Are you going to do Calculus first? The funny thing is that I have always thought Calculus easier than Algebra. I passed Algebra, but really was always asking (strange) questions, but I had no problems with college Calculus courses (As). In fact I thought it made Algebra make sense and didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary to take one before the other, but I am NOT a mathematically minded person.

We loved having Pere at home.

My guess is that we will do the algebra book in at least 150% of the time it takes most kids, maybe 2x as long. But that’s OK — even the gifted kids don’t usually come at it until they’re 11 or 12. I like the emphasis on problem solving, and I like using a curriculum oriented toward gifted kids. My sense is that we can abandon speed (i.e., racing through traditional curriculum levels and topics) and substitute depth.

I wrote to AOPS about whether or not to try algebra this year, and they wrote a helpful response, suggesting a different place to start (basically what we were planning, playing around with math for a while, working on problem solving skills) and saying that 9 is just plain young for algebra — not starting playing around with algebra, which we did a couple of years ago, but really doing a sustained course. It takes a certain level of maturity — I have heard this repeatedly, from parents of gifted students who are not hesitant to introduce advanced work.