need middle school advice (math classes)

[Gracemom]

Op I think we are in the same school district. FYI you can have him take the bus if you’re less than 2 miles from the school, but you have to pay for it. But that’s only for your home school.

My son did not do Math Rocks because he didn’t want to change middle schools. Some kids were very happy to go to the other middle school because their friends were also going. The Math Rocks schools also have a better reputation.

We know quite a few kids in the program. The kids who do well in it love math and have an internal desire to work hard an succeed. They are mature and can handle the fast pace and pressure. In high school they are going to have other AP classes that will be pretty demanding. Plus extra curriculars, social life, etc. As long as he takes calculus in high school he’ll be fine.

[jenmcadams]

Do you know what your state’s requirements are for math in high school? In Our district they require everyone to be enrolled in math all 4 years in high school.

My older sons both took (or will take) Geometry in 8th grade, but I regret that decision for my oldest. He wants to be a music major in college and now he will take Calculus as a Junior in high school and rather than get to take an extra music class his senior year he can take Differential Equations or maybe AP Statistics, which he isn’t excited about.

Our public schools even offer a more accelerated math track where you take Algebra II in 8th grade, but that just seems like something that would only be a good fit for a select few.
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I think this is good to consider. My DD was on an accelerated track similar to the one your DS is being offered (took AP Calc BC as a Junior) and my DS is one year accelerated beyond that (taking Calc BC as a Sophomore). In our district, it's not super unusual to offer Geometry in 8th grade, so even though not all MSs offer it, most do. I have mixed feelings about Math acceleration. I think it probably did my DD a disservice...she was pretty good at Math, but I don't think she needed to go as fast as she did. She's majoring in Public Policy/Intl Studies with a minor in Econ and never loved Math. For my DS, he's extremely good at Math, but also not interested in science/math/engineering as a possible path right now. While I think he would have been bored on a different track, I wish I had slowed him down and made him take AB and then BC Calc only because I don't think he really learned BC remotely this year.

MS is a tough time socially and I would definitely keep that in mind when you consider what input to let him have. I think you're right that lots of kids expand their friend groups in middle school, but I also have friends who forced their DS to go to a more academic MS and most of his friends went elsewhere and it turned out to be super tough socially. You know your kiddo best and I would strongly encourage him to branch out and take the oppty, but if you're worried about him socially, maybe let him pass.

[mom2binsd]

Middle school is such an awkward time, my two are very social and have had the same group of friends/lots of extra curricular sports outside of school, but even so, I would never dream of moving them away from their "home" school unless there was a REALLY compelling reason why/or they requested it. Like others have said, you can still take plenty of rigorous math courses at the HS level, you are NOT precluding him from success in college, but it sounds like maintaining friends at his current school would be beneficial.

[westwoodmom04]

You are just entering the stage of parenting where kids are old enough to have strong preferences about things like this. I would walk through the perceived advantages of the program with him one more time and let him decide.

My dd’s middle school followed this same track as their standard honors , but then add an Honors Advanced Quadratic Equations class prior to Pre-Calc so they still wind up with calculus as a senior unless they double up. There are just so many different ways to approach it, I think he definitely could double math or take a summer course if he had interest in high school in pushing ahead a year.

[belovedgandp]

Just chiming in with our personal experience. My kids are in our large suburban school district 30,000+ students. High schools are around 450 a class and middle school (6th through 9th) are 250-ish per class. DS1 is finishing his junior year. DS2 is finishing his 8th grade year. Both are bright kids, get the A's without much work, and have a general aptitude in math. DH and I both have engineering degrees. DS1 is definitely going the engineering route. DS2 has many interests and will most likely do something math/science related.

DS1 was the last grade to follow the "double" accelerate path. He took geometry in 8th grade. This year he chose to take Calc AB and will then take Calc BC next year. His pre-calc teacher his sophomore year said he could have handled Calc BC, but in some cases why put that kind of stress on him. DS1 does ALL the things and spreading this out over two years made the coursework more manageable. And the more he looks at engineering schools, almost all of them are going to have him retake Calculus anyway.

DS2 will be a year "behind" this schedule, but I think it will serve him fine. If he feel the need he can take Calc BC his senior year or roll back to AB only. If he's going to a math/engineering field that is going to have him take the course again we're fine. If he's smart and going to go in a completely different direction in college then push and get the credits out of the way and be done with it.

I went into my engineering program with only taking pre-calc as a senior. Freshman year Calc I that first semester kicked my behind. I'm happy both DS will have a better background than I did.

I was pretty hot when the district changed the math course structure. In traditional fashion they were correcting for accelerating too many students too much by over correcting cutting back on how much and how many. The biggest hole our district had was not having good geometry teachers in the middle school. My friends teaching the upper courses at high school said you would start seeing the holes at the end of their sophomore year.

But for your son, ponder and go with what you want. I do say middle school is hard enough without taking away friend groups. DS1 did make the choice to go to a program at a high school that is not our boundary school. The distance is an issue. Instead of the school being 1 mile away it is 8 miles. Much less of an issue when he could start driving there by the end of his freshman year but would have been huge for me as his parent for middle school. Yes, there's bussing but that is only for attendance. All those after school trips for activities add up fast.

[nfceagles]

I don’t know if this helps at all. I’m actually in the opposite scenario right not in that my MS is dialing back their offering and won’t even consider giving my daughter credit if I homeschool her in a math course on our own dime. Long story, so I’ll leave it at that.

Now for my experience, which is admittedly old. I LOVED math and was a very good student. I took the Geom, Algebra II, Pre Calc, Calc AP track in my mediocre high school. It was the most that was offered. I chose not to take the AP exam because I planned to major in math and figured it would be good to repeat Calculus and really solidify that in college. Come to find out, the highest my college would let you take based on their placement test (without having an AP credit) was Pre Calc. So I took Pre Calc my first semester and then Calc I my second semester. All repeat and honestly it made for a nice easy transition to college. In the end I finished college with a math degree in 3.5 years and went on to a successful career in a math field. So it didn’t cost me in the end to not have gone to a better HS, taken AP exams, and started college post Calculus. All this to simply say, I think your normal MS’s offering is fine for a child who likes math but doesn’t want to change schools.

I’m frustrated with our schools at the moment and would send my kids to private schools or move towns if they’d be on board, but at 13 and 15 I’ve decided it’s not worth forcing that on them.


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