Transition from Singapore 6A/6B to Jacob's / AOPS

[vonbon]

Help!  😶

DD11 (12yo this fall): Has done really well with Singapore math K-5...  It was getting a bit stale so we hopped over to Beast Academy 5 for a bit...  Which was fun until it got so laborious and drawn-out that she lost momentum...  I freaked out a bit, ordered Singapore 6A / 6B, which we hopped back to last year...  Though Beast was intriguing, fresh, and fun at first, and she did pretty well with it, I could tell she was really relieved at the cut-and-dried-ness of Singapore (as in, do X lesson, finish XYZ pages...and you're done!).  Beast was just a little too open-ended for her (high need for control) in that she was never sure if a problem would take 5 minutes or 45 minutes.  

She's almost done with 6A.  We took a break for summer.  6A has been very do-able for her.  We need about 90 school days to finish 6A and 6B, by my calculations, which will put us at about halfway through this new school year-ish.  

And then what? 

Please help!  I've read so many threads on "what to do after Singapore 6B...  I've googled and combed and read...  have read blogs, have read WTM threads...  ...I have bugged my poor DH about it repeatedly...  ...and I'm still super-anxious about it.  🥺

According to "state standards" (which I don't put a ton of stock in, BTW): 7th Grade here = Pre-Algebra; 8th Grade = Algebra.

I don't know if DD is 6th Grade or 7th at this point.  She's young for 7th, but that's how many years we've been schooling, if that makes sense.  I know grade level doesn't matter for homeschooling.  This will be our 8th year homeschooling and I love that no one has to fit into one particular grade level.   BUT....  There is a possibility DD will go to public high school or end up dual-enrolling at a community college.  She has always scored very-highly on math assessments.  She's pretty mathy, though she'd frankly rather spend her time socializing and doing a variety of other things.  IOW, she doesn't want to spend 2 hours / day doing math or doing math for fun, though she probably has the intelligence to do it.

I'm thinking: Finish Singapore 6A / 6B.  Then begin Jacob's Elementary Algebra.  For those who've done this, would you "budget" 1 year or 2 years to get through Jacob's?  (I know it depends on the student, but, in general?)  Where would this leave a student?  Would they have finished what people label as "Pre-Algebra"?  Or are they completing "Algebra I"?  

To make matters more confusing, personally, my cohorts and I did "Algebra I in 9th Grade".  It sounds like it's all shifted to the grade prior (8th), not unlike many "standards".  

And, to just add one more layer of questioning...I'm really impressed with AOPS.  Despite BA not being a great fit, I'm still open to using it as a supplement or circling back around to it or to using AOPS Pre-Algebra.  

I guess, in a nutshell, I know DD is capable with keeping up with her age and/or grade and/or "standards" and can probably exceed / go to a higher level.  I don't want to provide a disservice by causing her to be "behind" if she has to enter group learning in math at some point.  

Please be kind.  This issue has made me really anxious for some time and I just need to make a plan and move forward.  I'm open to different viewpoints, but I hope the thread won't end up in any sort of debate about standards, grade levels, etc.  I just need some sound advice from people who have BTDT with these particular curricula, this particular issue, who have had students go through middle school math, and who can maintain an even keel.  😃  Thank you so much in advance.   

[Sk8ermaiden]

When I was in school, you took Algebra I in 8th grade if you were in Honors math AND tested in. It was not many kids. 
Now in my area, Alg I is standard in 8th and the honors kids are taking it in 7th!! *sigh*

I don't have advice on Jacob's, I hope you don't mind me chiming in to say that I always thought we would do AOPs or Jacob's after Singapore based largely off reading this board. But several IRL friends told me that AOPs is very frustrating for a lot of kids, even ones who were successful in singapore, and then I read the same a few times here, so we scrapped it. I ended up with Dimensions actually and we're only a chapter in, but I am loving it so far. By the end of Dimensions 8, the child should be considered done with Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, and some basic Geometry and ready to go into a high school geometry class or Alg. II. 

DD was already a year ahead in math, so I went ahead and got Dimensions 6 after PM 6B, and we're just skimming through it to make sure everything is appropriately shored up - PM 6 could have used a little more repitition/practice for her. I expect we'll start Dimensions 7 after Christmas. But the Singapore website says after PM 6 a child can go straight to Dimensions 7. 

I don't mean to add another option, or maybe you've already decided against it, but I could have written all the parts of your post about being unreasonably anxiety-ridden over what to do next, and I am breathing a sigh of relief right now that Dimensions seems to have been the right choice for us after all. 

