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I"m sure this has been answered before, but I can't find it. We have used Singapore from the beginning with all my kids. My question is about sequence of math with kids who are ahead. Some background first...

We do math off pace from the guide, sometimes moving through faster than the guides suggest and sometimes we have to slow down just based on how quickly we pick things up. Jayden will be in 6th grade next year and will finish up 6B around Christmas time. Grace isn't so much of a concern because she will gladly slow down whenever I want her to... She gets math, but she'd prefer to do as little of anything as possible. Julianna is my math kid... she gets it (she even gets what Jayden is doing) and it seems like she's always known how to do it... and she LOVES math. So with her, I generally have to stop her after two to three exercises per day or she'd just keep going through the books. I'm ok with her going faster in math, but that leaves me in a quandry. Considering the fact that she already knows how to do the work in the later levels, I'm guessing she'll continue on close to this pace. Which means she'll be finishing 6B around the end of 4th or middle of 5th grade.

I guess I should add that we are a math/science family. Also we are planning for them to be college bound, and I'm good with them doing duel enrollment and/or clepping classes while they are still in high school.


So my question is.... what do you do with kids who finish SM before they are "supposed" to? What do you do next? What programs are best to use in the interim? What sequence?

I would guess you would just move on to Pre-Algebra or Geometry at that point, maybe using the HOD selections for that or doing something else if you like something else better. You could take it really slowly since she would be so early in them, but if she gets it really well and can move ahead full speed then let her do so. She'll be taking Calc 3 or something by the time she finishes high school.

Maybe add in some other math things that aren't "standard" math. I don't think in most cases you want your child to be beyond Cal 2 or so in high school, simply because unless they plan on getting a degree in math, you won't want to have them "forget" some of the calculus before taking things like physics in college. It is very easy to forget formulas and tricks to calculus if you aren't using them, and they are used in physics and engineering, if those are areas of interest. Instead, I would add in things like business/financial math (which involves a lot of exponential and logarithmic equations), statistics, and probability. There are also other fun areas of math like number theory, graph theory, more advanced geometry, etc. You could add these in as well just to slow things down a tiny bit. I would say start Algebra in 6th or 7th grade at the earliest. Then have a goal of completing Cal 2 in 12th grade.

MomtoJGJE wrote:...So my question is.... what do you do with kids who finish SM before they are "supposed" to? What do you do next? What programs are best to use in the interim? What sequence?

Hi MomtoJGJE! Discovering Math 7A/7B could be done next. We did DM 7A and found it was not a fit for Wyatt, but that doesn't mean it won't be for others. If dd does excellent with 6A/6B and thrives on math being a challenge, you could definitely do DM 7A/7B with her. If that went well, you could just move her on to DM 8A/8B.

Another path would be to do Rick Fisher's No-Nonsense Algebra for 7th grade, and Foerster's Algebra 1 for 8th grade, but award credit for it as 9th grade Algebra with honors. This is a similar path to that which we have taken with Wyatt. We just completed Foerster's Algebra 1 and had a fantastic year with it! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Here is our experience. My dc finished 6B about mid-way through 5th grade. We tried Discovering Math 7A, but didn't like it. It just wasn't a good fit for us. So this year for 6th grade we switched to The Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra. We have really liked it. It's a good fit for my math loving dc. The negative for us has been that it's been more time consuming than Singapore Primary Mathematics but probably about the same as Discovering Mathematics. At this point I'm torn as to whether to do Foerster's Algebra for 7th or stay with the Art of Problem Solving for Algebra. I think my dc are well poised to do either option at this point. I think some sort of pre-algrebra program is probably a good option after Singapore when you have a younger student. Another option if you want to slow your daughter down if you want is to add in the Life of Fred as a fun supplement.