Math competitions for Mathematically Gifted kid (7 year old)

[Anonymous]

Your school may do math Olympiad for the older kids. I think ours starts in 4th grade or something. Ask if they do that and if they’ll let him give it a go early. It’s something like 25 questions of increasing difficulty. I think most 4th traders are doing well if they even get a few right. It runs through at least 8th grade.
There are a lot of math competitions available a the middle school level.
For those questioning why any kid would do this....the competition questions usually require much more creative thinking, and are fun and different ways to think about math, for kids who like that. There’s also a social aspect when you get to the team level. I did math competitions in middle school and it was fun—we’d get crazy bread from the pizza place and brainstorm problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest that you pump the brakes and let him be a 7 year-old.

+1,000,000
And if you say it is his desire then that is even worse

Typical insecure, jealous, response. I don't have kids gifted in math, but I have one who does music competitions and another who had a college-level reading comprehension in elementary school. Your comments are ignorant and do not apply to children who really need the challenge. Please realize there are all types of learners out there, and those who are outside the norm need outside-the-norm activities.

Different poster. First, she said she wanted him to do the competitions. Second, a love of math and a giftedness in math has nothing to do with competitions. She was not asking about challenges or different learners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest that you pump the brakes and let him be a 7 year-old.

+1,000,000
And if you say it is his desire then that is even worse

Why? My 9 year old loves math competitions and is eager to compete in as many as possible. My 11 year old has no desire to do math competitions and thus doesn't compete in any.

Math giftedness can be apparent when your math gifted child has bright older siblings, but can still run circles around them.

If your 9yo is a ds and your 11yo a dd you really suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest that you pump the brakes and let him be a 7 year-old.

+1,000,000
And if you say it is his desire then that is even worse

Why? My 9 year old loves math competitions and is eager to compete in as many as possible. My 11 year old has no desire to do math competitions and thus doesn't compete in any.

Math giftedness can be apparent when your math gifted child has bright older siblings, but can still run circles around them.

If your 9yo is a ds and your 11yo a dd you really suck.

What? 11 year old enjoys science competitions and competes in those. 9 year old is inept with hands on work and doesn't compete in anything science-based. I let my kids follow their interests and be competitive where and how they choose. Genders are irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest that you pump the brakes and let him be a 7 year-old.

+1,000,000
And if you say it is his desire then that is even worse

Why? My 9 year old loves math competitions and is eager to compete in as many as possible. My 11 year old has no desire to do math competitions and thus doesn't compete in any.

Math giftedness can be apparent when your math gifted child has bright older siblings, but can still run circles around them.

If your 9yo is a ds and your 11yo a dd you really suck.

What? 11 year old enjoys science competitions and competes in those. 9 year old is inept with hands on work and doesn't compete in anything science-based. I let my kids follow their interests and be competitive where and how they choose. Genders are irrelevant.

Yet, you call the 9yo mathematically gifted. Which is laughable. I mean unless he’s going to high school... But you think he’s mathematically gifted for running circles around his 11yo sister who isn’t interested in math? Ok

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yet, you call the 9yo mathematically gifted. Which is laughable. I mean unless he’s going to high school... But you think he’s mathematically gifted for running circles around his 11yo sister who isn’t interested in math? Ok

Why are you so triggered by people claiming that their kids are math gifted? In your opinion, what would qualify as math gifted? Kids in the top 2% in math are technically gifted in math. It's not that special or that big of a deal.

[Anonymous]

I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

Totally depends on who categorized the work as beyond 6th grade level. My niece’s private school told my sister multiple times my niece was doing work 3-5 years ahead of her peers. She showed her test results and pushed her forward. Niece went to public in middle school and was in the lowest math, had a tutor to catch up to even that low math, and her English grades were very poor. I have a friend who said her elementary kid is taking high school math because of a workbook she got him. I looked at it and could see it is clearly not high school math. So it depends what “doing work” means. Able to do a full year of true high school level math on his own, tutored excessively, able to do bits here and there, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

What about the top few kids at each AAP center who are still stuck doing the regular AAP math work because the center won't bump anyone up to the next grade? Also, what about the kids who are winning math contests? Is there any level of achievement in CML, MOEMS, Mathcounts, AMC8, math league, or any other contests that would suggest to you that the kid is gifted in math? Doing work beyond 6th grade is more suggestive of exposure than it is of talent.

