Do you supplement in Elementary school?

[Anonymous]

2nd and Kinder. No supplementing. They are ahead by all metrics and seem happy.

Academic skills are such a small fraction of what makes someone successful in life. If I had to pick, I’d take a kid with a high EQ over IQ any day of the week.

[Anonymous]

We supplement our first grader in math because he loves math and is extremely good at it. He's doing 3rd-4th grade math. He's just naturally talented at it so we continue to foster his talent.

[Anonymous]

Math. Fourth grader started fractions. I discovered they don't know how to add, subtract, multiply or divide them.
I have no patience going through his book and see if all this is still coming or they didn't understand.
I showed it all in 5 minutes and they got it.
I did the same with long division. They learned them I think, but still didn't understand. Not even sure.
I don't understand this math. I grew up in Soviet Union.
Math was math and it was super easy.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I supplement with Beast Academy for math. I used the Reading Eggs app and some site words flashcards to supplement reading before kindergarten. It was clear that DC was far enough ahead in reading, so I switched to just reading DC great novels at night that we both enjoy. I supplement because DC is in an immersion school and benefits from a little extra attention at home in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have very above grade level kids and do not supplement. If they asked for it, maybe? But I figure middle school and high school will challenge them when there are more levels. If I had kids below grade level (particularly in reading) I would consider it, however.

We supplemented at Mathnasium only towards the end of COVID, because our daughter had half of kindergarten and most of first grade in front of a screen so had missed some formative instruction/content. I had planned on continuing, but the teacher told me she'd pull the class back up to where they need to be, and she did. I agree with prior posters that if your kid is behind, sure - hire a private tutor or go find outside support (there are many good options out there). But I feel like some of the supplementing in older grades is more about the parents perception and fear of not 'winning', not so much what the kid needs.

That being said, some of the computer programs DCPS pays for like iReady instruct kids based on where they perform on the assessments in school (either high, low, or on grade level) - so that and Zearn are good options. I also may have my kids do Beast Academy a few times/week over the summer, but more to make sure they don't slip back, and also b/c they like the graphic novel type format of those games.

Lastly, I think it varies school to school with regards to how strong instruction is in older grades. Our personal experience has been that the older grade teachers are some of the strongest/most experienced at our ES, so they were able to differentiate and push/support kids at various levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

[Anonymous]

We did not supplement for math in elementary school. The kids could have handled more math, but then they'd be even more bored in school. We did start supplementing in maybe 4th/5th grade, a bit, because the kids were clearly bored/not challenged by math, following an online curriculum at home.

I also worked on reading with the kid who was behind. He only got extra help from school when he fell one full grade year behind in reading. At one point we went back to basic writing and went through a writing book together.

I don't think I could have gotten any buy-in for more formal tutoring/group lessons. The school day is long enough, plus aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

My kid isn't getting challenged in school and likes doing extra math. If they keep liking it and being good at it, I'll be able to give them other opportunities to pursue math. If not, I won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

My kid isn't getting challenged in school and likes doing extra math. If they keep liking it and being good at it, I'll be able to give them other opportunities to pursue math. If not, I won't.

It's funny how quickly one forgets... Are there not other things that a kid can do after school? I remember Murch had an after-school robotics program that my kid enjoyed. There were some other after-school activities as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

My kid isn't getting challenged in school and likes doing extra math. If they keep liking it and being good at it, I'll be able to give them other opportunities to pursue math. If not, I won't.

It's funny how quickly one forgets... Are there not other things that a kid can do after school? I remember Murch had an after-school robotics program that my kid enjoyed. There were some other after-school activities as well.

Good for Murch. We're at a Title 1. There's no robotics club. But also, we're not doing classes, we do this at home together or they do it themselves when they want to.

[Anonymous]

There's a risk of getting too far ahead that a kid then gets bored and/or disruptive because elementary school teachers are not going to create a special curriculum for a kid too far ahead.

We didn't formally supplement and kids still are routinely 95+ percentile. I would probably get tutoring if before grade level. My oldest kid is now working 1 grade level ahead in middle school (8th grader doing 9th grade math). There is a small class of kids working two grades ahead. Of the parents of the of those kids who I'm friends with, one forced supplementation and the kid now hates math. The other two as far as I can tell just had kids who pick up math really quickly. One of those did daily Khan academy in the summer. Not sure about the other.

[Anonymous]

I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

Some ES teachers are bad at math themselves and don't enjoy it. Some kids pick up that attitude. It helps to have the kids around adults and other kids who like doing math. Moreover, some families do want to enroll their kids in a private school or move to a suburb with a stronger school district later on and what their kids to be at grade level in their new schools instead of spending their first year trying to catch up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a risk of getting too far ahead that a kid then gets bored and/or disruptive because elementary school teachers are not going to create a special curriculum for a kid too far ahead.

We didn't formally supplement and kids still are routinely 95+ percentile. I would probably get tutoring if before grade level. My oldest kid is now working 1 grade level ahead in middle school (8th grader doing 9th grade math). There is a small class of kids working two grades ahead. Of the parents of the of those kids who I'm friends with, one forced supplementation and the kid now hates math. The other two as far as I can tell just had kids who pick up math really quickly. One of those did daily Khan academy in the summer. Not sure about the other.

You wouldn't not let your kid read harder books because they might get too far ahead in ELA, and I think if your child is the one with the math interest, it's the same thing. I don't expect school to cater to my kids, but neither am I going to avoid teaching them something they want to learn because it might be an issue there.

[Anonymous]

I supplemented with math workbooks. It came in handy, as we spent the later elementary years overseas, where math concepts were introduced earlier than in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell me more about this. Does this mean supplement so a kid that's behind can catch up if their teacher can't do enough in-school? Or is this something families with a kid who is excelling beyond what the teacher can (or in our case, will) do through differentiation and small groups?

I have a first grader who is doing long division worksheets for fun. The teacher is only covering the beginning of multiplication skills in her small group.

Teacher has a whole lot of communication and personality issues beyond this, so I haven't pushed the issue since DC doesn't seem bored at school. We will hopefully be going to a new school next year if the lottery gods smile on us. But even then I would wonder if doing our own math acceleration at home or through something like Mathnasium is worth it?

For us it is the latter--school just isn't challenging. We do RSM so my kid has problems she must struggle with to develop a much deeper understanding. I have heard good things about AoPS for this too, but it's farther away.