Summer Geometry as Rising 8th Grader

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine will be taking it but only because he already had two years of geometry instruction at RSM, and this class will be mostly review/checking the box to be allowed to move to the next level. If this was all brand new material to him, I wouldn’t do it.

We are not letting our similarly placed child take it in the summer because it sinks 5 weeks of the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine will be taking it but only because he already had two years of geometry instruction at RSM, and this class will be mostly review/checking the box to be allowed to move to the next level. If this was all brand new material to him, I wouldn’t do it.

We are not letting our similarly placed child take it in the summer because it sinks 5 weeks of the summer.

What do you mean "sinks"? You're going to force your child to something less preferred instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine will be taking it but only because he already had two years of geometry instruction at RSM, and this class will be mostly review/checking the box to be allowed to move to the next level. If this was all brand new material to him, I wouldn’t do it.

We are not letting our similarly placed child take it in the summer because it sinks 5 weeks of the summer.

What do you mean "sinks"? You're going to force your child to something less preferred instead?

I mean if he does 5 weeks of geometry he misses Scout camp, he cannot do the high adventure camp he wants to do, and we cannot do family vacations that we want to do. The end of the summer gets to be too hot to do most of his, and our, preferred activities so we schedule camps and vacations as soon as school gets out. August is for goign to the pool and in-door STEM activities that he prefers. We are not going to cancel family vacations or suggest to him that missing out on backpacking/canoeing/scuba diving experiences with his friends so he can get a year ahead in math.

He has plenty of time to take math classes in MS and HS and College and, probably, grad school. He has less time to backpack with friends and go to summer camp with his Troop. There is nothing wrong with taking a year to fully set geometry in his head, which will help on the SAT and in math competitions.

It is a personal preference. There is a short period of time in your life where you have summers free to do fun things and maybe get bored. I cannot see interrupting that time with summer school short of failing a class and needing remediation.

We have friends whose kids have asked and the parents said no for similar reasons. We know more people who said no then said yes. The benefits did not outweigh the cons.

[Anonymous]

DC enrolled in summer Geometry, and during those five weeks, enjoyed multiple weekend trips with family, followed it up with summer camps, and acquired new gardening skills in the evenings. By undertaking summer Geometry, the only sacrifice for DC was reduced screen time, with less cell phone time, less video games, and little time for social media binges. Looking back, DC felt it was a worthwhile tradeoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC enrolled in summer Geometry, and during those five weeks, enjoyed multiple weekend trips with family, followed it up with summer camps, and acquired new gardening skills in the evenings. By undertaking summer Geometry, the only sacrifice for DC was reduced screen time, with less cell phone time, less video games, and little time for social media binges. Looking back, DC felt it was a worthwhile tradeoff.

I am glad that it worked for you and your child and that other people make it work. I know kids in DS Troop who are missing summer camp so they can do geometry. I am not going to ask the kids if it is their idea or their parents. I do know that they have attended summer camp in the past and have enjoyed themselves because they talk about it. Maybe they are fine not attending but I know my kid would be bummed to miss out on summer camp.

I know a co-workers who daughter decided she wanted to do Spanish this summer and is taking summer school. She knowingly choose taking a class over going to Europe. Kids do make those choices.

The kids I know whose parents said no to geometry last summer are going to be attending TJ so it didn't hurt their chances to attend and they seem to have enjoyed traveling with their parents and hanging out with friends.

The OP has not said if taking geometry is her daughters idea or the OPs idea. The way the post is written this sounds like a parents suggestion and the child is lukewarm to the idea.

[Anonymous]

Whether it's the decision of a student, parent, or a joint decision to undertake five weeks of geometry followed by an extended vacation and participation in other summer camps, it's best to let each family make their own choice of how to spend their summer.

Strangers should give up the compulsion to go around prescribing to unfamiliar families how their student should spend their summer.

[Anonymous]

I took Summer Geometry and Algebra II in 8th Grade. Doing this allowed me to take AP Compsci A in freshman year which counselor would not have allowed otherwise and AP Physics C Sophomore year, which requires a co-req of AP Calc. You can also take AP Stats early but I see no point as you can just do it senior year anyway. Also, taking Summer Geometry would allow you to take Calc AB and still take Multivar/Linear but if you're already that accelerated in math then going straight to BC should be perfectly fine.

On the topic of the difficulty of Summer Geometry, it isn't hard as long as you go through every module thoroughly. Keep in mind that the Midterm and Final are a total of 40% of your overall grade and are both in person. I know of people that cheated their way out of the online exams, but completely bombed the Midterm because it was in person.

