for competitions or something so challenging that it draws him away from other subjects. We just want a solid foundation so he can succeed with additional college math. I also wanted to mention eIMACS courses as a possibility. Dd hasn't done the math logic courses, but I've heard good things about those, and they are all self-paced. Dd took 2 computer science courses through them, and those were really well done. Like your son, dd has a lot of other interests (her favorite thing is foreign languages), so she wasn't particularly interested in competition math - though she has really loved participating in the Computational Linguistics Olympiad each year. Edited May 9, 2016 by Elise 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 (edited) My then-homeschooled eighth grader used Chalkdust Calculus for the AB exam and scored a 5. She was well prepared and did not sweat the exam at all. She then breezed through BC as a freshman at her magnet high school and made a 5 on that exam. She has since taken, through DE, Calc II and III at Georgia Tech and made As in both. She also has taken differential equations and a handful of other upper-level math courses (combinatorics, number theory, that sort of thing), all at Tech, still through DE, and has always made As. So I'd say she was pretty well prepared. The grading is not done for you with Chalkdust, but there is a solutions manual. If her answer didn't match the solution, I had her look at it and figure out what was wrong. My calculus is a wee bit rusty, the way summers in Atlanta are a wee bit muggy. . .. ETA: Just a word about math competitions--my daughter loves math and is planning to pursue a Ph.D. in it, but she does not get math competitions at all. When she was actually in a B&M high school, she was a competitive gymnast and had no time for such things, but now that she's living/breathing math every day, she still has no interest in contest math. So, if your student shows no interest in or doesn't have the opportunity to pursue contest math, it does not at all mean that he will not be a successful professional math geek one of these days. Edited May 9, 2016 by plansrme 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj_610 Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 Thank you all for such great replies! Much to consider. FWIW, I emailed five "top" engineering schools to ask their opinion about prepping such a student for admissions and future success. Replies varied, with one favoring a live class at a local university for other options, but most considering any option for advanced math beneficial and recommended. For homeschoolers, they want to know the details - what text was used, etc. The schools were Ga Tech, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Cal Tech and Duke (we're in NC and I did a decade of medical training there, so my son is biased toward it LOL). All were HS-friendly and are accepting an increasing number of HS students, though I think many of them HS for reasons different than ours. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Thank you all for such great replies! Much to consider. FWIW, I emailed five "top" engineering schools to ask their opinion about prepping such a student for admissions and future success. Replies varied, with one favoring a live class at a local university for other options, but most considering any option for advanced math beneficial and recommended. For homeschoolers, they want to know the details - what text was used, etc. The schools were Ga Tech, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Cal Tech and Duke (we're in NC and I did a decade of medical training there, so my son is biased toward it LOL). All were HS-friendly and are accepting an increasing number of HS students, though I think many of them HS for reasons different than ours. FWIW, which is not much, 97% of Tech's admitted students this year have taken AP Calc AB or higher. It is as close to a litmus test as I've ever been able to figure out for their admissions decisions (not that I've spent a ton of time pondering such things). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 FWIW, I emailed five "top" engineering schools to ask their opinion about prepping such a student for admissions and future success. If your ds might be looking toward top schools, here are a few off-the-beaten path links: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways transcripts of AoPS discussions with admissions people: Carnegie Mellon MIT Duke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj_610 Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad S Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 Our local Uni (state school, approx. 25,000 people, offers masters and PhD in math) does accept a 5 on the AP for credit, and dd probably could have gone straight into Calc 2, but the Math Dept. chair strongly urged her to take the class, so she did. We have no regrets - she says that there were a few things that were covered in her Calc 1 class that weren't covered in AP Calc, plus she was young, and it was a nice way to start off her college experience with familiar material. ... The recommendation of the math dept chair is not uncommon for someone in a math dept. AP calculus is fairly calculation based as opposed to a theorem and proof approach. Certainly an AP calculus course can cover calculus in a rigorous, theoretical way, but there's already a lot for a typical high school calculus student to cover in a year. It's somewhat analogous to a "middle school geometry" unit covering how to calculate the area of triangles, circles, etc. as opposed to a "high school geometry" course going from postulates and proving theorems. I won't get into whether the theorem and proof approach is necessary for engineering school or not, but AP calculus is not necessarily the same as what math majors at competitive colleges cover in calculus 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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