Anonymous
03/15/2026 11:28
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Are you Asian? I had no idea academic summer camps even existed. I can’t think of anyone I knew that went to one. I went to an excellent public school where many classmates went on to great colleges- no one was doing this.
Nope, White. My Mom asked the teachers for options and did research at the library. Plenty of people in our area did it.
If your mom had to go research it at the library, plenty of people weren’t doing it. In the 90s, white MC and UMC were not sending kids off to academic summer camps. That was incredibly uncommon. It sounds like your brother was a special circumstance and far above peers, which is why your mother had to seek out the info
Yes, they were. My parents did it and so did we. We supplement with math camos for a few years.
What’s a math camo?
Anonymous
03/15/2026 10:45
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Are you Asian? I had no idea academic summer camps even existed. I can’t think of anyone I knew that went to one. I went to an excellent public school where many classmates went on to great colleges- no one was doing this.
Nope, White. My Mom asked the teachers for options and did research at the library. Plenty of people in our area did it.
If your mom had to go research it at the library, plenty of people weren’t doing it. In the 90s, white MC and UMC were not sending kids off to academic summer camps. That was incredibly uncommon. It sounds like your brother was a special circumstance and far above peers, which is why your mother had to seek out the info
Yes, they were. My parents did it and so did we. We supplement with math camos for a few years.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 10:44
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There are no textbooks. The teachers teach to the SOL. They follow disconnected strands bc of the SOL. They cram info into Sept-April bc they reserve the end of April and May for SOL review and test. Many of the teachers are young and inexperienced. They teach math off of poorly formatted Google slides. It’s all very poorly taught.Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
How do you know all this? Do you have kids in school? What have you done it wise of school to address? Did you ever bring concerns to admin or teachers or the district? I am surprised at how much people seem to know.
You must not have kids in school. Some teachers have textbooks and refuse to use them.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 10:42
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:There are no textbooks. The teachers teach to the SOL. They follow disconnected strands bc of the SOL. They cram info into Sept-April bc they reserve the end of April and May for SOL review and test. Many of the teachers are young and inexperienced. They teach math off of poorly formatted Google slides. It’s all very poorly taught.Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
How do you know all this? Do you have kids in school? What have you done it wise of school to address? Did you ever bring concerns to admin or teachers or the district? I am surprised at how much people seem to know.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 10:33
Subject: Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
My kid is in DCPS and has been getting homework since K. Amount of math homework can vary by teacher and grade. It was really heavy in 2nd grade (lots of long worksheets for adding/subtracting math facts to drill those until they were second nature for kids) but lighter in 3rd, I think because ELA homework is heavier in 3rd now that kids are reading to learn and not just learning to read.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 10:31
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s. [/quote]There are no textbooks. The teachers teach to the SOL. They follow disconnected strands bc of the SOL. They cram info into Sept-April bc they reserve the end of April and May for SOL review and test. Many of the teachers are young and inexperienced. They teach math off of poorly formatted Google slides. It’s all very poorly taught. [/quote]
Dp. This, and kids got homework. Parents helped kids as needed with their homework. They'd check math sent home and explain things kids weren't understanding.
Kids don't get homework anymore, or if they do, it's like 5-10 minutes long and inconsistently given.
I was doing 30 minutes a day afterschool by 5-6th grade. It was school assigned homework, mostly daily math.
Dp. This, and kids got homework. Parents helped kids as needed with their homework. They'd check math sent home and explain things kids weren't understanding.
Kids don't get homework anymore, or if they do, it's like 5-10 minutes long and inconsistently given.
I was doing 30 minutes a day afterschool by 5-6th grade. It was school assigned homework, mostly daily math.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 09:52
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Are you Asian? I had no idea academic summer camps even existed. I can’t think of anyone I knew that went to one. I went to an excellent public school where many classmates went on to great colleges- no one was doing this.
Nope, White. My Mom asked the teachers for options and did research at the library. Plenty of people in our area did it.
If your mom had to go research it at the library, plenty of people weren’t doing it. In the 90s, white MC and UMC were not sending kids off to academic summer camps. That was incredibly uncommon. It sounds like your brother was a special circumstance and far above peers, which is why your mother had to seek out the info
Anonymous
03/15/2026 09:45
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Not the norm unless you're in public. DD attends private and goes to math class outside of school. Most of her classmates don't. I've noticed the kids at enrichment math are mostly public school kids, with a few kids from magnet schools and specialized privates.
Idk where you are, but many Sidwell families are paying $$$$ to Prep Matters for private tutoring. And these aren’t the public school kids who joined in 9th. Everyone’s pretty hush hush about it though.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 08:36
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Are you Asian? I had no idea academic summer camps even existed. I can’t think of anyone I knew that went to one. I went to an excellent public school where many classmates went on to great colleges- no one was doing this.
Nope, White. My Mom asked the teachers for options and did research at the library. Plenty of people in our area did it.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 01:58
Subject: Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I never assumed the school would be enough.i went to private growing up and everyone had a tutor. We picked a good public school to allow for supplementation. My K is doing 100 lessons to learn reading with me (so I do phonics with her) and she went to Mathnesium- I wasn’t happy with that so we are doing private tutoring. I plan to ramp this up once my youngest is out of daycare. It’s on me as a parent to make sure my kids are prepped- not the school.
