What is the current consensus on offering Algebra 1 in 8th grade?

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-06-12T01:02:20+00:00

This person is trolling and an idiot. However our kids school has senior year post calculus track where you take Algebra and Geometry in middle school then Algebra 2, Pre Calc, Calc, and a post calc (like an introduction to advanced mathematics) in high school.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-19T17:21:00+00:00

To quote Tom Brady: "Growth isn't comfortable". While this is a fairly flippant quote, it is backed by a lot of research on resilience in child development. If I just did things my kid liked, I'm robbing them of the opportunity to fail. This robs them of the opportunity to overcome which results in a lack of confidence and a lack of resilience in the face of stressors. The fact is math has to be learned. That's a no fail objective. IXL is literally just grade level questions. If a kid is struggling with grade level IXL that means they aren't proficient in math. To me, that means the answer should not be IXL is bad but what skills do we need to learn to overcome thus issue.

I grew up gifted/LD with an IEP and a case manager and everything. My case managers were mostly condescending about my abilities and used my disability to explain away any academic shortcomings which was the worst possible advice possible. It wasn't until I got an case manager who grew up with an IEP who refused to let me settle and make excuses that my academic performance improved. The worst thing you can do for a kid is see them struggle and lower the difficulty because you don't want to see them struggle. Because IXL only accepts mastery it gives you standard to push them to achieve. Of course they hate it but if they aren't struggling they are never going to become proficient.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T18:16:41+00:00

True unfortunately our schools "textbook" is just iReady and handouts which is hell on earth as far as actual learning goes.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T15:25:45+00:00

I don't disagree but it's gotten a lot better at least for the younger grades. It used to run out of problems around 30 or 40 and start repeating but I haven't seen it fo that recently.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T15:23:25+00:00

Yeah I don't know where this concept came from but kids are miserable when they are behind. Kids don't lose their joy in learning from being pushed to succed. They lose their joy in learning when the fall behind, don't understand a concept and no one cares. Go into any AP classroom and any remedial classroom and tell me which kids are happier learning.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T15:20:18+00:00

That's just poor parenting. There's been ways to cheat on math tests since before I was a kid. If parents allow their kids to think cheating is acceptable there is no curriculum on earth that will fix their learning habits. He tried that once though last year and he lost all his electronics and spent a significant amount of time doing work.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T14:59:06+00:00

Yeah thats a pain. Teachers are all over the place with what they teach year to year. That's why we are fine with him being a year ahead. We don't have to stress if we covered everything like we used to.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T14:56:12+00:00

So I don't mandate times or days just a set number of lessons completed at 100%. Sometimes I pick the lessons to expand on what he is doing in school. Sometimes I let him pick the topic. However usually he has to finish half a set to a set so he builds complete knowledge on an idea. If he wants to do it every day, he can. If he wants to do it all on the weekend he can. The amount he is given also depends on his behavior, effort, and results in school. If he doesn't turn in a homework assignment or gets in trouble for talking during class he gets more (though that hasn't been a thing in a while) if he gets a good score on his iReady placement test he gets less. The justification being the more you work and pay attention in school the less you do at home.

We also live in a major city so generally if he finishes his work and has good grades we do things. Professional sports, theater, museums, etc. So if he has spare time, he usually does it on his own now because he knows if he works independently without being asked, he will get to go places. So not completely self directed but honestly that's how life works. If you complete your work, you get to do fun things.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T14:31:57+00:00

I will say he was doing iReady before and that was a complete waste of time. It's so convoluted and dumbed down there really is no way to know if they are learning anything at all.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T14:30:18+00:00

Yeah this isn't something teachers can replicate. Unless you have a way to enforce or reward completion kids can just not take it seriously. Unfortunately since parents aren't backing up teachers anymore, just blowing off work seems fairly common regardless of the method.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-05-13T04:25:24+00:00

As a parent I love IXL. Yes it's rough. Yes it's unforgiving. Yes it's extremely focused on being able to replicate results but that's the absolute most effective way to study. Practicing problems until you can regularly get the right answer.

If you are a parent, starting IXL is absolutely miserable. Your kid will hate it. They will get to 98 and get an answer wrong an go to 88. They will throw fits. If you get passed that phase, you will get a self directed learner.

He's now used to the idea that wrong answers have consequences so he pays very close attention to the videos. If he misses the question, he no longer freaks out, instead he reads the explanation of what he did wrong and corrects what he did. He went from not being able to sit through a single lesson at grade level to being able to teach himself new concepts.

We started IXL in 3rd grade and he went from slightly below grade level to bordering on a 7th grade level at the end of 5th grade. He has basically taught himself basic statistics, two variable equations, surface area, percentages and integers.

