I’m still in a state of shock to find people that are actually interested in how I (we) did it, rather than simply smiling and thinking my kid is a freak with a big brain. So I’m more than happy to know parents like you guys really exist. I shall try to answer the questions…
“Do you believe any parent can accelerate their child in mathematics, or does the parent need to know advanced mathematics themself before imparting to the child?”
I guess it depends on one’s definition of “advanced mathematics”. Being an engineer, I’ve got the advanced math. But I basically stopped trying to even teach David any math when he started Calculus…at that point it was just staying on top of him and making sure he was doing what was expected in class (and that he never, ever, missed class). One thing that was pretty funny was that David got quite popular in his classes, so he rushed to get his homework done early so he could help others (obviously I advised him not to simply give solutions). But, yes, it probably would have been tougher if I didn’t know the materials. If that were the case, then I’d only be able to tell him if his answers were right or wrong, but not really steer him. But, again, if you got through even Algebra 2 before finishing high school, you can do wonders. Starting him in college at Calculus 1 is not necessary, instead starting him with pre-calc is perfectly fine…and to get there, you just need to complete Algebra 2 (at least per Saxon).
Did you use Saxson all the way up through Calc 1? If not, at what point did you change texts? Would it be too difficult to give a list of the texts that you used up through Calc 1? I ask because I’ve already purchased a handful of older 90s Saxson texts and if you feel the higher mathematics Saxson texts are still the best, then I’ll get those too (such as Algebra, Trig, Calc)
Almost. I stopped after finishing Saxon’s “Advanced Mathematics” which is their pre-calc. That book was a lot of work to get through, and I made him start at the very beginning (earlier, I would skip 20 to 40 chapters, simply because he didn’t need the review). Once done with that book, he was good to go for college Calculus (it is an outstanding book), so I didn’t bother with Saxon for Calc. 1 (although I still have the book, along with Physics, which I didn’t use much either). One thing that I did do, which is a bit tricky these days, is come up with Log and Trig tables. I made him use them instead of calculators (until just about at the very end), which Saxon (unfortunately) starts to use at the higher levels. I simply don’t see a place for calculators in mathematics.
Did you do after school teaching, or did you at some point do exclusive home schooling?
After school. Home schooling with him was hopeless, we tried one semester, when he had maybe 2 college classes. We bought Abeka, but our kid was normal, and gamed the system. My wife tried, but she wasn’t born here (Asian), so it wasn’t too hard for him to trick her into thinking he was working, when he wasn’t. But that was later. At the beginning, it was before school (if you can believe that), after school, on weekends, on vacation (but only when there was nothing else to do on long drives). Overall, his learning of reading and then math took the place of video games and TV. It was that simple. Young kids have a lot of time, but they also require near-continuous attention from parents.
Could you walk us through a typical day (when you were really hitting the math hard)?
Wow, I’ll try. I think (but not sure) that I would wake him at about 0700, we’d do one section of (early) Saxon, and then I’d go to work and he’d go to his Christian school. He’d come home from school, and I’d come home from work a bit later. We’d try to get through 2 sections in the late afternoon/evening, although 1 was fine for a weekday. He’d go to sleep at about 2100, he was more than happy to go to bed and was out immediately (a nice benefit of our routine that holds to this day). At school he was taught to be respectful and keep his hand down most of the time, so as not to hurt the feelings of other kids…but if asked, he’d answer questions. Never a problem, and did fine making friends. If he EVER said something to make me think he thought that he was something special, he regretted it, for I raked him over the coals for that. It was rare, and usually my misunderstanding, but he got the point. I’ve always said that if I wrote a book about raising kids, the title would be “You Ain’t Shiite”, except you can replace that last word with the word you’re thinking of. And believe me, I said that to him a number of times, flat-out. He got the point, and has never been on one of those “Save the World” kicks that prodigies think they can do.
You mentioned David taking the SAT at 10 years old. Was this due to a requirement at the junior college or for some other purpose (such as taking the AP exam just to prove it)?
The SAT was required. He needed a 500 in math to take Math classes, and a 500 in Verbal to take other clasessn (he squeaked that one with 510). I think it’s the way that Texas makes sure that little punks wanting to take college course aren’t trying to game the system to get out of having to endure the public schools. In other words, if you want to go to college at a high-school age (or younger, in this case), you need to show that you’re college material. It makes sense to me.
Along those lines, when did you approach the junior college for admittance and how simple or smooth was the process?
That was luck. It wound up that my wife took some math classes there and then talked to her teacher, who just happened to run the department. She wound up having to check with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (and no, I had no clue that they existed) to see if it was ok to have such a young kid. They never specified a minimum age, so he was good to go, providing he had the SAT scores. My suggestion to others is to have solid proof that junior is up to it, like SAT scores and be prepared to have junior interviewed to see if he’s up to it.
Stated another way, what sort of obstacles, if any, did you encounter in attempting to get David admitted to the junior college?
None…just needed the SAT scores. But this is Texas. Overall, I think it’s usually doable, if the kid can act mature and has the scores. The public schools are a different story if you want to accelerate your kid, however, because David would be considered a “distraction” in their line of reasoning.
Does David feel as though he missed out socially by attending college early? If not, how was he able to satisfy the urge to enjoy friendships that typically blossom “in school”?
Not a bit. He was going to church every week and had (and has) very close same-age friends. We (wife and I) did all we could to nurture those friendships and he was happy with how it turned out. Even so, it’s tough because he’s not in the same classes and lunch rooms as those kids - he only saw them once a week. But he’s keep close to them. At San Jac. (junior college) he made some friends from their “Gaming Guild” which I never liked but he enjoyed it - you can probably figure out what it was about. He still stays in touch with them. At Univ. of Houston, he got very close to a number of people that were ~5 years older than him. They would go as far as to eat out at a place where he would be admitted, before going off to the real bar scene. One of them once said, to the effect: “you seem like a normal college person, which is amazing considering your age”. He related great with them. As I mentioned earlier, he has zero regrets regarding missing high school and rates his childhood as an 11, on a scale of 1 to 10. So, in the end, if your kid is taught to respect people that struggle to learn what Saxon taugh him, he will be just fine.
I met my wife in college. I know many others that also met their spouse in college. I’m by no means saying that college is the only place to meet someone, but I will say that I had spent a few years in the real world prior to college and I found that meeting a like-minded co-ed is far easier to do in a college environment than grinding out hours at work… Do you think attending college at a younger age is, in anyway, disadvantageous to cultivating a satisfying and fruitful domesticated life?
Fair question. I agree, he misses that chance, but he’s 18 now and if he’s doing good at Exxon (or whereever) in a few years, he won’t have a problem finding a wife there. Women are now the majority of college graduates (although not in engineering). I suspect that he won’t have a problem finding someone. He also has his church connections. But right now, he just plays it day to day, and after he graduates, he will work, and then, when the time is right, he’ll look for a wife. In my case, it was hopeless at college…so I’m not going to worry much.