Taking math classes at the local college
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Anonymous
Just curious, are you/your partner quite good at math too? I haven't been in this situation but I would imagine that if he's learned as much as he has already then he's quite curious and motivated and thus will be able to challenge himself for a while if you give him with resources. Maybe find some resources for gifted children. I don't think this forum is going to help all that much, but maybe someone will come out of the woodwork with real advice. What sort of algebra and geometry books or other resources did you find that your child could learn well from? I'm really curious about that. There has to be some networks for real gifted kids (not AAP) you can draw on. |
Anonymous
This is a cool story and actually makes be believe the poster is not a troll. Surely there are kids out there who can grasp some of these advanced ideas if not master them. If that's the case, that's great, good for them. I wish I we had some of those genes! The kid in the story seems like a very happy kid who just happens to be extremely interested in math and clearly gifted. They note that his father was a gifted mathematician as well. There are outliers! |
pettifogger
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Teach him the exciting topics of math that students don't get to see in K12. Teach him a little number theory, teach him how to count things, i.e a little combinatorics, introduce probability through games and puzzles. Perhaps give him some interesting problems found from the many math contests out there, e.g Mathcounts at the middle school level has plenty of interesting problems, there's the AMC 8, as well as other various contests. These problems will be exciting for him, and it will give him an opportunity to engage, play, and master the material. It's fine to talk to him about calculus when he's curious and asks for it, but if you want him to enjoy his childhood and have a gifted education, trying to teach him the mechanics of calculus is not really the best idea given how many other exciting mathematical topics are out there. Pick up a math circle book (for example Mathematical Circle Diaries, or any of the other books from the AMS Mathematical Circles library) and work together with him through the many exciting problems. Do lots of puzzle and logic problems to develop his analytical skills. Play chess and other logic and strategy games, teach a bit of programming -- Python is a good one to start as it is very syntax friendly. Challenge him to build an interesting program or toy game so he can actually learn programming skills in a fun way. Most importantly, be attuned to his changing interests; if he latches onto math contest problems and wants more, great! Or if he just likes reading a math book on his own that's also great! If you find you don't have enough time or ability to devote to developing his education yourself, look to some summer programs for gifted kids to supplement. But if he is truly advanced compared to others his age he may get very bored, so you will have to very careful as to what programs to pick for him. |
Anonymous
Terence Tao, "the smartest mathematician in the world", learned calculus in 5th grade. Your kidndidn't didn't learn it in 1st grade. RSM Math Contest archives, AoPS AMC 8/10 archives, AoPS Alcumus and Euclidea.xyz to start. Watch 3B1B and Mathologer videos , and pause and try to predict what he's going to say before he says it. "Reading" a math book is like looking at the pictures in a literacy book. It's fun butnits not learning. Understanding math requires doing problems. A lot of kids read super advanced math, don't understand it, don't retain it, can't solve slightly tricky elementary level problems, and then have trouble in school because they skip super far ahead without truly learning. I've seen it in my own kid, who has solved impressively hard contest problems relating to what he was studying, but then couldn't solve similar problems a few months later. Even that kid in the article who took AP calculus and got a top score of 5. Did he learn it well? Maybe, who knows. A score of 5 and AP calculus test requires only 65% of the test points. Half the test is multiple choice so if you have the basic idea of what things mean, you have a high chance of guessing the answer even if you can't fully solve the problem. 10% of the test uses a graphing calculator so all you need to do there is transform word problems into a formula. For a truly advanced math kid, you need to be doing things that are well beyond the standard school curriculum and testing, not just hyper accelerating and cramming through the curriculum and low expectations designed for average kids. |
Anonymous
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A simple fun activity for your kid who wants to learn calculus in elementary school:
Try https://artofproblemsolving.com/mathcounts_trainer and see how high a Rating score you can reach on each of the 4 tiers. |
Anonymous
Agree in general with this post, however people do math for a broad variety of reasons, not only competition math, and not everyone is aiming to become a mathematician. You need math to be able to do rigorous science, engineering, economics etc. One can argue it’s better to have a broader and more superficial knowledge base. If math is a tool and not someone’s main focus, getting a 5 on the AP Calculus may just be good enough. I’m also doubtful about how useful competition math is. For career skills, I think it’s better to develop other areas, like working with others, leadership etc. |
Anonymous
Successful teams need both people with soft skills and people with hard skills. Math competitions definitely develop the hard skills, and team competitions like ARML somewhat develop the soft skills. |
Anonymous
I totally agree and wonder the same about competitions. Not everyone has the desire to compete. For my DC, I plan to just follow his interests. I am providing as much opportunity as I can for him to enjoy math and become curious and fascinated by it, but the rest is up to him. |
Anonymous
I disagree. Cramming for a test is for beefing up the college application resume. Scientists and Engineers need to actually understand and remember the math they do. If you don't need to understand the math, that's fine, you can have a great life and career doing something else, but then racing through cramming the curriculum superficially isn't worthwhile either. |
Anonymous
There is so much fun and interesting math outside the boring K-12/AP curriculum! (See the resources mentioned upthread) |
Anonymous
You can make the same argument about fun and interesting learning outside of math. Or as in the OP post, a math class that combines math with engineering, computer science etc. There’s no right answer, but as someone that has done completions, admittedly a long time ago, I think an internship or a job are much more valuable for a successful career. |
Anonymous
You imply that getting a 5 on the AP exam is equivalent to cramming for the test and having a superficial knowledge of the material and not actually understanding it. In reality, getting a 5 on any of the STEM AP’s puts the student in the top 1% of academic performance for that subject. IMO that’s definitely passes the threshold for a successful STEM career. It’s true that qualifying for AIME puts the student roughly in the 0.1%, but then you have to weigh in the effort, time spent on it etc. I’d argue that a 5 in AP Calculus, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Computer Science is better than a AIME qualification, and would require a similar level of effort. |
Anonymous
Why are we talking about AIME? I was talking about cramming to pass an AP calculus test in 5th grade without spending time with the material so it sinks in. |
Anonymous
Who are you arguing with? 5th graders aren't doing internships or a job. |
Anonymous
Did you closely monitor how much time that 5th grader spent with the material and personally evaluated him to know if it sank in? We’re talking about AIME because of discussion regarding competition math upthread. If you weren’t part of that discussion feel free to skip. |