Reply to Do I let my teen drop down to non-honors Alg 2?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No this isn’t a matter of struggling. This is a matter of executive function, time management, and studying habits. They won’t be any better dropping to easier courses. There is still homework, tests, etc..

[b]They really need to stop making middle school so easy. Failing our kids in high school.[/b] [/quote]

I agree with you. I suspect this is a common problem. At my daughter's public middle school, the math WAY too easy at the level of prealgebra and algebra 1. And there was hardly any homework assigned. Even the math oriented kids can breeze through with high A's without ever consolidating the material. I recognized this was going on, even as my kid was getting A+'s in math without much effort, and I was able to intervene with summer work so that my DD was actually prepared for Algebra 2 and precalc. [/quote]

Even with an “easy” middle school experience, there are plenty of kids out there who are naturally self-motivated and self-organized enough to keep up with honors Algebra 2 - without parental reminders or pressure, without summer work, and without a tutor. They’re just ready for the class and they meet it head on.

One of my kids is like this. One is not. The one who is like this has excelled on the accelerated + honors track. The other is probably capable of doing the work on that track, but is not yet mature or motivated enough to do so. Which is fine, and they’re progressing well (learning the math and improving the executive functioning skills) on an accelerated but not honors track (what OP is considering.)

We don’t see math as a race. Nor do we see any reason to push them. And we certainly don’t believe in filling their time with summer work or tutors. They set the right pace for them, and both are progressing well. No reason to overthink this one.  [/quote]

I see you're reading into my post a lot of stuff I didn't say. There was not parental pressure-my kid was self motivated and loves math. She loved the "real" summer math class and wanted to do it. It was one of the best things we did for her because it was the first time she experienced a challenge in math and realized it was exciting. We don't view math as a race, but just for perspective both my husband and I are scientists and faculty at a science-oriented university. We just want her to learn actual math to a depth that we know is necessary to do well as a STEM major (which she wants to be), and that certainly isn't happening at a lot of schools today. More public schools are doing away with homework and getting rid of text books, coming up with their own curriculum materials, replacing written problem sets and proofs with simple multiple choice questions, as well as putting so many kids into "advanced" tracks whether they are interested in math/science or not. I see a real problem brewing for kids who love science. All my colleagues with kids in public schools see the problem too. [/quote]

You need to get off your chat forums and look at what is actually happening in the schools. 
[/quote]

Why don't you educate us if you're so knowledgable? What I wrote is actually what has happened at my kid's school, and confirmed by all my frustrated educator friends in the same district.[/quote]

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