Child says math is too easy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully been able to have their child moved up a level in math and if so, what did you do? Student is in fourth grade AAP

Probably a bad idea, but acceleration is available at the wealthier schools

acceleration is available at all schools including the worst performing fcps schools, except there is not much interest in math as much as sports. Bottom performing schools are also wealthy when it comes to sports interests.

Strange, our child checked all of the boxes for acceleration to be able to take Algebra in 6th grade and no one from the school talked to us about it. We choose not to pursue it, we did not think he needed to be three years ahead in math, but no one at the school mentioned it was even a possibility. We were at a school with about 10% FARMs rate.

FCPS does not actively promote advanced math as an option at most schools. I am sure there are a few schools where it happens frequently enough that the parents there think it is commonly available but even those schools are under 10 students, I would guess that there might be an occasional school with 5 kids in Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

There were 40 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2021
There were 22 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2022
There were 31 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2023
There were 25 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL last year.

This is not a regular path.

None of the FCPS PE teachers recommend accelerating in basketball. Yet, families pour money and time into accelerating their students just to get into FCPS school basketball teams. Does FCPS actively promote this advanced sports acceleration path?

Academic acceleration is no different. Students have different interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully been able to have their child moved up a level in math and if so, what did you do? Student is in fourth grade AAP

Probably a bad idea, but acceleration is available at the wealthier schools

acceleration is available at all schools including the worst performing fcps schools, except there is not much interest in math as much as sports. Bottom performing schools are also wealthy when it comes to sports interests.

Strange, our child checked all of the boxes for acceleration to be able to take Algebra in 6th grade and no one from the school talked to us about it. We choose not to pursue it, we did not think he needed to be three years ahead in math, but no one at the school mentioned it was even a possibility. We were at a school with about 10% FARMs rate.

FCPS does not actively promote advanced math as an option at most schools. I am sure there are a few schools where it happens frequently enough that the parents there think it is commonly available but even those schools are under 10 students, I would guess that there might be an occasional school with 5 kids in Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

There were 40 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2021
There were 22 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2022
There were 31 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2023
There were 25 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL last year.

This is not a regular path.

None of the FCPS PE teachers recommend accelerating in basketball. Yet, families pour money and time into accelerating their students just to get into FCPS school basketball teams. Does FCPS actively promote this advanced sports acceleration path?

Academic acceleration is no different. Students have different interests.

I have no idea how you are comparing accelerating in math to kids playing rec basketball or travel basketball to kids accelerating in math. Kids are not accelerated into advanced PE in school. Sports in HS are an after school activity and not a requirement. Most kids play rec sports because there is not enough movement during the school day and the only way that kids will learn to play most sports is to participate in rec sports. Sports are a hobby, something done in your free time. And yes, some kids love them and dive fully into. Other kids do the same with drama or art or music.

My kid does math competitions and takes extra math because he enjoys it. I get that kids have different interests and for some kids that is math. He is doing Algebra in 7th grade, he has been accelerated. A very small number are allowed to accelerate into Algebra in 6th grade because it is not a great fit for most kids.

Still not seeing the sports angle here. We should let the travel sports kids have a different PE class? We should let the travel sports kids take PE at the MS?

[Anonymous]

I'd do the best I could for my DC (if he were a math genius like yours) without taking him out of his current school. If he's that advanced, he probably has enough trouble relating to his peers, without isolating him even more. If you want to exploit his proclivity for math, I would supplement at home, do some of the out of school activities, or get a tutor. And if there are any areas that are lagging --LA, sports, social skills, etc, I would try to emphasize those instead. Better a well rounded advanced kid than one that's only a standout in one area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully been able to have their child moved up a level in math and if so, what did you do? Student is in fourth grade AAP

Probably a bad idea, but acceleration is available at the wealthier schools

acceleration is available at all schools including the worst performing fcps schools, except there is not much interest in math as much as sports. Bottom performing schools are also wealthy when it comes to sports interests.

Strange, our child checked all of the boxes for acceleration to be able to take Algebra in 6th grade and no one from the school talked to us about it. We choose not to pursue it, we did not think he needed to be three years ahead in math, but no one at the school mentioned it was even a possibility. We were at a school with about 10% FARMs rate.