[Anonymous]

You could sit an 18 month old on a bicycle and hold them and push it along. And you could do that every day and eventually around age 5 or 6ish, most of them would probably figure it out.

Every once in a while though some 18 month old is going to grab the handlebars their first time on and pedal down the street.

Some kids are indeed ready for and enjoy higher level mathematical thinking earlier than others. You cannot push it or force it. But when it happens, there’s no reason to hold the kid back if they want to explore math opportunities.

No amount of pushing on the part of the parents can make it so (no amount of holding the 18 month old on the bike will get them to ride it before they are ready). I think you can accelerate most kids 2-3 years but not much beyond that —- unless you have one of those unique gifted kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

What about the top few kids at each AAP center who are still stuck doing the regular AAP math work because the center won't bump anyone up to the next grade? Also, what about the kids who are winning math contests? Is there any level of achievement in CML, MOEMS, Mathcounts, AMC8, math league, or any other contests that would suggest to you that the kid is gifted in math? Doing work beyond 6th grade is more suggestive of exposure than it is of talent.

Yes, but rare. At our school, a very, very bright kid would take the harder section of cml and get them all right. The kid now takes algebra in 6th. It’s rare though. We have other kids who get perfect scores on cml and wordmasters and don’t move anywhere - those are grade level tests. Moving kids ahead should be - and is - very rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

What about the top few kids at each AAP center who are still stuck doing the regular AAP math work because the center won't bump anyone up to the next grade? Also, what about the kids who are winning math contests? Is there any level of achievement in CML, MOEMS, Mathcounts, AMC8, math league, or any other contests that would suggest to you that the kid is gifted in math? Doing work beyond 6th grade is more suggestive of exposure than it is of talent.

Yes, but rare. At our school, a very, very bright kid would take the harder section of cml and get them all right. The kid now takes algebra in 6th. It’s rare though. We have other kids who get perfect scores on cml and wordmasters and don’t move anywhere - those are grade level tests. Moving kids ahead should be - and is - very rare.

High performance on Mathcounts school round or AMC8 as a 3rd-5th grader would suggest giftedness, as those are middle school level contests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

So in one breath you’re criticizing the math standards and curricula in the US and FCPS and complaining about how kids in other countries are years ahead of our kids.

Then you use the above as your excuse to sign your kids up for math enrichment so as to try and keep up with the world.

Then in the other breath you’re going on and on about how you know your ds is mathematically gifted...Because he’s two years ahead of the “lackluster” US standards?

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. You’ve got a bright kid (like your dd) whom from a young age you’ve pushed into studying math grade levels ahead which isn’t that hard to do if you’ve got the materials. The US standards are by no means the limit of what is possible of bright kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider a 4th grader, doing work beyond 6th grade level, mathematically gifted.

So in one breath you’re criticizing the math standards and curricula in the US and FCPS and complaining about how kids in other countries are years ahead of our kids.

Then you use the above as your excuse to sign your kids up for math enrichment so as to try and keep up with the world.

Then in the other breath you’re going on and on about how you know your ds is mathematically gifted...Because he’s two years ahead of the “lackluster” US standards?

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. You’ve got a bright kid (like your dd) whom from a young age you’ve pushed into studying math grade levels ahead which isn’t that hard to do if you’ve got the materials. The US standards are by no means the limit of what is possible of bright kids.

LOL. I'm the poster with the 9 year old and 11 year old, and I didn't post the thing you've quoted. I posted 12:06 and 19:58. I agree with you that working ahead doesn't mean much, other than the kid has been exposed to a lot of math. I also think my DS is math gifted based on WIAT and WISC scores, but I don't have the same high bar you have. To me, top 2% is gifted. There are many math gifted kids at every AAP center.

[Anonymous]

You may want to contact with Alpha STEM Math Club, they offer radical acceleration & all kinds of competitions opportunities for profoundly gifted kids.
Their math teams won various national math contests. It's NOVA home for Davidson Young Scholars. Their contact info is: [e-mail]