StercusAccidit

I took Algebra I in seventh grade, and so did a lot of people I know. It's considered pretty normal where I go to school (granted, I'm in a magnet program).

I'm not really into math, but I'm glad I did it. I don't remember feeling like I'd missed anything, except for a lot of boring repetition that some of my classmates experienced. Plus, it allowed me to take AP Calc junior year and AP Stat senior year, meaning maybe I won't have to take math in college. Woohoo!

shinichi1419

hmm hate to say this, but I came from another country and took Alg 1 when I was in 8th grade when I first came here.
The level of Alg I in the US is about the same as 4th grade math where I was >.> .... so I don't know why people think Alg is so hard ...

iamjacksgoat

I took Algebra I Honors as an 8th grader (Honors Prealgebra in 7th), and it set me up to take Calculus in 12th grade. I was fine with this schedule. However, now that I am a senior in Honors Calculus, the middle school I attended requires Algebra I as an 8th grade class. This causes tons of students to get held back. So I guess it's up to what your kid wants. I think I could have gotten through Algebra I in 7th grade fine.

fireflyscout

My daughter took Algebra as a 7th grader, then Geometry in 8th. By the second semester of 8th grade she realized that, although she was doing well in class, math and science were not her main academic interests. The only way to get her off of that math fast track was to have her purposely fail Geometry and retake in the 9th grade (at the time, junior high scores were not included on the high school transcript). We had to conference with the teacher to figure out how to fail with a minimum of disruption - weird situation. I'd really only recommend Algebra in 7th grade for the student who is very passionate about learning math.

ll0124

our school doesn't really go beyond calculus, except stats, which some people take like, sophomore year.. so like, even if you didn't take algebra in seventh grade, you still could be in the high math classes later basically--

for example

7th grade i took algebra 1
8th grade i took algebra 2/trig 1 (one class.. our school spreads trig out in little sections over the years)
9th grade i took geometry/trig 2
10th grade i took precalc/trig 3
11th grade i took ap calc ab
12th grade i'm taking ap calc bc and ap calc ab... now, at some schools, you can go straight to bc.. at our school, ab was a requirement for bc.. but there's a possibility you could go straight from precalc to bc
(if you didn't take algebra 1 in 7th grade, you took prealgebra usually, and then the rest of your courses were a year or so behind. for those not interested in ap calc, we also offered calc 1 and calc 2, regular)

we have block scheduling, which makes it easy to double up in math. in 10th grade, many of my fellow students took both geometry and precalc in the same year to catch up with the high math kids.
but some people don't even bother, and just take ap calc ab in 12th grade, which is still a very competitive courseload.

so depending on how your school does math, there's still a lot of potential for a competitive courseload even if he doesn't take algebra 1 in seventh grade.
and ask yourself.. is math is best subject? ask if this is really what he's interested in. perhaps he just wants to stay on the regular track for math and take ap courses in other subjects later.. besides math, most ap courses dont require so many prerequisites that you have to start scheduling it in middle school.. he can worry about all those later.
if he can handle, yeah, being in the high math will definitely be an advantage. but it could become too much, and lower grades would hurt him more than not taking the classes would.
don't stress so much about going beyond calculus. having calculus in itself is advanced.. i know several people who never went beyond precalc, and some who never went beyond geometry, opting out for easier classes like 'intermediate math concepts', etc.

hope i could help

pensive123

Parents are out of control on this site. 7th grade, I mean come on.

You wouldn't approve then of what we did. After 7th grade, my d took algebra 1 in 3 weeks in the summer and got high school credit because she passed the culminating test. She took geometry in 8th grade and 'caught up' to some of the other students. I do think she had a bit harder time with algebra 2, but that could be because she missed the first week of school, when algebra 1 concepts were reviewed.
Also, in my area it's common for students to double up in 9th grade and take both algebra 1 and geometry the same year.
My son at the end of 8th grade took that same 3 week algebra 1 class. By now, I was a bit more hesitant, and I wasn't expecting that he take the class for credit. I told him I just wanted him to have a background for 9th grade algebra 1. Well, he passed with an 89 and HE demanded that he get the credit and move on to geometry in 9th grade.

