New to afterschooling

[Kezia]

I homeschooled my child for 3 years and recently put him back into public (6th grade) because of various reasons. He was midway through 7th grade materials with homeschool. He is, however, not being challenged at all esp. in their supposedly advanced LA/reading (cursive packets and Easter parts of speech coloring sheet for 6th grade 🤔). No homework with lots of time to finish work in school. 
 

We will summer school/weekend/after school fun discussion based things like Logic, Philosophy for Kids and Classical Studies, some Literature and Rod and Staff Grammar (finish 7 and get through 8 before high school). 
 

So currently he does a couple of hours of AoPS self paced Algebra A mostly on weekends. He wants to continue AoPS even beyond Algebra A, by his own choice. 

Questions I have are: Math?

AoPS classes work for after schoolers, but are so fast paced… Have those classes worked for you? I have considered the sequence of C and P online and then Algebra B while in public school he will be doing a second pass through Algebra 1. 

Derek Owens is another option that looks to be viable for after schooling and self paced as well. Are those classes going to feel as awesome for a kid who says he likes the AoPS style and challenge (but really I suspect he sometimes tires of the constant challenge)? Sequence would be Geometry starting in fall while he does a second pass concurrently through Algebra 1 in public school. 
 

 

Language Arts??

Writing: WTM academy (delayed class) for expository writing 2 as an after school class? How much work per day? Would this be excessive for a kid who hates writing? 

Second option is summer only light writing using mixture of Lantern, EIW level 10 and Wordsmith series. 

 

[Malam]

Can you arrange for AoPS/WTMA courses to get credit? They're both accredited. It might be worth discussing if you haven't yet.

Derek Owens is going to overlap a lot more with the math he learns in school, which might lead to more boredom.

You can also just use the AoPS texts and Alcumus for practice if you want something slower paced than the online classes.

The text "Competition Math for Middle School", also published by AoPS, is less curricular and might be a good supplement/change of pace if the curricular texts aren't working. It's good prep for the AMC 8, which he should take.

Does his school have a mathcounts team?

 

[gstharr]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:26 AM, Kezia said:

 

Questions I have are: Math?

AoPS classes work for after schoolers, but are so fast paced… Have those classes worked for you? I have considered the sequence of C and P online and then Algebra B while in public school he will be doing a second pass through Algebra 1. 

 

With my 12th grader, we started after-schooling math at K. The goal was to keep him at least 2 years above grade level. We never accelerated. He simply repeated the math at school.  He completed calc 1& 2 in 9th grade.  This made H.S so much easier and enjoyable..  Since all H. S. math was review, he had 1-1.5 hours  more everyday to spend on other subjects and activities,  He was not bored in math class.  He would work on other things.

Never, used aops.  We used mostly Thinkwell.  We would start a class in June, and get maybe half way through over the summer. Then, complete the remaining half over the school year.  
 

[Kezia]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:25 PM, Malam said:

 

Can you arrange for AoPS/WTMA courses to get credit?

 

I assumed they would give no credit for anything unless coming from another public school. He has been accelerated 2 years in math already. I wouldn’t want him any more ahead, at least not officially. 

They don’t have a math team thatI am aware of. He is in his grade level of TMSCA (another separate math class) which is some sort of competitive math. 

He does seem to love the challenge of AoPS, (but I can’t teach that particular math as effectively as I could Saxon or Foerster, the frustration level is just too high for me personally). So we could work through the books at home but his teacher sucks. 

On 4/10/2023 at 5:25 PM, Malam said:

It's good prep for the AMC 8, which he should take. 

Why should he take this? He does like math and problem solving and does well with tests. I am not familiar with it except seeing it mentioned on this forum and the AoPS site….
 

 

 

[Malam]

12 hours ago, Kezia said:

Why should he take this?

Same reason a kid who likes basketball at a high level should play competitive games - mostly for fun, but it can also expand their perspective of what's possible. In the case of the AMCs specifically, doing well on the highschool versions is the first step in qualifying for US Math Olympiad and eventually representing the US in the IMO. Colleges also know about them and a good score on them is more impressive than a 750+ math SAT

[Kezia]

On 4/13/2023 at 3:52 AM, Malam said:

Same reason a kid who likes basketball at a high level should play competitive games - mostly for fun, but it can also expand their perspective of what's possible. In the case of the AMCs specifically, doing well on the highschool versions is the first step in qualifying for US Math Olympiad and eventually representing the US in the IMO. Colleges also know about them and a good score on them is more impressive than a 750+ math SAT

Thank you! It does seem like a great thing for him. Here he is one of only two kids accelerated in math in his grade. This type of competition can help him feel more like a smaller fish in a bigger pond.