Too support accelerated math or not?

[Anonymous]

DS just entered 1st grade from a small private school. It seems that he is ahead of the level of instruction in the class. He's not bored, thanks to the newness of everything, but I can see it coming. We've never intentionally accelerated him beyond what he has done in school and are wondering whether we should try to have him continue to work at a higher level (esp in math). I understand that MCPS no longer accelerates in math - so we are afraid that if we do that at home, he will loose his ability to learn in new concepts from his teachers and tune out in school. Are all schools county wide teaching the same curriculum in first grade or are some schools teaching more complex things? I'm confused about how this homogeneous approach handles kids at different levels

[Anonymous]

My son is going on his 4th year of boredom with the math at school. They get used to it. Occasionally there are a few challenging things but not often. On the plus side, he gets all his work done on time and has a lot of confidence in his math abilities, still loves it and is happy at school.

[Anonymous]

^That's sad. And I'm not being snarky. Four years of boredom?!

[Anonymous]

MCPS does accelerate in math, but not until fourth grade. The math curriculum is the same county-wide. And it is supposed to include enrichment via ability grouping within the classroom. If you are concerned, I suggest that you talk to his teacher.

Also, I don't understand the concern that DS will lose his ability to learn new concepts from his teachers. Math is only one of the subject areas at school. So even if he already knows everything they're teaching in math, presumably there's still plenty of other stuff for him to learn from his teachers. And if you supplement math at home, he'll still be learning new concepts in math.