If a student is quite advanced and considerably younger than the traditional age/grade for our science or math classes (prior to AP Calculus), instructors may request a diagnostic test and may ask to Zoom briefly with the student and parent to help ensure that the class will be a good fit.
Diagnostic tests for these classes will be requested from students:
· AP Calculus AB
· AP Calculus BC
Instructors will be in touch with families after registration.
IN GENERAL
Classes taught at an honors level proceed at a faster pace and cover more material than regular classes.
Honors-level students should be independent-minded with an intrinsic desire to learn and explore.
ENGLISH & SCIENCE
In honors-level English and Science classes, students will be asked to do more critical thinking. They should be willing to stretch and be comfortable trying.
Honors classes will include discussion forums that will ask for more than single responses. Students will reflectively consider their classmates' thinking and actively engage with disparate ideas.
MATH
Students in an honors math class should expect to see questions that are different from assigned practice problems, but ones they have the necessary knowledge and understanding to figure out.
Honors math students will typically work with fewer examples to achieve mastery.
Some honors math classes will include discussion forums designed to apply math concepts to the real world so students can see the relevancy of learned concepts to their lives and future careers.
Regular and honors math classes will both include word problems, but word problems will be much more common and more frequent in honors classes.
Regular and honors-level classes rarely cover every lesson in every chapter of a textbook, but honors classes will cover more of the text than the non-honors classes. In the Honors Algebra classes, for example, no entire chapters are skipped, but some lessons within them will be.
Instructors teaching honors-level classes will supplement material in their textbooks when they see new concepts and approaches finding their way into the SAT and ACT.
Setting students up for success is always a priority at Blue Tent!
We've found that younger students are still learning the organizational skills needed to be successful in an online class. When they struggle, it is rarely with the material itself, but with the independence and discipline it takes to keep up with the assignments and complete them by a deadline. While this is a generalization, and we are happy to consider advanced students at any age, our recommended minimum ages and grades are:
Algebra 1 | 11 years old or 6th grade
Geometry | 12 years old or 7th grade
Algebra 2 | 13 years old or 8th grade
Precalculus | 14 years old or 9th grade
AP Statistics | 15 years old or 10th grade
AP Calculus AB | 15 years old or 10th grade
AP Calculus BC | 15 years old or 10th grade
We welcome parent questions. Please reach out to us at bluetentclasses@gmail.com. Our instructors will be happy to talk with you.
If students. are younger than these recommend guidelines, and we haven't heard from you in advance, instructors may request a brief get-to-know-you Zoom meeting with students and their parents before registration is confirmed.
Blue Tent does not recommend or require students to complete Geometry and Algebra 2 in a particular order.
We have found there to be no significant difference in the performance or preparedness of students who take Algebra 1/Geometry/Algebra 2 versus Algebra 1/Algebra 2/Geometry.
Some points you may wish to consider:
Geometry uses a lot of Algebra I skills, applying them to concepts with figures and shapes, so it might be beneficial for a student to practice and reinforce foundational Algebra 1 skills before diving into Algebra 2.
Precalculus depends quite a bit on skills learned in Algebra 2, so by taking Algebra 2 immediately prior to Precalculus, students may benefit from having those skills fresh in their minds.
A student's SAT plans may be a factor in choosing the sequence. Students will need to have completed Algebra 1 and Geometry before taking the SAT in math.
There are pros and cons to either sequence. There is no single "best" sequence, and a committed student will enjoy success taking Geometry and Algebra 2 in either order.