Having been through this once with an older 2E kid — first, AAP is not all that. AoPS for math is so much more rigorous and interesting for math-inclined kids that whatever they do at school becomes almost irrelevant. Second, AAP is not a path to a great college. Kids like my oldest can barely manage a full high school schedule despite years of gifted support. The high-achieving kids with strong executive functioning skills who didn't quite make AAP are still going to end up ahead in high school, college, and most likely, life.

My youngest is one of those kids — we barely got her into AAP because we prepped her for the test. She's bright, just not a math whiz like my older child. And she's a 10x better student. The difference is night and day. I don't regret prepping her to get into AAP — she's succeeding and will continue to succeed in the program because she's engaged, self-driven, and wants to win at school.

Anonymous wrote:AAP 6th grader family. Had to start Mathnasium in December because DD started to fall behind in class.

My DD feels better about her math competency and she feels like she did very well on the SOL and got to the Geometry portion of it.

But then, I showed her all the wise comments here on DCU Mom and now she feels like we failed her as a family by getting math support for her.

Whichever posters said AAP kid should not need tutors or outside enrichment were so right. And now that I think about it, AAP should not require any additional support at all, in any subject ever! So happy being in the program immediately absolves us parents from any further responsibility whatsoever of helping our kids outside of school anymore! -What a fresh take!

Clearly, some people think the one-size-fits-all approach to education applies to AAP. 🙄

Ok, I have a kid who never got advanced math, had to skip 7th grade math (ie will never formally be taught the math your kid is struggling through)to choose honors in middle school and is getting 100% on almost everything in honors. No tutoring, no outside academics. Kid finishes all work at school, never see them doing homework. Had to deal with years of bullying, full time students always telling them they aren't that smart, asking what's wrong with them they aren't in aap. Still thinks it's easy and could do more. Tell me why your child needed the advanced curriculum more than mine. Because that is the system we are in. I absolutely know that my child feels like they were failed by this system!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enrichment = tutoring

Nope.

I thought enrichment included activities such as sports, cooking, STEM activities, drama, dance, etc.... does tutoring fall into that category?

Anyone who says their child is doing Mathnasium, RSM, etc for "enrichment" is full of shit.

Math is my kid's favorite extracurricular. She likes math so we signed her up for math class. I find it no different than signing a kid who likes basketball up for basketball.

Yup, and AoPS isn’t the only one with advanced classes. RSM puts together teams to compete, look at the list from the Johns Hopkins competition or Purple Comet or Berkeley, RSM puts together MS and HS teams to compete.

I know SOL scores are not the end all be all, but if kids are taking RSM or AoPS for math enrichment, are they likely to score higher becuase of the math "enrichment"?

Scoring well on the SOLs means little to nothing so that is not a measure I would care about. I doubt that anyone has looked at this. The schools don't ask what kids are attending what programs and run those numbers against individual scores. We were never asked for my kids SOL scores at AoPS or RSM.

I would imagine that the AoPS and Honors RSM/math competition kids score well on the SOLs. They are working on different application of math concepts being taught at the grade level and more advanced material.

The first two levels of RSM tend to be focusedon teaching the course material and maybe some expansions. I would hope that the additional time spent learning the material and the homework helps kids better understand the material so that they do well on the SOL.

SOL scores may not mean much during elementary school years, but once students are in middle and high school it will be a part of your final grade.
https://www.fcps.edu/changes-standards-learning-assessments-virginia

Why would you show her comments on this page? That is not stellar parenting. It is people with opinions, but you already know that.

I am glad that your child feels more comfortable with math after doing Mathnasium, that is wonderful. That is what the program is supposed to do.

AAP 6th grader family. Had to start Mathnasium in December because DD started to fall behind in class.

My DD feels better about her math competency and she feels like she did very well on the SOL and got to the Geometry portion of it.

But then, I showed her all the wise comments here on DCU Mom and now she feels like we failed her as a family by getting math support for her.

Whichever posters said AAP kid should not need tutors or outside enrichment were so right. And now that I think about it, AAP should not require any additional support at all, in any subject ever! So happy being in the program immediately absolves us parents from any further responsibility whatsoever of helping our kids outside of school anymore! -What a fresh take!

Clearly, some people think the one-size-fits-all approach to education applies to AAP. 🙄

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enrichment = tutoring

Nope.

I thought enrichment included activities such as sports, cooking, STEM activities, drama, dance, etc.... does tutoring fall into that category?

Anyone who says their child is doing Mathnasium, RSM, etc for "enrichment" is full of shit.

Math is my kid's favorite extracurricular. She likes math so we signed her up for math class. I find it no different than signing a kid who likes basketball up for basketball.

Yup, and AoPS isn’t the only one with advanced classes. RSM puts together teams to compete, look at the list from the Johns Hopkins competition or Purple Comet or Berkeley, RSM puts together MS and HS teams to compete.

I know SOL scores are not the end all be all, but if kids are taking RSM or AoPS for math enrichment, are they likely to score higher becuase of the math "enrichment"?

Scoring well on the SOLs means little to nothing so that is not a measure I would care about. I doubt that anyone has looked at this. The schools don't ask what kids are attending what programs and run those numbers against individual scores. We were never asked for my kids SOL scores at AoPS or RSM.

I would imagine that the AoPS and Honors RSM/math competition kids score well on the SOLs. They are working on different application of math concepts being taught at the grade level and more advanced material.