FCPS does not actively promote advanced math as an option at most schools. I am sure there are a few schools where it happens frequently enough that the parents there think it is commonly available but even those schools are under 10 students, I would guess that there might be an occasional school with 5 kids in Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

There were 40 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2021
There were 22 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2022
There were 31 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2023
There were 25 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL last year.

This is not a regular path.

None of the FCPS PE teachers recommend accelerating in basketball. Yet, families pour money and time into accelerating their students just to get into FCPS school basketball teams. Does FCPS actively promote this advanced sports acceleration path?

Academic acceleration is no different. Students have different interests.

I have no idea how you are comparing accelerating in math to kids playing rec basketball or travel basketball to kids accelerating in math. Kids are not accelerated into advanced PE in school. Sports in HS are an after school activity and not a requirement. Most kids play rec sports because there is not enough movement during the school day and the only way that kids will learn to play most sports is to participate in rec sports. Sports are a hobby, something done in your free time. And yes, some kids love them and dive fully into. Other kids do the same with drama or art or music.

My kid does math competitions and takes extra math because he enjoys it. I get that kids have different interests and for some kids that is math. He is doing Algebra in 7th grade, he has been accelerated. A very small number are allowed to accelerate into Algebra in 6th grade because it is not a great fit for most kids.

Still not seeing the sports angle here. We should let the travel sports kids have a different PE class? We should let the travel sports kids take PE at the MS?

Some kids accelerate more than their peers in basketball and others kids learn math faster than others. What is so difficult to understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully been able to have their child moved up a level in math and if so, what did you do? Student is in fourth grade AAP

Probably a bad idea, but acceleration is available at the wealthier schools

acceleration is available at all schools including the worst performing fcps schools, except there is not much interest in math as much as sports. Bottom performing schools are also wealthy when it comes to sports interests.

Strange, our child checked all of the boxes for acceleration to be able to take Algebra in 6th grade and no one from the school talked to us about it. We choose not to pursue it, we did not think he needed to be three years ahead in math, but no one at the school mentioned it was even a possibility. We were at a school with about 10% FARMs rate.

FCPS does not actively promote advanced math as an option at most schools. I am sure there are a few schools where it happens frequently enough that the parents there think it is commonly available but even those schools are under 10 students, I would guess that there might be an occasional school with 5 kids in Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

There were 40 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2021
There were 22 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2022
There were 31 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2023
There were 25 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL last year.

This is not a regular path.

None of the FCPS PE teachers recommend accelerating in basketball. Yet, families pour money and time into accelerating their students just to get into FCPS school basketball teams. Does FCPS actively promote this advanced sports acceleration path?

Academic acceleration is no different. Students have different interests.

I have no idea how you are comparing accelerating in math to kids playing rec basketball or travel basketball to kids accelerating in math. Kids are not accelerated into advanced PE in school. Sports in HS are an after school activity and not a requirement. Most kids play rec sports because there is not enough movement during the school day and the only way that kids will learn to play most sports is to participate in rec sports. Sports are a hobby, something done in your free time. And yes, some kids love them and dive fully into. Other kids do the same with drama or art or music.

My kid does math competitions and takes extra math because he enjoys it. I get that kids have different interests and for some kids that is math. He is doing Algebra in 7th grade, he has been accelerated. A very small number are allowed to accelerate into Algebra in 6th grade because it is not a great fit for most kids.

Still not seeing the sports angle here. We should let the travel sports kids have a different PE class? We should let the travel sports kids take PE at the MS?

Some kids accelerate more than their peers in basketball and others kids learn math faster than others. What is so difficult to understand?

If you knew much about sports you would be aware that very few kids are accelerated 3 years ahead in a sport, especially in ES, for a whole hosts of reasons. Some kids will play up one year and a very few might play up 2years but hardly anyone plays up two years. Why? Because they are not big enough and strong enough to play with the older kids. There is such thing as over acceleration.

You would also know that travel teams tend to be a racket. A family that really wants their kid to play travel will find a travel team for their kid, even after not being selected to many teams. Travel sports might indicate a kid who really likes the sport or parents who think that the kid will be good in the sport but it is no guarantee that the kid is good or should be playing up.

