historymom

I have twin Ds one is taking precalc this, her Junior year, the other a class called Math Analysis which is a midway step between AlgII and precalc. Both are thriving in math this year. This has NEVER happened before. I don't think historygirl in math analysis would be doing as well or getting half as much out of precalc as she is out of her current placement where she actually likes math for the first time.

My point is that your son, like my d, has not been recommended for pre calc for a reason. I would advise you to take the class that is more at his level right now so that he can take precalc as a Sr. and thrive.

Math is one of those things that people "get" at different rates and in either course he is still taking a higher level math. If all of your son's other classes show that he is challenging himself and he doesn't take calc in high school it's not a big deal. His ability to not feel out of his depth and frustrated for a year by coursework he's not quite fully understanding is a big deal.

In many high schools Jr. year brings a lot of frustrations as students adapt to a far more rigorous courseload and higher teacher expectations. I was so happy to not have math be a source of angst for either of my girls and they both will still get the check in the "most rigorous" box. We still had tears, nights up till 3:00 a.m. and one bout of stress realted stomach trouble, but it was not related to math.