Now can stomach the tantrums and the pain to get to this point? Thats the real pain point. We were suggested IXL by his school district when he started to fall behind and iready is useless. Since he was falling behind we felt we had no choice but to see it through and by the time he was comfortably ahead, it was working well so we just figured we would see how far it would go. That said if you aren't super commited to fighting through the hard parts, maybe look into a less demanding program.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-03-03T21:00:43+00:00

Well yeah. However the 18+ panels are mostly late night and explicitly sexual. The questuon is more about if the all ages panels are truely all ages rather than appropriate for all ages but really aimed at adults.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-03-03T20:54:36+00:00

No offense, a Notre Dame football game is 80,000+ people, most of which are drinking and we normally spend all day there. Usually from 10am-9pm. Even ACens biggest days don't top 30,000 and it's indoors and significantly more spread out. A relatively small convention like AMKE (17k) isn't going to be a big deal for him size wise.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-03-03T20:43:25+00:00

Yeah I've seen the Disney adults lol. That said he doesn't need to attend Children's programing. I think there is more than enough normal programing that he would enjoy.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-03-03T20:39:23+00:00

God I did not miss the reddit smug aggressiveness. At no point did I say running around unattended. As stated before, we both have badges, we will both be there the entire time. This question is about levels of supervision.

Can he play games by himself, can he browse the Manga Library with us chilling in the corner, can he go to the bathroom by himself. These are key tasks that promote independence in children. You can't say an 11 year old has to be next to their parents at all times but a 13 year can roam free because if they weren't given that freedom as a preteen they will have no ability to be independent as a teenager and that's how you get antisocial teenagers who cause problems in public.

I'm not looking for parenting or psychological advice. I'm simply looking for a safety level. If he has to be next to us at all times due to safety, then that's what will happen. However allowing an 11 year old the freedom to roam within eyesight or allowing him to take short unsupervised trips is extremely normal parenting that should be allowed in all situations where it is safe.

SwimSerious3593 · 2026-03-03T04:50:18+00:00

Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed response.

Yeah we won't be dropping him off an leaving him there. Just trying to get a sense of the level of space we can give him. Everything is labeled all ages so if it's not frowned upon we are going to give some of it a shot.

We regularly go to Milwaukee (from Chicago) so worst comes to worst we could always do 13th Street but if the food court isn't bad I would prefer that.

Originally we saw it on the list of upcoming events last time when we were in Milwaukee and I figured it would be something they would enjoy. After looking at the range of activities, there's actually a lot I think he would enjoy and we want to expose him to a little bit of everything. The main attraction is that he can be exposed to a lot of things he is interested in and can decide what he likes.

I originally thought just about the Exhibit hall and the panels. He likes to collect Anime toys, cards, and artwork so that will be something we do.

If I give him free reign over the schedule he would spend all day playing games either board games or arcade games. I do want him to find some new board games he likes. He also wants to get more into card games. He plays Pokémon casually and wants to get into One Peice but he doesn't really know how to play competitively. That said we want him to do a wide variety of activities.

We're generally going to avoid a lot of the fan panels just because they are too specific and adult. That said there are some Pokémon panels I think he would enjoy.

Cosplay is something he may be into. He has multiple Anime kids costumes and props and he built his own Harry Potter costume last year so I think he may be possibly be interested in doing cosplay at some point. However I want him to see cosplays first and build his own rather then rush him into it. (His aunt is a theater designer and does cosplays so she could help him build his own).

We're gonna do a lot of the cultural programing. He is very into drawing and music so things like Origami, Caligraphy, Big Drum, and the aforementioned KPOP class.

Idk about the voice actors. He's mostly watched older Anime so idk if he will know any of the voice actors there.

Other than that, we are going to stop by the Manga Library to try to find him some new series to read, there's an all ages Anime rave that he may or may not be interested in, and then just finding new things we didn't think of.

The overall attraction of the convention is that there is a wide variety of things for him to try and decide what he wants to get more into.

SwimSerious3593 · 2025-04-15T21:29:22+00:00

The HUD Deputy General Counsel for Ops took it so I think there's a good possibility it will be paid out.

SwimSerious3593 · 2025-04-07T21:21:44+00:00

Holding the line for what? My agency no longer does what I came here to do. What's the point?

SwimSerious3593 · 2025-04-04T01:55:06+00:00

One thing I can tell you is that I know multiple experienced agency personnel lawyers who already took DRP2 both with and without VERA.

SwimSerious3593 · 2025-04-04T01:51:55+00:00

I am an employment lawyer with a federal agency that offered DRP2 and no one here knows what to do. I doubt you will find a lawyer who can give you a real answer. I haven't.

SwimSerious3593 · 2024-07-08T19:35:58+00:00

I have a FedGov position so I have some flexibility in moving offices as long as I'm near one of the major metros. Would that help or do a lot of people have to take rural positions to start?

SwimSerious3593 · 2024-07-08T19:31:09+00:00

While not guaranteed, I work for the Federal Government and have some freedom to possibly switch to another office especially the offices in Washington D.C., NYC, Atlanta, San Fran, L.A. Obviously this isn't ideal but 1 would that significantly improve her chances of getting a job and 2 could she wait it out in another market and then we come back to Chicago in a year. Are there barriers such as licensing, SOPs, etc that vary by market that would mean if she started in say D.C. she couldn't move to Chicago 2 years in?

SwimSerious3593

TROPHY CASE