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Help Me Think This Through Re: Math


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DS did Singapore up through 6B, and then started AoPS Pre-Algebra but felt just "meh" about the first couple of chapters. He then did Elements of Mathematics 1-7 and LOVED them. This fall, I put him back into a virtual charter that has AoPS online courses as a vendor but not EoM. DH is balking at paying for the next set of EoM courses ($155) when the charter will pay for AoPS.

 

In giving DS the post-tests for the pre-algebra 1 and 2 courses, he knew everything aside from the chapters on square roots and geometry. So he's now working through those. Again he's feeling "meh" about AoPS.

 

I have heard people say that their student enjoyed the AoPS Intro to Algebra book much more than the pre-algebra one. But I don't know if my DS would feel the same.

 

I feel like if EoM is a solid program (which it certainly appears to be) and DS loves it, why change? But DH feels that if both are solid but one is free to us and the other costs money, why pay?

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FWIW, my DD did the first 9 or 10 a couple of years ago and then switched over to AoPS.  She really enjoyed the early EMF classes, but she found the later ones to be less fun.  At the time, however, the later classes were still being actively modified (as in, if she didn't log in for a few days, she'd come back to entire new sections added and significantly more instructional content.)  The current classes may be significantly different, i.e. more complete and fun, akin to the earlier classes in the series that she took. We did NOT use EMF as a primary curriculum at any time, simply as a fun supplement.  I did not find it to be a complete curriculum.

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But DH feels that if both are solid but one is free to us and the other costs money, why pay?

My husband is the same way which is why he won’t pay for an eIMACS course if there are cheaper alternatives.

 

The only way I got my husband to pay for something or pay for a more expensive alternative was when my oldest blew through the free/cheaper choice. So unless DS12 blew through all that AoPS has to offer including Olympiad Geometry class and Group Theory Seminar, my husband won’t pay a cent more. My kid is enjoying WOOT which my husband is okay with paying since it is cheaper than hiring a math tutor.

 

My husband paid for PAH Physics and Chemistry because CTY and other options cost more and my husband isn’t willing to help with physics and can’t help with chemistry so he paid up. My husband won’t pay for any outsourced class that he is able and willing to teach. He didn’t pay for swimming lessons until he unsuccessfully taught DS12 to swim but he did manage to teach DS11 to lap swim.

 

Your oldest daughter is in dual enrollment. Is your husband always going for the cheapest possible option or is he worrying about college costs? For my husband it is both so we have a upper limit for homeschooling expenses and I budget accordingly. So needs go first and nice to have at the moment like art classes goes last.

Edited by Arcadia
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 Your oldest daughter is in dual enrollment. Is your husband always going for the cheapest possible option or is he worrying about college costs? For my husband it is both so we have a upper limit for homeschooling expenses and I budget accordingly. So needs go first and nice to have at the moment like art classes goes last.

 

We have paid a TON this year on medical/therapy costs because of a job change that meant paying for 3 weeks of COBRA coverage and a new deductible & OOP max in July after we had hit the OOP max for the previous insurance in June. Overall the switch has been a very good thing since it reduced his commute from 54 miles each way to 20 miles. But it sure has made our budget tight even factoring in the reduced gas & auto maintenance costs. That was a factor in putting DS back into a charter after filing the PSA the previous 2 years.

 

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What specifically does he like about EoM and not like about AoPS? I know AoPS is written to the student, but I think my son would hate them if I presented them to self teach. The layout isn't all that compelling and I hate flipping back and forth between problems and solutions. And the exercise pages feel crammed to me so I usually write them on the white board or another piece of paper for DS. He loves the discovery method though, especially when he can see what the problems are leading up to and he guesses the main point early. I don't know anything about EoM, but I don't feel like $155 is horrible for something that is working. However, if he's a strong math student and will switch to AOPS later regardless it might be worth getting him used to the style now. That's a tough one.

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The first five chapters for the AoPS books are usually review. My DS12 has AoPS classmates that discuss a lot about the homework questions outside of class time while DS11’s classes were more of a hit and miss in terms of class discussions outside of class time. So the online class experience really varies.

 

Given the temporary budget tightness, could your son wait a few months to start on the next set of EoM? When we had temporary high expenses, my husband is even more penny pinching and then he calms down and agree on reasonable expenses. For example he didn’t expect his parents to buy peak season expensive airfare instead of off peak decent airfare for the same airline when he offered to pay so he went into panic mode as the airfare wiped out most of his January take home pay. His fault for not giving a limit. By the time May came around he has calmed down and didn’t complain about the high cost of math camp for DS12.

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What specifically does he like about EoM and not like about AoPS? I know AoPS is written to the student, but I think my son would hate them if I presented them to self teach. The layout isn't all that compelling and I hate flipping back and forth between problems and solutions. And the exercise pages feel crammed to me so I usually write them on the white board or another piece of paper for DS. He loves the discovery method though, especially when he can see what the problems are leading up to and he guesses the main point early. I don't know anything about EoM, but I don't feel like $155 is horrible for something that is working. However, if he's a strong math student and will switch to AOPS later regardless it might be worth getting him used to the style now. That's a tough one.

 

Both EoM and AoPS are self-teaching. I think the big difference is that like BA but unlike AoPS, EoM tries to be very engaging to the student. It's got animations and a story format. DS is still fairly "young" for being almost 12. He can do the math in AoPS pre-algebra but I think he finds it dry compared to EoM.

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