[vonbon]

1 hour ago, Sk8ermaiden said:

 about being unreasonably anxiety-ridden over what to do next, and I am breathing a sigh of relief right now that Dimensions seems to have been the right choice for us after all. 

😄 Yeah, it's totally unreasonable!  I think DH, who normally won't get into the details of homeschool planning with me, and who doesn't stress about such things, thinks I'm nuts.  I knew I wouldn't be alone on the forum.  😄

I really appreciate your perspective and the info.  I think, when we started Singapore, "way back" in Kinder, they hadn't published Singapore 6 and beyond, so I always just kind of mentally ruled it out beyond Singapore 5.  I've seen a lot about Jacob's and AOPS and figured we would just head there next, also based on what I've read. 

I'll look at Dimensions and see...I like the idea that she'd be ready for Geometry if we finished through Dimensions 8.  

Thank you for the input! 

I looked at some of the chapters in Jacob's and liked the way it was written.  DD would really be into that style, I think. 

AOPS - love the website (the perspectives written about), love BA (younger DD loved it and was able to keep a good pace with it)...not sure it would actually be a good fit for DD11.  I probably need to investigate further.

[vonbon]

5 hours ago, square_25 said:

Feel free to ask about it :-). I teach some of their classes online, so I know more about that than about the books, although I have also certainly worked with the books. 

So I know BA is published by AOPS.  And I / she / we really liked BA all around, in general, at first.  I think DD11 kind of burned out on the open-ended-ness of BA, if that makes sense.  She's got other activities and things going on and she didn't like feeling pressured to complete a certain amount of math, given the day / schedule, because some of the problems just went on and on.  I did them as an adult and confirmed that some were just simply very lengthy.  Some days she worked for 2-3 hours.  In hindsight, maybe that led to the burnout and I should have just cut it off at an hour per day.  But that would have equated to a very slow pace...

Would you say AOPS Pre-Algebra is similar?  I know that might depend on the individual (the pace).  Is it out-of-the-box problem solving like BA?  I like my students to use out-of-the-box thinking, but I also need to know that she's making the progress that will set her up well for "9th Grade math", whatever that ends up being (Algebra? Geometry?).  I just don't want to question the pace the whole time and have her feeling like she can't "afford" to do those seriously long challenge problems without destroying the pace.  I'm not *so* concerned about which math she ends up in in 9th Grade, but I do see that, in math, there are certain concepts that need to be covered in particular courses (building blocks for future concepts).  We been so careful to lay a complete foundation; I don't want her to end up with a lot of "holes" over the next 2 years.  I guess that would be my hesitancy re: AOPS, having dealt with that with BA.  

I hope that makes sense.  Thank you... 

[I'm logging off now but will check in tomorrow.]

[vonbon]

15 hours ago, square_25 said:

the kids in the online classes don't do anywhere near all the problems in the books, so I don't have a good sense of how long it takes. 

Personally, if I were using AoPS, I'd wind up skipping bits, but then it's fairly easy for me to pick and choose because I have a math background. That may be harder to do without missing pieces in general. 

Hmmm....maybe that was part of the problem with BA.  In an effort to be thorough, I've always been pretty neurotic about requiring every problem on every page.  Sometimes I would allow her to skip a problem or two at the end of a chapter, but, by and large, I required every problem.  The slow pace is really what prompted us to switch back to Singapore. 

In other subjects, I feel confident deleting things, moving things around, modifying, creating my own lessons...but in math, I've generally required every problem on every page to count the level as "done" for the year.  This is helpful info; thank you.

And good to know about the similarities of out-of-the-box thinking with AOPS too.  Perhaps I can find something to supplement Singapore that is out-of-the-box and problem-solving based without derailing the pace of math over the next 2 years.  

Thank you!

 

[purpleowl]

I have one kid who has completed AOPS Prealgebra (book, not online) and one who's doing it now and seems to be going at about the same pace. For them, it's about 3/4 of a school year for completing the book. That includes doing every problem, and we spend what I think is a normal amount of time on math each day (40 mins - 1 hr, I'd guess). But I've seen more than one poster here say they spent two school years on the book. And I'm pretty sure some have done it faster than my kids.

So I think it really varies a lot by student, and I don't know if this is helpful or just further muddying the waters. 😄 I have no experience with the other options you're considering, so I can't offer any comparisons.