DS struggling in 8th grade Algebra 1 Honors

[Anonymous]

It’s been rough. Failing the quizzes. Did a retake on unit 1 and got a 78. So he has a C- at the moment. He has a tutor and I help him. He’s working hard and seemed to understand the new material and but didn’t do well on the latest quiz. He says the teacher goes so fast. He stays after school but doesn’t sound like she’s the most patient in helping him.
Question is at what point do we have him go down to non honors. Is it better to get a B in that class vs a C (or worse) in the honors class. I don’t want to see him struggle all year. It’s stressing out the whole family to be honest. Counselor said no rush to drop down but wondering how long we give it.
Overall he’s a B student in other classes if that helps.
Any insight welcome!!

[Anonymous]

Drop him down now. Nothing to be gained by torturing everyone, and this stuff is foundational, so he needs to understand it really well. Not only will it become more complex in math, he will need it for other topics like Chemistry.

[Anonymous]

A lot of students are struggling. The schools were told to tell families their kids were ready when they actually weren’t. No reason for your child to start hating math because they are frustrated. I’d say drop now.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies. He has another test next week so will see how does then reach out to the counselor/teacher again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of students are struggling. The schools were told to tell families their kids were ready when they actually weren’t. No reason for your child to start hating math because they are frustrated. I’d say drop now.

+1

[Anonymous]

Most kids aren’t ready for algebra at that age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of students are struggling. The schools were told to tell families their kids were ready when they actually weren’t. No reason for your child to start hating math because they are frustrated. I’d say drop now.

Not necessarily true. Our school encourages kids to take skills-appropriate math, but it’s the parents who push HN and others.

[Anonymous]

Don't bother waiting for the next test. Just make the request now.

Alg 1 is the foundation for the rest of his math classes. He needs to understand the concepts so he can apply them later. It's not enough to understand the rote mechanics.

Alg 1 or Alg 1 Honors both get you to geometry next year but a slower pace will allow him to be successful and confident in later classes. You can always ask to move back onto the honors track later.

[Anonymous]

Give it the first 9 weeks.

[Anonymous]

In FCPS I'm surprised they are giving you the impression that they will allow him to drop-down to the regular class. Many students are never given this option ~ just a warning.

[Anonymous]

Drop down now. The counselor and teacher encouraged my daughter to and it got worse. She worked so hard and she shouldn’t have been in the honors class to start with. We went with the school’s recommendation and didn’t know how hard it would be for her. She studied and had a tutor all year and ended up with a C, which she expunged, and then retook regular Algebra.

The hardest part was seeing how hard she was working and how bad she felt about herself.

[Anonymous]

I would drop down now. There's no point in struggling the whole year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop down now. The counselor and teacher encouraged my daughter to and it got worse. She worked so hard and she shouldn’t have been in the honors class to start with. We went with the school’s recommendation and didn’t know how hard it would be for her. She studied and had a tutor all year and ended up with a C, which she expunged, and then retook regular Algebra.

The hardest part was seeing how hard she was working and how bad she felt about herself.

This. Drop down now so confidence doesn’t get further blown. It will only get harder and as other poster said, maybe math clicks for your son in 9th or 10th or even later in college, but if miserable now, may not be willing to even try later. Drop down. Ace the lower level or be challenged there too, but confidence building is what need. It only gets harder.

[Anonymous]

An unusual twist for us. I resisted a strong push from the school for my DS to be in a higher level math class. The head of the department spoke to me, "if he works real hard, he can do it." I said, "well last year our lives were h*ll, scared to death by grades of C- or D, or worse. We're not doing that again. IF the school is so sure he should be in higher math this year, well they should have given him better grades!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop down now. The counselor and teacher encouraged my daughter to and it got worse. She worked so hard and she shouldn’t have been in the honors class to start with. We went with the school’s recommendation and didn’t know how hard it would be for her. She studied and had a tutor all year and ended up with a C, which she expunged, and then retook regular Algebra.

The hardest part was seeing how hard she was working and how bad she felt about herself.

I am quoting myself with a follow up, two courses later. My daughter retook Algebra but regular, not honors and got an A. She needed the slower pace and said it was so much better. Maybe it was better because it was slower, maybe it was better because she worked so hard in honors and was seeing it again.

Now she’s taking Geometry, still regular and has an A. She feels great about it and is super proud that she understands everything going on and is doing well. It’s night and day from that year where we were in the same position as OP.

I agree with the others, Algebra is an important foundational class so either take this year to basically audit and repeat, which we did and is stressful. Or drop asap to regular.