I know another mom whose son took both algebra 1 and geometry in that summer school, a year apart. Hmmm, guess he must have taken algebra 2 following the alg 1 class. Anyway, she said she learned her lesson, her son did have some trouble with trig, and she didn't enroll any of the rest of her children in these fast-paced math classes.

siemom

My S took algebra in 7th, geometry in 8th, honors alg II and trig in 9th and continues on path to finish BC Calc as junior. He'll do something else senior year. For him it was the right thing to do - he would have been extremely bored had his pace been slowed down any. It is true that he is one of youngest in his math classes, but that has not been a problem. I think math is one of those subjects that lends itself to a wide variety of paths, and individual kids/families need to choose the path that makes the most sense.

diamondbacker

At my school, having juniors in AP Calculus BC is actually commonplace. It doesn't hurt at all and it's best if you let the kids go at their pace, whether it be faster or slower than what the school's standard is. Personally, I did BC Calc as a sophomore and it was a great experience. Nothing worng with acceleration.

yummymango

I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so. In our area, a lot of the students in the G.A.T.E. program usually take accelerated math. I took Algebra in 7th grade, and a few of my other friends took Geometry Honors in 7th grade at my current high school. The one benefit is that you take Pre-Calc (Honors or not) in 10th grade, and the knowledge from the class will be useful for the Math 2C.

pachydermia

it depends on the teacher.
i had algebra in 8th grade from a teacher that should have been fired the first week.
the only thing i learned in there was the theme song to The Incredibles (which we watched at least once a week).
it screwed my math grades for the rest of high school.
...
so check out the teacher, if he's good- go for it. if he sucks- it isn't worth the trouble.

openedskittles

I took algebra in the seventh grade and now I'm entering senior year and they DROPPED statistics! There weren't enough people and now I'm stuck with no math class and it's going to look like crap on my application that I didn't take any math senior year.

britbrat1961

My son took Geometry in 8th grade. He was then able to go on to Trig in 9th, pre-calc in 10th and AP Calc last year as a junior. Being that he wants to pursue an engineering degree, this has helped with his college path. By passing his AP Calc with a score of 5, he will be able to move into the engineering levels of math. He would have gone nuts had we not gone that path. Some enjoy doing calculus like other enjoy playing video games

Serafina

To be honest, I wish I even knew that when I was a 7th grader, I could even take Algebra 1! Pre-Algebra is such a waste of time - it only works if you had very subpar math teachers in elementary school, and it puts you a year behind. Now I have to worry about taking two AP math classes in senior year >_<, so please, if he's ready for Algebra 1, then he should go for it.

If he can grasp the fundamentals and be able to apply his previous knowledge without much trouble, then it should be fine. You should try asking a current Algebra 1 teacher for a pre-test/diagnostic test, and if the score is pretty good, then shoot for it. Maybe you could borrow a few reputable textbooks/workbooks over the summer also, if he's impatient to start?

Descartesz

College considerations really don't play into this decision. Whether he takes algebra this year or next, he is likely to be able to reach the final course in a high school curriculum. No admissions board will hold a failure to transcend high school mathematics against him. If he is able to move on with one more year of post-HS math (typically either multivariable calculus or linear algebra), it would be a plus, but so would being able to take a difficult non-math course in its place.

The real question is: do you think he is ready for algebra? I think it is likely since I agree with many of the other posters here that we Americans suffer from a kind of cultural acceptance of innumeracy that has us protecting our students from exposure to mathematics.

cutieflutie08

when i was in 5th grade we all took a test to see what math track we should be in. how exactly do these other parents know THEIR kids are ready for Algebra 1? what im asking is, did your son take something similar, and are you asking if you should ignore it. I took Algebra in 7th grade, leading to Calc BC in my senior year (I do love my math).

also, if you later feel that he SHOULD be bumped up, it is quite easy to take a course such as precalc at the local CC or even summer school, and place him on the fast track.

Anyways, with most students you aren't going to know if you chose right, I think, until they hit maybe Algebra 3-4 in frosh year, and maybe in Calculus. If they are struggling before then, it probably wasn't a good idea to bump them up a level. They can always choose to repeat a course, without failing it! Everything is up to parental consent. My younger sister actually retook geometry even after getting a B in the class, because she felt she wasn't cut out for the higher math class.