It’s kind of like the kid who was in my sons AoPS class that needed to stay online with the Teacher after everyone else logged out. The kid did not belong in AoPS, they were not understanding the material, but they were playing to be there so the Teacher was trying to help them understand the material. Or the kid who slows down AAP because they struggle with the math but the parents really wanted to kid in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully been able to have their child moved up a level in math and if so, what did you do? Student is in fourth grade AAP

aops, Singapore math, rsm

You can accelerate math starting with algebra in the summer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beast Academy at home

This never made sense to me.

“My kid is ahead of everyone in math, he’s super bored”

“Do this thing that will make him ever farther ahead of everyone and even more bored!”

Sometimes kids in school are bored. Mine were, and part of what we did was teach them that it’s okay to be bored, how to deal with boredom without being distracting.

Instead of teaching your kid new math concepts at home, why don’t you do different uses of the concepts? Teach him games that utilize math skills. Have him use his skills to measure and build something cool. Teach him to cook since it’s a heavy use of fractions.

Do you have this same scorn for kids who do sports at home, too?

For kids like OP's, holding them back to minimize boredom is a fool's errand - at least if they do math at home, they'll have a chance to enjoy math. School math is as far from sufficient for challenging them as PE class is for future D1 athletes. As you mentioned yourself, it's okay to be bored in class.

The activities you mentioned are a very poor way of learning math, and sticking to them develops the notion that math is a tool, not something with any intrinsic value or beauty. Very sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine did the skip from 4th grade AAP math to 6th grade AAP math in 5th and the Algebra 1 in 6th at the MS. He was the only one his year to do it but there had been others before him.

I just wanted him to get math instruction at school that matched his ability. The tricky part was getting him from middle school to elementary school in the morning (we had my MIL living with us who was willing to drive hm over).

Then in the 12th grade he ran out of math to take at the high school and we could get online or in college Differential Equations to work this year so he took AP stats and AP physics C this year with no math class.

Annoying but I’ve heard that the are going to be starting that class at McLean next year I think.

You need to think about the whole path ahead for your kid and all the logistics before deciding to do this.

All in all I think it was worth it. He’s going to continue his studies in math and physics next year at college.

How exactly did you request/advocate for the placement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine did the skip from 4th grade AAP math to 6th grade AAP math in 5th and the Algebra 1 in 6th at the MS. He was the only one his year to do it but there had been others before him.

I just wanted him to get math instruction at school that matched his ability. The tricky part was getting him from middle school to elementary school in the morning (we had my MIL living with us who was willing to drive hm over).

Then in the 12th grade he ran out of math to take at the high school and we could get online or in college Differential Equations to work this year so he took AP stats and AP physics C this year with no math class.

Annoying but I’ve heard that the are going to be starting that class at McLean next year I think.

You need to think about the whole path ahead for your kid and all the logistics before deciding to do this.

All in all I think it was worth it. He’s going to continue his studies in math and physics next year at college.

How exactly did you request/advocate for the placement?

I contacted the principal of the school and the AAP coordinator. This was at Kent Gardens btw. It’s very school dependent whether this is a logistical possibility. Even aside from ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beast Academy at home

This never made sense to me.

“My kid is ahead of everyone in math, he’s super bored”

“Do this thing that will make him ever farther ahead of everyone and even more bored!”

Sometimes kids in school are bored. Mine were, and part of what we did was teach them that it’s okay to be bored, how to deal with boredom without being distracting.

Instead of teaching your kid new math concepts at home, why don’t you do different uses of the concepts? Teach him games that utilize math skills. Have him use his skills to measure and build something cool. Teach him to cook since it’s a heavy use of fractions.

Except that's not what Beast Academy is.

I agree 100% if you were talking about Khan, or IXL, or other things that mimic grade level curriculum. Often times, kids use these to "get ahead" of the curriculum, and it results in kids who move faster but not deeper, and just increases boredom.