The first two levels of RSM tend to be focusedon teaching the course material and maybe some expansions. I would hope that the additional time spent learning the material and the homework helps kids better understand the material so that they do well on the SOL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enrichment = tutoring

Nope.

I thought enrichment included activities such as sports, cooking, STEM activities, drama, dance, etc.... does tutoring fall into that category?

Anyone who says their child is doing Mathnasium, RSM, etc for "enrichment" is full of shit.

Math is my kid's favorite extracurricular. She likes math so we signed her up for math class. I find it no different than signing a kid who likes basketball up for basketball.

Yup, and AoPS isn’t the only one with advanced classes. RSM puts together teams to compete, look at the list from the Johns Hopkins competition or Purple Comet or Berkeley, RSM puts together MS and HS teams to compete.

I know SOL scores are not the end all be all, but if kids are taking RSM or AoPS for math enrichment, are they likely to score higher becuase of the math "enrichment"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enrichment = tutoring

Nope.

I thought enrichment included activities such as sports, cooking, STEM activities, drama, dance, etc.... does tutoring fall into that category?

Anyone who says their child is doing Mathnasium, RSM, etc for "enrichment" is full of shit.

Math is my kid's favorite extracurricular. She likes math so we signed her up for math class. I find it no different than signing a kid who likes basketball up for basketball.

Yup, and AoPS isn’t the only one with advanced classes. RSM puts together teams to compete, look at the list from the Johns Hopkins competition or Purple Comet or Berkeley, RSM puts together MS and HS teams to compete.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enrichment = tutoring

Nope.

I thought enrichment included activities such as sports, cooking, STEM activities, drama, dance, etc.... does tutoring fall into that category?

Anyone who says their child is doing Mathnasium, RSM, etc for "enrichment" is full of shit.

Math is my kid's favorite extracurricular. She likes math so we signed her up for math class. I find it no different than signing a kid who likes basketball up for basketball.

Anonymous wrote:RSM mama - getting your child ahead in math is STILL tutoring. It's tutoring to get them further ahead than the class, but it's still tutoring. You say enrichment because you think your child is special, but your child doesn't need to be ahead, you choose to pay someone to teach your child (i.e., tutor) to learn more math. Same thing.

AoPS on the other hand is for kids preparing for math competitions and it's well beyond what AAP covers in math anyway. Kids who do it often find that AAP math is light work and they want more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My AAP 4th grader does AoPS because he loves it (it is not accelerated; matches the FCPS curriculum) and has a writing tutor because his writing skills are weak and the tutor helped bring him to grade level consistently.

Do, your aap 4th grader looks like they need enrichment in all subjects full time because they are getting extra help outside of school.
Really hurts the kid who actually needs the full time enrichment in every subject but didn't get in because their parents didn't gave those resources and now that kid looks less advanced on paper....but that kid would learn everything taught with out needing the extra help if given the opportunity

We live in a competitive world. Parents who care are going to give their kids whatever advantages they can. You can't change that. The kid who is getting boxed out should blame his parents for not getting him the support he needs to stay in the program.

Yup

Parents who care know that elementary school is just as much about social/ emotional as it is about academics. That's why the grades on the report cards are so subjective and often meaningless

Yup

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My AAP 4th grader does AoPS because he loves it (it is not accelerated; matches the FCPS curriculum) and has a writing tutor because his writing skills are weak and the tutor helped bring him to grade level consistently.

Do, your aap 4th grader looks like they need enrichment in all subjects full time because they are getting extra help outside of school.
Really hurts the kid who actually needs the full time enrichment in every subject but didn't get in because their parents didn't gave those resources and now that kid looks less advanced on paper....but that kid would learn everything taught with out needing the extra help if given the opportunity

We live in a competitive world. Parents who care are going to give their kids whatever advantages they can. You can't change that. The kid who is getting boxed out should blame his parents for not getting him the support he needs to stay in the program.

Yup

Parents who care know that elementary school is just as much about social/ emotional as it is about academics. That's why the grades on the report cards are so subjective and often meaningless

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My AAP 4th grader does AoPS because he loves it (it is not accelerated; matches the FCPS curriculum) and has a writing tutor because his writing skills are weak and the tutor helped bring him to grade level consistently.

Do, your aap 4th grader looks like they need enrichment in all subjects full time because they are getting extra help outside of school.
Really hurts the kid who actually needs the full time enrichment in every subject but didn't get in because their parents didn't gave those resources and now that kid looks less advanced on paper....but that kid would learn everything taught with out needing the extra help if given the opportunity

We live in a competitive world. Parents who care are going to give their kids whatever advantages they can. You can't change that. The kid who is getting boxed out should blame his parents for not getting him the support he needs to stay in the program.

Yup

RSM mama - getting your child ahead in math is STILL tutoring. It's tutoring to get them further ahead than the class, but it's still tutoring. You say enrichment because you think your child is special, but your child doesn't need to be ahead, you choose to pay someone to teach your child (i.e., tutor) to learn more math. Same thing.

Anonymous wrote:All is see above is a lot of cope. If a child needs outside help just to keep up with the AAP curriculum, then they shouldn't be in AAP.

Based in facts, Gatehouse sets the criteria, not anonymous parents. If they don’t like the system, that’s their issue to take up with Gatehouse.