Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

If you have the type of kid capable of moving far above grade level using BA, then that kid was always destined to be bored in school math class. Even if he didn't know the material in advance, the school math pace would be torturously slow.

Honestly, I don't think my kid is particularly special. I just take the time to teach him stuff and he learns. He's not super fast or anything. But once he learns something we go to the next thing. I was pretty surprised to learn they don't teach multiplication until 3rd grade. Like, what the heck are they doing in the meantime? And why not teach this way earlier?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

Just curious, approximately how old is your child? I'm assuming they're in an advanced math class? I wonder if this is something that is teacher dependent. Could imagine some teachers being less tolerant of this more individualized approach to learning.

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

Just curious, approximately how old is your child? I'm assuming they're in an advanced math class? I wonder if this is something that is teacher dependent. Could imagine some teachers being less tolerant of this more individualized approach to learning.

6th grader. I've found that teachers are pretty tolerant assuming the kids are doing the normal work assignments and behaving well.

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

Just curious, approximately how old is your child? I'm assuming they're in an advanced math class? I wonder if this is something that is teacher dependent. Could imagine some teachers being less tolerant of this more individualized approach to learning.

6th grader. I've found that teachers are pretty tolerant assuming the kids are doing the normal work assignments and behaving well.

Did you find this by talking with your kid's teacher and getting permission to have him do alcumus instead of ST math, or did you find this out when he didn't get in trouble for doing Alcumus instead of ST math despite not having permission? When you say "teachers", is this coming from personal experience with multiple teachers or inductive reasoning from his teacher's behavior to that of others?

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

How would you know what your teacher's opinion of the value of ST math for your student is? Even if the teacher isn't specifically looking at your child, shouldn't the fact that 0 ST math has been completed stick out when looking at the class's progress? How would you know whether or not the teacher believes that kids should be on-task during class, and that being distracted by competition math is still being distracted? I'm confident ST math is an admin requirement, so a teacher who believes it isn't useful for the student could still require the student to complete it to avoid the professional consequences that might come with having their class appear behind in ST math.

With all these possibilities, did you meet with the teacher to see their stance on all these issues and give them a heads up, or did you choose to ask forgiveness rather than permission and just told your child to go ahead with Alcumus despite the risk of disciplinary/academic consequences?

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

Just curious, approximately how old is your child? I'm assuming they're in an advanced math class? I wonder if this is something that is teacher dependent. Could imagine some teachers being less tolerant of this more individualized approach to learning.

6th grader. I've found that teachers are pretty tolerant assuming the kids are doing the normal work assignments and behaving well.

Did you find this by talking with your kid's teacher and getting permission to have him do alcumus instead of ST math, or did you find this out when he didn't get in trouble for doing Alcumus instead of ST math despite not having permission? When you say "teachers", is this coming from personal experience with multiple teachers or inductive reasoning from his teacher's behavior to that of others?

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

What is ST Math? Is Alcumus another platform that you have to pay for yourself? Looks like it's linked to AOPs?

Alcumus is a large database of math problems freely accessible via the AoPS website. Note that the level of difficulty starts at a prealgebra level and up, so it would not be usable by the overwhelming majority of elementary school students.
ST math is a computer tool that FCPS bought and uses for elementary kids as part of their math screen time.

I agree that calculus isn't appropriate for most elementary school students, but the first few topics are arithmetic (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division), order of operations, multiples, divisibility, and other stuff seen in elementary school. If the user sets their difficulty to "easy" in settings, an elementary student could definitely use it productively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, I'm looking at BA offerings and I'm torn about what to do about books and placement, as I've been exposing him to stuff that spans different grade levels. A lot of level 1 looks too easy but some might be good to practice/review. I think he'd place somewhere in level 2 but has tackled things covered in 3 and 4. So what books to order if any? And I'm assuming the annual membership allows one to move at their own pace?

In that case, you should do the online platform. He could start at 2, move quickly through the material that he already knows, and spend more time with the stuff he hasn't yet seen when he reaches 3 and 4.

Thanks, I'll do that. I like supporting him to keep learning, but I do wonder what then happens when he's very far ahead. What do your kids do in class? Do they get differentiated instruction?

I mean what do they do in math class at school to avoid boredom.

Since they put them on computers a lot of the time, I've taught my kid to surreptitiously work on Alcumus problems instead of ST Math.

Wouldn't the teacher notice him doing alcumus and not st math, either by looking at his screen or from reviewing the data of which ST math lessons he (hasn't) completed?

Not if the teacher realizes that ST math isn't useful for a kid who is getting almost everything correct on classwork and is not tracking ST math progress for those kids. Also, the teacher doesn't normally check on kids unless they're messing around, Alt-tabbing to the st math page is also easy. As a backup excuse, my kid can always just nicely say they're studying for a math contest since many Alcumus problems are from past contests. But for me the best part is that there is no longer a ton of complaining at home that math class is so boring, since now there is at least something productive to do for part of the time during class.

Just curious, approximately how old is your child? I'm assuming they're in an advanced math class? I wonder if this is something that is teacher dependent. Could imagine some teachers being less tolerant of this more individualized approach to learning.

6th grader. I've found that teachers are pretty tolerant assuming the kids are doing the normal work assignments and behaving well.

Did you find this by talking with your kid's teacher and getting permission to have him do alcumus instead of ST math, or did you find this out when he didn't get in trouble for doing Alcumus instead of ST math despite not having permission? When you say "teachers", is this coming from personal experience with multiple teachers or inductive reasoning from his teacher's behavior to that of others?

My personal stance here is that I don't need to ask for permission for my child to be productive. If the teacher finds out, I'm pretty sure they'll understand.