DS bored stiff in Math class

[khalloc]

DS is 10. He's very smart. Always got math very quickly. He has been complaining to me since the beginning of school about how math is so boring and he knows how to do everything already. They dont give out A's yet at school, but he just got his report card and he got all "Exceeds" in Math, and many other areas too. I honestly have not heard ANYTHING about our schools having a gifted program. I dont know what happens at school when kids are way above grade level and need to be challenged more.

His regular teacher has been out recovering from a concussion for I think 4 weeks now. He has a long-term substitute. The principal just emailed yesterday to said his teacher would be out again this week and she will keep us posted. DS again mentioned yesterday that he was finished with 6 pages of math problems when everyone else had just done less than 1 page. He's so bored! I had planned to talk to the teacher about this, but since she's out do you think its appropriate to email the principal? He had mentioned that he does get pulled out of math class on Wednesdays to go to a more advanced group (he's in 5th grade and thats the highest this school goes to), so he cant be mixed in with 6th graders.

DD is in 7th and this is the 1st year she has been able to test in to a higher math class. She is in compacted math, which I believe covers regular 7th and 8th grade math in 1 year and in 8th grade she will be able to move up to Algebra whereas the kids that are not as advanced at math will wait until 9th grade for Algebra. So I am assuming DS will go that route as well, but thats in 2 years! He's bored now. I've taught him things in previous years like long division, etc...now he complains they are working on plotting numbers on a line. Eeeek!!! This is public school. I feel like schools here are good, but with all of the kids abilities mixed together, they are more catering to the average student and its leaving DS a bit frustrated.

WWYD?

[Melbel]

We have supplemented at home to keep our kids challenged when we were maxed out on what the school offers. Kahn academy has been a good resource.

[Percycat]

check your school district website for acceleration. our school district offers grade and subject acceleration.

[georgiegirl]

Like pp said, check out single subject acceleration. DD was first accelerated in 4th grade (to 5th grade math). Our district has some kids that are insanely super accelerated (algebra in 5th grade [emoji79]).


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[trcy]

I would contact the school's guidance counselor to see what options are available.

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[KrisM]

Good luck. My kids all had the boredom and we don't have any official options until 6th grade. When DS2 was in 4th, his teacher finally pushed it with the principal and he was moved to 5th grade math and is now in 5th and going to the middle school for 6th grade. It's been great for him, but my other kids are annoyed! And other parents ask me how they can do it, and unfortunately there is no official program for it. Drives me crazy.

[jenmcadams]

You might check the school district website (not just your individual school) to see if there's a gifted coordinator or department and reach out to them. I also highly recommend doing some research on programs and things you can use to supplement at home. I used to run a math pull-out for GT Math kids in both my kids classes and my preference is to focus on going deeper and learning more recreational math rather than accelerating in subjects (you can PM me if you'd like some examples of the type of math I did - I might even still have a link to the website I made for the program - this was back when I stayed home and had more time to volunteer - it was so much fun to work with these kiddos :)). Having said that I'm more a fan of depth vs acceleration, the math in most curricula from 5th grade - 8th grade is VERY repetitive. For some kids who get math, they just need one repetition and don't need to spiral as much. I think compacting math in middle school makes a lot of sense for some kids who are advanced

We've been super lucky that our school district has good gifted programming and services ranging from ALPs for kids in regular classrooms to Gifted Center Placements in elementary and middle to a full-blown HS Gifted Program. Both of my kids are accelerated in math. My DD is now a high school Junior and while Math isn't her favorite class, she's good at it and was accelerated in 6th grade to a compacted 7th&8th (or PreAlgebra) class, took Algebra 1 in 7th and Geometry in 8th. Overall, it has been a good fit for her (although she had a hiccup in her honors PreCalc class last Fall, she recovered in the Spring and is doing well in AP Calc BC now). My DS loves Math and even though he spent his elementary years in a dedicated GT Center school, he still needed a little more and was able to do a subject acceleration (went to 6th grade GT Math or PreAlgebra in 5th grade). He's now in middle school (8th grade) taking an Honors Algebra 2 class at the high school. He's in private middle school (largely because our public schools wanted to grade skip him and I didn't think he was ready socially) and if he switches back to public for high school, I'm going to ask them to evaluate where he's at again because I might slow him down and have him repeat Algebra 2 if needs it (I really don't need him taking Calc BC as a sophomore if he's not ready).

One final note: I think a lot of educators are hesitant to accelerate kids in math because they're worried about gaps and not having a firm foundation. Also, it's a lot harder to jump off the train once you get beyond Algebra 1. At our school, honors kids who struggle in Algebra 2 Honors because they don't have a strong basis in Algebra 1 skills only have the option of regular Algebra 2 as a step-down. Often the kids in regular Algebra 2 are older students who struggle with math and aren't generally honors kids. Algebraic thinking is really developmental and some kids are ready at different times. I think teachers worry that some kids who move too fast through the curriculum aren't really served well because they just might not be ready. It could be the kid who doesn't take Algebra until Freshman or Sophomore year really is brilliant at math, but they just weren't ready earlier.

[daisyd]

We have supplemented at home to keep our kids challenged when we were maxed out on what the school offers. Kahn academy has been a good resource.

