Similar to Choate, Andover and Exeter have courses well beyong MVC and LA. Plus many schools, including those, have PhD Math instructors who can work with the student on an independent study.
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Wow that is cool. I went to a fairly math-y public school (a long time ago) but this just blows it away. Good for them!
While I agree with this advice generally, there are exceptions to the rule. I tried to talk my kid into staying in the comfort zone of geometry first year (which he took online over the summer), but he pushed back against the school and me, and forced his way into the higher class. Best decision he has made in bs. For him. It could have been disastrous. Hard to know at the beginning, and it is personality-dependent how the kid will react to bs and its challenges at the beginning of first year. I am glad the school gave him the shot even against their advice. Worst case was he didn’t do well and dropped back down.
I think the key is to figure out are you taking pre-calc because you love it or purely for the hypothetical admissions boost. If the latter, don’t do it.
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The PhD head of the math department taught our son’s freshman algebra II course and blew us away when we sat in on his class over Parents Weekend. Most college freshman don’t get that experience.
To be clear, the exceptions are 1%. 99% of the time, The placement is correct to the dismay of many students. For the 1%, the placement is quickly adjusted IME.
But most accepted applicants do not know what they do not know and have no clue how more involved classes will be compared to the old school.
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For sure. I think in kiddo’s case they didn’t see geometry on his middle school transcript and assumed he wasn’t ready despite his performance on the placement test. They placed him in honors geometry, he realized he was going to be in a serious repeat situation, and he ran it up the food chain to get himself moved. He re-took the placement test (and one for a higher level class), the math dept and his advisor talked, and ultimately they decided that he should go to the honors level algebra/trig/precalc class. But that class didn’t fit his schedule, so he was supposed to stay in geometry. He was having none of that. He found a way to rework his schedule on his own. At that point, 3 weeks in to the trimester, I figure the school knew he was determined and gave in. He told me later that he had trouble catching up, but since he made such a stink about it, he would never admit it to anyone there.
Eta: I don’t think the school would have been so willing to let him try if they thought for one second his parents were pushing him to get the higher level class. They saw it was all him.
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I’ll update everyone since this thread is active again.
I did choose to take Pre Calculus this semester. However, I will probably end up retaking algebra 2 in BS just to be safe. If you’re wondering why I chose this, here’s why. I knew having some prior knowledge would be good when I retake the class, which led me to taking it now. The teacher was the same as my Geometry teacher, so that led me to wanting to take it as well.
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Very different details, but I have gotten my 3 older kids in LPS to do things that they were initially told were “not possible.” Eventually the GC got to the point where it was “what will make you go away” and when we showed her how the schedule worked she relented. Had to do it with all 3 of them. Really hopeful we have a good M10 and I don’t have to keep having that fight for #4.
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While I love the tiny size of Cate, one of the down sides of a small school is lack of flexibility in the schedule. It is fine if your kid is on a typical track, but add in too many anomalies, and schedules get more challenging.
Just something to consider.
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Only if you aren’t bored to tears.
But, depending on where you go and who’s teaching, that might not be a problem.
(I could only tolerate junior high and high school math by mostly not paying attention.)
And contrary to what the majority have weighed in here, it is possible to get a fine footing in pre-calc in 18 weeks. My school used a module system - 9 modules a year. Precalc was in under 15 weeks, AB Calculus in 9 weeks. I had no problem retaining the information - I did have a problem with colleges that couldn’t understand my transcript.
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This is what I thought all along. My school is set up like a high school with a block schedule. I have 4 classes each semester for 90 minutes daily. I should’ve specified this before.
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Good point. I think she will be a more “typical path” kid at BS. None of my 3 older were at LPS, but that’s swimming in a very different pool.
She has to sign up for her HS classes at the LPS tomorrow (which I hope she doesn’t take, but still going forward with registration as the back up plan). I’m going to send a note and hopefully they will let her register for what I want her to register for. The others they didn’t and then we had to go out and fix it later. I understand the schedule better than the counselor they have coming out to register the eighth graders.
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Hope registration goes well! I remember doing that with kiddo! We met with a guidance counselor assigned to him alphabetically for 10 minutes, she showed us his proposed classes, we told her that he had applied to private schools, too, and that he planned on doing geometry over the summer, she said ok, and we were out the door.
After we committed to bs, I called the school twice to let them know he wouldn’t be coming, asking if there was paperwork to sign. Never heard from them. A few weeks into the school year I got an email asking where he was.
To this day, I still get the daily(!) parent update email from the school.
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I commend you for being willing to repeat algebra 2. A lot will come down to the placement test you take over the summer. Once those are submitted, you should reach out to the head of the math department for their suggestion and guidance. As others have alluded, often times BS math is much more advanced, so it’s not uncommon to repeat a year.
Kiddo was an incredible math student at her school, accelerated 2 years and in honors algebra 2, and she’s now struggling through math 3x (the equivalent to honors algebra 2). There is so much more self discovery, deeper discussion, and a lot of writing. The teacher isn’t showing them how to do the math and then moving forward when everyone masters it, she’s asking the students to figure it out as a group and allowing them to stumble along the way. You can refer to @Choatiemom’s post for a more eloquent description of how BS math works. 
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Not just willing, I want to!
Also don’t forget the age component. If you have a first year in pre-calc /Calc, they are going to be with much older students. It can take them a while to get used to the pace of the class or the subtleties. So even if they have the math skills they might have to stretch. A lot.
Also, BS’s will test your child before they let them start well ahead of the normal course progression. An online class isn’t likely to cut it.
Many mathy kids can’t wait to work independently with the math dept. Make sure this is possible. Also check that a class will run even if they don’t have enough kids. If your kid wants to take linear algebra you don’t want them to wait a year for the course to run.
Partially pointless because OP already took the class, but I do want to address the comments that it would give him/her an edge in admissions. I wonder if any of those people have actually spoken to an AO who indicated that things like that are an edge? From all my years of conversations with AOs on the sidelines of games and at many school events, things like somewhat accelerated courses has just never been something that weighs much on their decision.
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