Highline Math Program Schedule

Scheduling Considerations

The provided lessons are geared to a full academic year. We have typically started Math Team in the 3rd week of September and continue until the second week of May. This gives ample time to cover the topics the students will be requied to master by the time of the Washington State Math Olympiad (in the first week of May). The curriculum for both years consists of 25 lessons. Lesson materials are provided for a one-hour class session once a week up to lesson 9. Beginning with lesson 9, materials will be provided for a second 'practice competition' session, to be conducted on another day of the week. This, too, is expected to be a 1-hour session. Use of these practice competition materials is optional, but highly recommended to deepen understanding and have some fun.

FREE WEEKS
After approximately every fifth lesson, plan a 'free week', a week of review or catch-up. There's enough time between September and May for a few breathers. A 'free week' is a week which is used to 'catch up' for those schools which are a lesson behind due to holidays or other interruptions. This assumes you are coordinating your program with other schools. If you haven't missed any weeks since the last 'free week', practice competition materials are provided to quiz students on previously introduced concepts.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on our past experiences, certain scheduling options are better than others. Here they are:

Best class days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Other days are impacted by holidays and planning days. Try to avoid a day of the week that your teachers use as a 'planning day'. Mondays are 'draggy' and many athletic events are planned for Fridays. Also, many Mondays are holidays. If you do your Math Team on a Monday, you'll use your free weeks for catch-up.
Morning classes are better than noon or afternoon classes. Noon (lunch period) classes are not sufficiently long, afternoon classes are often impacted by early-out days and after-school events (especially in the spring). There are fewest distractions in the morning.