My sons going into the 8th grade his teacher wants me to let him skip pre algebra and go to algebra. should I

Question

He has always been on the honor roll but I am scared that if he doesn't do good it will discourage him.

Answer 1

Have you talked to your son to see if it is what he wants to do? If it is, just let him know that it may be a little harder and he may not the get A's and B's he is use to but he can't get discouraged and quit.

Answer 2

If he has an overall good understanding in math- most definitely- because this could be a good challenge for your son. What I would do is brush him up in pre algebra before he starts attending school- make him do some problems- cliff notes stuff like that so that he will have a basic idea of pre algebra and then can easily transition into algebra- Algebra is not that hard-- so if he has always been on the honor roll- ask him if he wants to take that challenge-
If he does get discouraged- form some back up options- if the class is too hard-- let him have flexibility to move down and do pre algebra- or tutoring, extra help, etc.

But the best way is to prepare and learn over the summer before school starts-- my mom always did it for me-- and I believe the same-- it works to have a basic understanding of the subject before you go into the class-- this way, you will find the subject easier--
tell me to enjoy it and have fun-- that's also important.
and good luck to your son!

Answer 3

i'd say if he wants to do it, definitely let him do it. there will be worse consequences if you try to hold him back, like, he may resent you, or he may learn to always go the easy route and not take risks in life. support him and let him know he can succeed at anything with focus and determination. on the other hand, i can see your point about the possibility that he won't do good and will feel discouraged. my little sister is a freshman in high school and she is very smart. she did well in her classes and so they encouraged her to go into honors classes and higher math levels. she wanted to at first, but then found that some of the new classes were too difficult and strenuous for her. she felt down and frusterated, and as soon as this happened my mom put her back into some of the regular classes and now she's fine. so as long as you are actively involved in your son's life, and monitoring his emotional and academic well-being, he should be fine and i think you will be able to tell if the new schedule is working out or not. a lot of kids do well when they are moved to more challenging classes, but some don't. a child can be smart and doing really well in a class, yet still be challenged, and sometimes teachers don't notice the difference between a student that works REALLY hard for straight As and a student that is bored and could get all As in their sleep. While both kinds of kids are smart, one requires a higher level class, and the other needs to stay where they are and continue to strive hard to excel.

Answer 4

If it came down to a decision, you should probably go for letting him jump to algebra. It would be a good idea for him to be a step ahead of the rest of the students because it would help him out in the long run. And in the society today any foothold above the others is a step in the right direction. Besides the worst that could happen is he feels uncomfortable in the class you can probably transfer him back to pre-algebra. Let him try it out and see what he's capable of doing. If he doesn't like it then switch him to pre-algebra, but if you see that he shows no problem with it then keep him in it. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Me being a high school student and having had that option I would say not to let him skip for the simple fact that there are things that he needs to learn in pre-algebra. If he dosent have those skills he'll do terrible in algebra. I had to learn the hard way and stay after school for tuturing and al the extra credit cause it was so hard for me and im a honor 4.0 student myself. It was alot work and it may drain him. I would'nt recomend you put him in the class for his benefit.

Answer 6

Have him take the Pre-algebra. It's a good foundation for Algebra, yes. But it's also good for Algebra 2, Geometry & Trig. He's going to need a good base for all of these & it starts w/ Pre-algebra.

Answer 7

I like the idea of asking your son what he wants to do without trying to push him in one direction or the other.

If he gets into a class that is too hard for him, you are right that he might do poorly. However, if he's in a class that's too easy for him, he might get bored and his attitude about school could get worse. He could also become a discipline problem if he is bored. So it is important to get him into the right class.

I would say either way, you should keep track of him and communicate with the teacher regularly, so you can switch him into the other class if he starts to have problems.

Answer 8

The teacher probably sees that he will grasp the concepts easily. I would let him go into the more advanced class, and if he needs help, talk to the teacher about some extra tutoring. You're lucky to have such a bright child, and he needs to be encouraged and challenged. good luck.

Answer 9

Its a great idea for an honor's student. It will get him used to some of the more rigorous math he'll encounter in highschool. What math topics were covered in 6th and 7th grade?

Answer 10

i just graduated from eighth grade and since i went to a private school we also had the choice of algebra or pre algebra. i went into algebra and did great. it has helped me get into a high highschool course also! its gonna look awesome on college transcripts someday!