But Beast Academy takes grade level content and goes deeper, not faster. It's not really appropriate for kids who are below or on grade level. For most kids who are somewhat above grade level, the best thing is to actually do Beast a grade level below, so that in 3rd grade math they're learning multiplication and division, and in 2nd grade beast they're taking what they learned last year, so place value and advanced addition and subtraction, and applies it to novel problems. For kids who are well above grade level, it makes sense to do grade level math and grade level Beast at the same time.

There are other things that expand on grade level curriculum instead of going faster -- strategy games, Singapore's challenging word problem curriculum, competition programs like Math Kangaroo. All of those things are better than just going straight ahead IMO.

Beast Academy is two years ahead of standard pace, so it is also faster.

[Anonymous]

My child is in 5th grade in FCPS, and goes to a middle school for Algebra 1. He was put on this accelerated track in 1st grade. The county recognized the need for acceleration early. There is a path for moving ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is in 5th grade in FCPS, and goes to a middle school for Algebra 1. He was put on this accelerated track in 1st grade. The county recognized the need for acceleration early. There is a path for moving ahead.

good for your child. But most practical path for poor and lower middle class fcps students is Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully been able to have their child moved up a level in math and if so, what did you do? Student is in fourth grade AAP

Probably a bad idea, but acceleration is available at the wealthier schools

acceleration is available at all schools including the worst performing fcps schools, except there is not much interest in math as much as sports. Bottom performing schools are also wealthy when it comes to sports interests.

Strange, our child checked all of the boxes for acceleration to be able to take Algebra in 6th grade and no one from the school talked to us about it. We choose not to pursue it, we did not think he needed to be three years ahead in math, but no one at the school mentioned it was even a possibility. We were at a school with about 10% FARMs rate.

FCPS does not actively promote advanced math as an option at most schools. I am sure there are a few schools where it happens frequently enough that the parents there think it is commonly available but even those schools are under 10 students, I would guess that there might be an occasional school with 5 kids in Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

There were 40 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2021
There were 22 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2022
There were 31 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL in 2023
There were 25 6th graders who took the Algebra 1 SOL last year.

This is not a regular path.

None of the FCPS PE teachers recommend accelerating in basketball. Yet, families pour money and time into accelerating their students just to get into FCPS school basketball teams. Does FCPS actively promote this advanced sports acceleration path?

Academic acceleration is no different. Students have different interests.

I have no idea how you are comparing accelerating in math to kids playing rec basketball or travel basketball to kids accelerating in math. Kids are not accelerated into advanced PE in school. Sports in HS are an after school activity and not a requirement. Most kids play rec sports because there is not enough movement during the school day and the only way that kids will learn to play most sports is to participate in rec sports. Sports are a hobby, something done in your free time. And yes, some kids love them and dive fully into. Other kids do the same with drama or art or music.

My kid does math competitions and takes extra math because he enjoys it. I get that kids have different interests and for some kids that is math. He is doing Algebra in 7th grade, he has been accelerated. A very small number are allowed to accelerate into Algebra in 6th grade because it is not a great fit for most kids.

Still not seeing the sports angle here. We should let the travel sports kids have a different PE class? We should let the travel sports kids take PE at the MS?

Some kids accelerate more than their peers in basketball and others kids learn math faster than others. What is so difficult to understand?

It really is that simple, it's about a child's interest and a family's support for that interest. Take a child who loves basketball: it's natural for them to quickly surpass what public school PE can offer, just as an academically driven student might outgrow the standard curriculum taught by their Math teacher. By second or third grade, sports oriented families who understand basketball often have their child not only in house leagues but also in travel teams, alongside after-school pickup games and paid training sessions. Some may unfairly label these sports focussed families as wealthy, but in reality, most are simply making sacrifices—cutting back on other comforts to invest in their child’s growth. The same is true for academically focussed families who prioritize academic enrichment. Whether it's athletics or academics, when a child shows passion, the support of a committed family makes all the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is in 5th grade in FCPS, and goes to a middle school for Algebra 1. He was put on this accelerated track in 1st grade. The county recognized the need for acceleration early. There is a path for moving ahead.

Can you be more specific? Why do you say the county recognized it and not the school?

[Anonymous]

Don’t worry, it will get harder soon enough. My kids considers the math easy as well and I’m glad. Would be much worse if they said it’s hard. Get them into math Olympiad of your school offers it.