This is us. Khan academy is fun for DS1 (10) and DS2 (6). Some other parents do Russian School of Math or Art of Problem Solving.

Another mom had her child tested for John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth for online courses. My understanding is that he takes this course in place of regular grade 5 public school math. I'm yet to follow up on how it's going.

https://cty.jhu.edu/online/courses/placement_test.html

[daisyd]

Good luck. My kids all had the boredom and we don't have any official options until 6th grade. When DS2 was in 4th, his teacher finally pushed it with the principal and he was moved to 5th grade math and is now in 5th and going to the middle school for 6th grade. It's been great for him, but my other kids are annoyed! And other parents ask me how they can do it, and unfortunately there is no official program for it. Drives me crazy.

I wish we had this option.

[JBaxter]

Our district has a policy that if your child has tested in at a certain level they must place the child with a gifted certified teacher. We also have accelerated class rooms in each grade DS4 is in 4th but doing 5th grade work. It may be worth your while to have the school test him to see if he qualifies for a gifted program

[ahisma]

Our district will grade level accelerate for math if the student tests at the 99th percentile compared to the rest of the district. That policy is not published and I have no idea how you'd know if you didn't take the initiative to push for it. We did after others were accelerated and DS1 almost wasn't allowed to participate as the slots were full. We later learned that he was the highest testing student in the district. Frustrating, although it ultimately worked out.

Ironically, there's a boy who was accelerated two grades in a different building. Not sure how that worked given that DS had the highest score, but whatever.

[dogmom]

Well, even as an adult I find I don't know things nearly as well as I thought I did when I am forced to try to explain something to someone else. It sounds like the other kids are not keeping up as such a pace. Perhaps your child could work with some of the other kids that could use help?

[Tenasparkl]

Well, even as an adult I find I don't know things nearly as well as I thought I did when I am forced to try to explain something to someone else. It sounds like the other kids are not keeping up as such a pace. Perhaps your child could work with some of the other kids that could use help?

I agree that there's a benefit to helping explain math to others. My 5th grade DD was SO excited last night because she made a plan with her math teacher to teach her class the lesson today. She practiced it with me last night and I loved seeing her explain the different ways to solve the problems. I'm glad that her teacher is offering solutions for the kids that understand the lesson quickly. Last year she often finished both her classwork and homework during math and then ended up doing things in the classroom to help the teacher. That being said, I can't wait for middle school where there are a few different accelerated math options.

[Kindra178]

This is a dumb question - is your state common core? Common core is algebra 1 in 8th grade for everyone.


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[KrisM]

This is a dumb question - is your state common core? Common core is algebra 1 in 8th grade for everyone.


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We are common core in Michigan and that is not how it is here. My first 2 have algebra in 7th. My youngest will in 6th. Standard track kids have it in 9th grade.

[ahisma]

We are common core in Michigan and that is not how it is here. My first 2 have algebra in 7th. My youngest will in 6th. Standard track kids have it in 9th grade.

All the common core does is set the standards for that grade level, but doesn't prevent schools from teaching it earlier.

We are also in MI. Our accelerated honors path is Algebra in 7th, Geometry in 8th, Advanced Algebra in 9th. Kids who are grade level accelerated jump a year, so DS1 is doing Algebra this year in 6th. The standard track here would do Algebra in 8th.

[khalloc]

I'm in Vermont. Yes, I am pretty sure its Common Core. From what I've been told, Algebra is in 9th grade. Unless you test into Compacted Math in 7th grade. Then you take Algebra in 8th grade.

My daughter is in Compacted Math now and says its easy. Some kids in regular math can take a test at the end of 7th grade to get into 8th grade Algebra, the rest of the students will take regular 8th grade math and then do Algebra in 9th grade. I am sure DS will feel the same way(that compacted math is also easy) when he is in 7th grade. He came home again yesterday asking me to email the principal because he wants more to learn in Math.

[KrisM]

DS1 is in Algebra II in 9th grade. He still thinks it's super easy and doesn't work at it. It's new material to him, but he gets it very quickly and is ready to move on. So, even though there are these other accelerated paths, he still might never find math challenging.

[westwoodmom04]

We are common core in Michigan and that is not how it is here. My first 2 have algebra in 7th. My youngest will in 6th. Standard track kids have it in 9th grade.

Maryland is also common core and offers algebra in seventh to accelerated kids.

[Kindra178]

Got it. Here, every regular math track kid takes algebra 1 in 8th grade. Some kids repeat it in 9th (which many experts support) and others move on. The advanced kids either take algebra 1 in sixth or 7th grade, depending how advanced you are.


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[westwoodmom04]

Maybe look into some of the CTY math options? I know some school districts will let kids participate in these programs in lieu of their standard offerings, even in elementary.

Our school district started differentiation in math in second grade when my oldest started kindergarten (with more depth,not more concepts), amd gradually started moving the starting grade back until now, it is fifth or sixth grade. It is the main reason I moved by kids to private school, which offers more challenging math options than our local public school system (not the case everywhere). In our district, closing the achievement gap has turned into eliminating many of the opportunities for the advanced students.