I think your experience growing up is coloring your expectations, which I think are off.
My kid went to public and learned to read there. I did buy that 100 lessons book and she hated it, so I held off, and then she became a great reader in K and it didn't matter.
We supplement with resources and I pay close attention to where she is at so if I think there are deficits, I can help meet them. But we have yet to do any tutoring. I don't think they read enough full books at school and definitely not enough classic literature, so she does lots of that outside of school. I have bought Beast Academy books for math supplementing and she does an after school math club provided by the school. I see no point in doing Mathnasium or Kumon or RSM at this point.
I would get tutors if she was falling behind and I'd definitely get tutors/therapists for LDs. But my kid is learning in school. Above grade level in everything, self-motivated. After school is for playing, sports, and ballet. Balance.
If I truly thought the school wasn't teaching her, we'd put her in private or find a way to homeschool and focus "supplementing" on the social side. But it's not the case.
And, apparently, supplementing with Beast Academy books and after-school math club. Wish our local school offered an after-school math club. Sounds cheaper than RSM.
After school math club will not replace RSM. It is not long enough and would not provide the homework or support that RSM does. My kid loves his math club but it is not even close to RSM.
I'm the PP whose kid does math club. It's nothing like RSM. It's just puzzles and fun stuff. It's intended to deepen knowledge and give kids a chance to apply classroom concepts in different and more interesting ways. They've also had parents come in who use applied math in their jobs to do projects with the kids -- I did a statistical analysis project with them using survey data they collected themselves, and they played around with different ways of using percentages to represent data. It was fun. There's no homework and the goal is not accelerate.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 01:14
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Are you Asian? I had no idea academic summer camps even existed. I can’t think of anyone I knew that went to one. I went to an excellent public school where many classmates went on to great colleges- no one was doing this.
My 7th grader went to an enrichment program for math and English. She’s an average student I just wanted to have her ready for 8th grade math. The majority of kids were Asian.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 00:45
Subject: Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I never assumed the school would be enough.i went to private growing up and everyone had a tutor. We picked a good public school to allow for supplementation. My K is doing 100 lessons to learn reading with me (so I do phonics with her) and she went to Mathnesium- I wasn’t happy with that so we are doing private tutoring. I plan to ramp this up once my youngest is out of daycare. It’s on me as a parent to make sure my kids are prepped- not the school.
I think your experience growing up is coloring your expectations, which I think are off.
My kid went to public and learned to read there. I did buy that 100 lessons book and she hated it, so I held off, and then she became a great reader in K and it didn't matter.
We supplement with resources and I pay close attention to where she is at so if I think there are deficits, I can help meet them. But we have yet to do any tutoring. I don't think they read enough full books at school and definitely not enough classic literature, so she does lots of that outside of school. I have bought Beast Academy books for math supplementing and she does an after school math club provided by the school. I see no point in doing Mathnasium or Kumon or RSM at this point.
I would get tutors if she was falling behind and I'd definitely get tutors/therapists for LDs. But my kid is learning in school. Above grade level in everything, self-motivated. After school is for playing, sports, and ballet. Balance.
If I truly thought the school wasn't teaching her, we'd put her in private or find a way to homeschool and focus "supplementing" on the social side. But it's not the case.
And, apparently, supplementing with Beast Academy books and after-school math club. Wish our local school offered an after-school math club. Sounds cheaper than RSM.
After school math club will not replace RSM. It is not long enough and would not provide the homework or support that RSM does. My kid loves his math club but it is not even close to RSM.
What’s the goal in regular kids going to math class after they’ve been in a class all day? It’s hard to believe that every poster lives in a district with poorly performing schools.
As for supplementing reading, what happened to reading books starting as babies on a daily basis? I could tell when my first grader was progressing when I was reading chapter books to her and she read along with me and speak up whenever I skipped a word, which was often. Schools use phonics and reading vocabulary increases every year. Some quickly, some slower.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 23:22
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Dp. Yeah, the rich kids I knew supplemented.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 23:21
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
People supplemented. My brothers went to academic summer camps for more advanced math and science. Sylvan was starting to be a thing when I was in HS. There were workbooks and tutors and the like. I would guess that the foreign language schools on the weekend were there.
Are you Asian? I had no idea academic summer camps even existed. I can’t think of anyone I knew that went to one. I went to an excellent public school where many classmates went on to great colleges- no one was doing this.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 23:19
Subject: Re:Supplementing math is becoming the norm now?
Anonymous wrote:There are no textbooks. The teachers teach to the SOL. They follow disconnected strands bc of the SOL. They cram info into Sept-April bc they reserve the end of April and May for SOL review and test. Many of the teachers are young and inexperienced. They teach math off of poorly formatted Google slides. It’s all very poorly taught.Anonymous wrote:When did this change and why? We did not supplement in the aughts and certainly not in the 90s.
This. I went to a middle class pubic school (mostly white). We had Alg I in 8th as the advanced option. Many kids took it, it was common. No one supplemented, that I recall. There definitely weren’t Kumon, RSM, and the like.