[Anonymous]

A year long class is about 180 hours of instruction, and typically for every hour of class there’s half an hour of homework and studying, roughly 270 hours.

If you take the class over summer in six weeks, you’d have to study 9 hours a day, if you don’t include weekends.

It’s possible to do it if it’s only a review, or if you’re fine with not understanding it well because it’s not as connected to the rest if math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whether it's the decision of a student, parent, or a joint decision to undertake five weeks of geometry followed by an extended vacation and participation in other summer camps, it's best to let each family make their own choice of how to spend their summer.

Strangers should give up the compulsion to go around prescribing to unfamiliar families how their student should spend their summer.

Did you notice how this is solicited advice, aka the op asking for it?

Maybe you should give up the compulsion to complain about nonexistent issues, or even better leave the thread if this is not for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A year long class is about 180 hours of instruction, and typically for every hour of class there’s half an hour of homework and studying, roughly 270 hours.

If you take the class over summer in six weeks, you’d have to study 9 hours a day, if you don’t include weekends.

It’s possible to do it if it’s only a review, or if you’re fine with not understanding it well because it’s not as connected to the rest if math.

The hundreds of FCPS students that take summer math classes know what they are doing. FCPS continues to offer summer classes because of their unique educational value proposition. In fact there may not be a single public school system in US that does not offer summer classes.

Among all math classes, Geometry stands out as the ideal course to take during the summer. It's concise, focused, and students find it enjoyable to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A year long class is about 180 hours of instruction, and typically for every hour of class there’s half an hour of homework and studying, roughly 270 hours.

If you take the class over summer in six weeks, you’d have to study 9 hours a day, if you don’t include weekends.

It’s possible to do it if it’s only a review, or if you’re fine with not understanding it well because it’s not as connected to the rest if math.

The hundreds of FCPS students that take summer math classes know what they are doing. FCPS continues to offer summer classes because of their unique educational value proposition. In fact there may not be a single public school system in US that does not offer summer classes.

Among all math classes, Geometry stands out as the ideal course to take during the summer. It's concise, focused, and students find it enjoyable to learn.

Am yet to find a single student that found it *enjoyable* to do summer Geometry. Most were unhappy about being stuck at home day in and day out, doing math for 5-6 hours.

[Anonymous]

Certainly, there are students experiencing chronic absenteeism who don't find yearlong schooling enjoyable at all, and for them, summer might not differ much. However, students who genuinely love and enjoy education dont seem to confine their learning to just yearlong classes but are extending it into the summer. After all, the FCPS board approves millions for summer class offerings every year, and by enrolling in them students are making sure those tax dollars aren't going waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A year long class is about 180 hours of instruction, and typically for every hour of class there’s half an hour of homework and studying, roughly 270 hours.

If you take the class over summer in six weeks, you’d have to study 9 hours a day, if you don’t include weekends.

It’s possible to do it if it’s only a review, or if you’re fine with not understanding it well because it’s not as connected to the rest if math.

The hundreds of FCPS students that take summer math classes know what they are doing. FCPS continues to offer summer classes because of their unique educational value proposition. In fact there may not be a single public school system in US that does not offer summer classes.

Among all math classes, Geometry stands out as the ideal course to take during the summer. It's concise, focused, and students find it enjoyable to learn.

Of course the hundreds of students know what they’re doing. They took geometry through AOPS, RSM and just slam dunk the summer course.

The ones that take geometry unseen, just want to advance, and I’m doubting the wisdom of that decision, but it can work in some cases depending what the goals of the student are. Let’s be real here, they won’t actually know geometry and I think they’ll mis on learning how to write a mathematical deductive argument like a proof which often is first introduced in the geometry class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certainly, there are students experiencing chronic absenteeism who don't find yearlong schooling enjoyable at all, and for them, summer might not differ much. However, students who genuinely love and enjoy education dont seem to confine their learning to just yearlong classes but are extending it into the summer. After all, the FCPS board approves millions for summer class offerings every year, and by enrolling in them students are making sure those tax dollars aren't going waste.

You’re not exactly a math person, how could it be millions when there are 180000 total students in the district?

The pace is really fast in summer courses, looked into it, decided it wasn’t worth it. There are so many better things to do than cram geometry all day long.

It seems to be more a fear of missing out and keeping up with the advanced kids, never a good reason for anything.

[Anonymous]

FCPS approves millions in dollars to provide summer classes, strongly recommends families take advantage of these offerings. Geometry is a popular course among them.