We supplement math. We are at a Spanish immersion school and I get the sense (could be just in my head) that there is a little less of all of the subjects in depth then there would be if we were at a single language school

I supplement lightly. I think the important thing for me as a parent is 1. To be well rounded. I am not a fan on my child being obsessed and awesome at one thing to the detriment of others. So I think all parents should supplement whatever desired subject or skill the child seems to be behind in. If it is math, then math. I don't mean behind in terms of the school (which may be a not so great school) but moreso behind all the other things they excel in. Art, music, history, science, math, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, a foreign language and physical things (dance, martial arts, gymnastics, etc.)

It is important to note that most D.C. schools perform badly on the standardized tests for math. You may be surprised how much your child has been taught and has already forgotten. They just need a little reminder sometimes. To not give anyone the wrong impression, most of my child's time is spent playing and having fun after school or on weekends. So it really doesn't take much to spend 5-15 min of your day going over simple things they should know or challenging them on a slightly higher level than they are at. Sometimes a workbook helps you as a parent recall things that you or the school haven't gone over with your kid or even things you assumed they still remember because they learned it 6 months ago.

Anonymous wrote:Tell me more about this. Does this mean supplement so a kid that's behind can catch up if their teacher can't do enough in-school? Or is this something families with a kid who is excelling beyond what the teacher can (or in our case, will) do through differentiation and small groups?

I have a first grader who is doing long division worksheets for fun. The teacher is only covering the beginning of multiplication skills in her small group.

Teacher has a whole lot of communication and personality issues beyond this, so I haven't pushed the issue since DC doesn't seem bored at school. We will hopefully be going to a new school next year if the lottery gods smile on us. But even then I would wonder if doing our own math acceleration at home or through something like Mathnasium is worth it?

For us it is the latter--school just isn't challenging. We do RSM so my kid has problems she must struggle with to develop a much deeper understanding. I have heard good things about AoPS for this too, but it's farther away.

I supplemented with math workbooks. It came in handy, as we spent the later elementary years overseas, where math concepts were introduced earlier than in the US.

Anonymous wrote:There's a risk of getting too far ahead that a kid then gets bored and/or disruptive because elementary school teachers are not going to create a special curriculum for a kid too far ahead.

We didn't formally supplement and kids still are routinely 95+ percentile. I would probably get tutoring if before grade level. My oldest kid is now working 1 grade level ahead in middle school (8th grader doing 9th grade math). There is a small class of kids working two grades ahead. Of the parents of the of those kids who I'm friends with, one forced supplementation and the kid now hates math. The other two as far as I can tell just had kids who pick up math really quickly. One of those did daily Khan academy in the summer. Not sure about the other.

You wouldn't not let your kid read harder books because they might get too far ahead in ELA, and I think if your child is the one with the math interest, it's the same thing. I don't expect school to cater to my kids, but neither am I going to avoid teaching them something they want to learn because it might be an issue there.

I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

Some ES teachers are bad at math themselves and don't enjoy it. Some kids pick up that attitude. It helps to have the kids around adults and other kids who like doing math. Moreover, some families do want to enroll their kids in a private school or move to a suburb with a stronger school district later on and what their kids to be at grade level in their new schools instead of spending their first year trying to catch up.

There's a risk of getting too far ahead that a kid then gets bored and/or disruptive because elementary school teachers are not going to create a special curriculum for a kid too far ahead.

We didn't formally supplement and kids still are routinely 95+ percentile. I would probably get tutoring if before grade level. My oldest kid is now working 1 grade level ahead in middle school (8th grader doing 9th grade math). There is a small class of kids working two grades ahead. Of the parents of the of those kids who I'm friends with, one forced supplementation and the kid now hates math. The other two as far as I can tell just had kids who pick up math really quickly. One of those did daily Khan academy in the summer. Not sure about the other.

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Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

My kid isn't getting challenged in school and likes doing extra math. If they keep liking it and being good at it, I'll be able to give them other opportunities to pursue math. If not, I won't.

It's funny how quickly one forgets... Are there not other things that a kid can do after school? I remember Murch had an after-school robotics program that my kid enjoyed. There were some other after-school activities as well.

Good for Murch. We're at a Title 1. There's no robotics club. But also, we're not doing classes, we do this at home together or they do it themselves when they want to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

My kid isn't getting challenged in school and likes doing extra math. If they keep liking it and being good at it, I'll be able to give them other opportunities to pursue math. If not, I won't.

It's funny how quickly one forgets... Are there not other things that a kid can do after school? I remember Murch had an after-school robotics program that my kid enjoyed. There were some other after-school activities as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?

My kid isn't getting challenged in school and likes doing extra math. If they keep liking it and being good at it, I'll be able to give them other opportunities to pursue math. If not, I won't.

We did not supplement for math in elementary school. The kids could have handled more math, but then they'd be even more bored in school. We did start supplementing in maybe 4th/5th grade, a bit, because the kids were clearly bored/not challenged by math, following an online curriculum at home.

I also worked on reading with the kid who was behind. He only got extra help from school when he fell one full grade year behind in reading. At one point we went back to basic writing and went through a writing book together.

I don't think I could have gotten any buy-in for more formal tutoring/group lessons. The school day is long enough, plus aftercare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never supplemented for math or writing. First kid went 100% through DCPS and at top 5 college. Second almost through.

Nice work (you and your kids)! Which schools, if you don't mind me asking (not college, DCPS).

Murch, Deal, JR. Honestly, the kids we know that attend the top colleges were not the "supplementing" types, at least not doing Mathnasium and Kumon back in elementary school.

Maybe those types of things are better known these days. I don't honestly know why anyone is paying for that supplementing in order to get ahead...vs. if you feel like your kid is falling behind.

What's the "end game" reason for this supplementing?