Sounds sad
@HSP2019
Oh yes
My daughter was doing great in math until the 8th grade. We relocated when she was in the 4th grade and she tested into 5th grade math. At the beginning of her 8th grade year as she began Algebra I our public school system decided to transition from the teacher actually teaching the class to an investigative method of “teaching” the class. They decided to do this for math classes from Algebra I on up. The students were separated into groups of six (24 students in a class) and instructed to read the chapter and complete the homework. The next day the students discussed among themselves the answers. If one student had a question the teacher would redirect the question to a different student in the same group. If the group couldn’t answer the question the teacher would redirect the question to a particular student in the class who she knew could answer the question. There was no teaching by the teacher…her goal was to get the right answer to the student with minimal involvement. The kids felt embarrassed because they weren’t getting it so they stopped asking questions and grades dropped. It got so bad the school district called a meeting to discuss the matter and 700 parents showed up I kid you not. The meeting did not resolve anything and you had students dropping down to a lower level math in droves. Kids who had reached calculus dropped down which hurt their college applications (depending on the college and intended major). The teaching method darn near sucked the life outta my sweet girl. How she felt about that one class affected how she felt about school overall.
In the end we decided to pull her from the public school system for high school. We enrolled her in a private full IB program for high school. With a class size of 34 students (as opposed to 1,300 Freshmen had she remained in the public high school) she flourished and did well in the HL math (calculus and trig) through her senior year.
Had the public school not changed its teaching method we probably would have kept her there but things happen for a reason and it worked out well in the end.
I’m personally of the view the more high school credits that can be knocked out in middle school, the better. Algebra 1, beginning foreign language courses…they have to take these anyway and EC’s take so much more time in HS. You can always choose not to take those upper level courses. Starting early it becomes much easier to take the courses you want if you have that wiggle room.
Additionally, in our school district it can really affect GPA, because the fresh/soph courses are weighted lower than the Jr/Sr courses. Top 5 in D18’s class are almost locked in now because they have taken 4-5 more bonus point courses than the rest of the class.
Before eighth grade my kid was an Unschooler. Most of her education was self-lead. No homework, no tests, no curriculum, nada. Just a serious love of learning, lots of trips to the library, and a home culture of reading and exploration. K-7, we just made sure she read a little, wrote a little, and did a little math every day…that was pretty much the sum of the curriculum. No worksheets. No standardized tests. No stressful commutes. Lots and lots of creative play, experimental play, building, cooking, independent problem solving. And about a billion books and videos of her choosing. She went to work with me at a veterinary clinic, watched surgeries, did kennel work, and loved looking at specimens in the lab.
In eighth grade, she decided to try public school. She tested into Algebra and got all A’s. She loved going to dances, having friends over, acting in plays. By the end of highschool, she was second in her class and got into a terrific college where she’s currently studying Microbiology.
There are a million ideas about how to turn your child into a scholar, and I’m not sure I believe any of them. I think a talent for academia is either naturally there…or it isn’t. Some kids have other natural talents.
I think parents need to let their kids be who they are, teach them to be of use, to treat people how they’d like to be treated, and to enjoy life.
My kiddo is talking about going to grad school and getting a PhD. If she’d been a chef or an artist, or a sanitation worker…I’d be equally as proud of her…if she was happy and living the life she wanted to live.
My kid goes to a “top college”. How did we get her there? Honestly? We never saw it coming. LOL:) if I had to give an answer I’d say…We taught her to value herself. We taught her to be an objective reasoner. We encouraged her to ask a million questions. We set up a blind date with learning every day…and she fell in love. We treated her like a person and trusted her. And told her we loved her every single day.
I also got my D bumped one grade ahead on math. Worked on study habits and homework habits.
My kids did a high school search, much like a mini college search. We looked at several public schools, a few magnet schools (IB and School of the Arts), the expeditionary learning school one daughter was attending for middle school, Catholic schools. It did get them to focus (a little) on what they wanted from a school, the size, the activities, the transportation issues of getting to each school. There were schools I didn’t like and schools they didn’t like. Some were easy to cross off, others had good points and bad points. If they had liked a school in a different district, we could have moved. The whole process took about 6 months, we went on a lot of tours, took placement tests, auditioned, filled out applications. We decided on the pubic school we were zoned for, but I was still glad we saw what was available, what special programs there were, what classes were available.
Then, 6 weeks before they were to start high school I got a job in another state, spent hours on the internet looking for schools in districts near my new office, and I picked one.
Benign neglect?
Ask your middle schooler to proofread this sentence. 
It’s the most dreaded error in the English language, and your kid may be impressed that spellcheckers won’t catch it.